Partisan (magazine)

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is a political organization in the United States and the country's largest socialist organization. Sitting on the left-wing to far-left of the political spectrum, it is a multi-tendency coalition of Marxist-Leninists, Trotskyists, eco-socialists, democratic socialists, libertarian socialists, and other caucuses. Established in 1982, the DSA emerged from a merger of the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC) and the New American movement (NAM).

The DSOC, founded in 1973, was an offshoot of the Socialist Party of America (SPA) aligned with the ideas of Michael Harrington, a prominent socialist activist and intellectual; the NAM, founded in 1971, was a New Left group and descendant of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). After a 1982 merger, the DSA supported grassroots movements and progressives in the Democratic Party. It has historically emphasized a decentralized structure; it has local chapters and a national leadership elected every two years at a convention of chapter delegates.

It was a minor political force until the 2016 presidential campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-identified democratic socialist, after which its membership swelled from about 6,000 members in 2015 to more than 90,000 in 2021. While not a political party, the DSA has engaged in electoral politics by endorsing candidates who align with its values. It experienced an ideological shift after 2016, with an influx of younger members who brought in more radical views than its historically dominant reformism and social democratic leadership. During the 2023 DSA National Convention, Marxist and revolutionary socialist factions won a majority of seats on its National Political Committee for the first time, marking a further shift to the left and growing efforts to implement a policy of democratic centralism. This led many older members to leave, citing entryism, growing centralization, and ideological drift.

The DSA's 2021 platform, its most recent, calls for abolishing police and prisons; ending all misdemeanors; fighting institutional white supremacy through racial reparations for people of color, anti-discrimination, and hate crime laws; enacting single-payer healthcare; raising the minimum wage; a Green New Deal; abolishing the Electoral College, Senate, and filibuster; and transitioning to a parliamentary system. Identifying with anti-imperialism, it supports withdrawing from NATO, PEPFAR, and other forms of American foreign aid; an end to the dollar as the world's reserve currency; and normalizing relations with China, Venezuela, Cuba, and Iran. It describes the United States and Israel as settler states built upon genocide. To that end, it is anti-Zionist and supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movements; independence for Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Native American reservations, and other territories; and a second constitutional convention to establish a decolonized and socialist republic.

Early history and leadership

Formed in 1982 by the merger of the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC) and the New American Movement (NAM), the DSA is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization. At its founding, it was said to consist of approximately 5,000 members from the DSOC plus 1,000 from the NAM. Dorothy Ray Healey, a communist and former leading figure of the Communist Party USA, served as vice chair in 1982.

The DSA inherited both Old Left and New Left heritage. The NAM was a successor to the disintegrated Students for a Democratic Society. The DSOC was founded in 1973 from a minority anti-Vietnam War caucus in the Socialist Party of America (SPA)—which had been renamed Social Democrats, USA (SDUSA). DSOC started with 840 members, of whom 2% had served on its national board, and about 200 of whom came from SDUSA or its predecessors (the Socialist Party–Social Democratic Federation, formerly part of the SPA) in 1973, when the SDUSA stated its membership at 1,800, according to a 1973 profile of Harrington.

The red rose is part of the official DSA logo. It was drawn from the logo of the DSOC, its precursor organization, and previously of the Socialist International, which shows a stylized fist clenching a red rose, the fist replaced by a biracial handshake representing the DSA's staunch anti-racism. The fist and rose logo was originally designed for the French Socialist Party in 1969.

DSA's first convention took place in a Manhattan high school on October 14–16, 1983. Guillermo Ungo, leader of the Revolutionary Democratic Front in El Salvador, was a featured speaker. Barbara Ehrenreich was elected co-chair of DSA. Notable attendees included Randall Forsberg and U.S. Representative Ronald Dellums.

DSA's second national convention took place at the Berkeley Community Theater in California on November 9–11, 1985. Featured speakers were Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Miguel d'Escoto and Mpho Tutu, daughter of Desmond Tutu. Notable attendees included Ehrenreich, Michael Harrington, and Cornel West.

Membership

In the early 1980s, the DSOC's estimated membership was 5,000, but after it merged with the NAM and the DSA was founded, the new organization's membership grew to an estimated 7,000 in 1987.

The DSA's membership greatly increased following Bernie Sanders's 2016 presidential campaign, the presidential victory of Donald Trump, the 2018 election of DSA member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and the COVID-19 pandemic. In May 2020, organizers said the DSA had attracted about 10,000 new members since March of that year. According to DSA leaders, after Sanders dropped out of the 2020 presidential race in April, many supporters previously aligned with his campaign joined the DSA. Membership peaked at 95,000 in 2021, when the organization had 239 local chapters, before declining to 77,575 by August 2023, largely from lapsed dues. The organization has gained at least 2,400 new dues-paying members since October 2023 due to its pro-Palestinian stance during the Gaza war.

Between 2013 and 2017, the median age of its membership decreased from 68 to 33.

Publications

The DSA publishes ''Democratic Left'' and ''Socialist Forum'', quarterly magazines of news, analysis, and internal debate. ''Democratic Left'' continues in an uninterrupted run from the original ''Newsletter of the Democratic Left'' published by the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee, a DSA predecessor, since its establishment in 1973. Left-wing quarterly magazine ''Jacobin'' often aligns with DSA, although they are not affiliated. In 2014, ''Jacobin'' founder and then-editor Bhaskar Sunkara, a DSA member, praised DSA founder Michael Harrington, calling him "very underrated as a popularizer of Marxist thought". Caucuses within DSA often have their own publications to spread their particular views within and outside the organization, such as The Call, Reform and Revolution, Partisan Magazine, and Light and Air.

Political positions

The DSA experienced a significant ideological shift after 2016, with an influx of younger members who helped push the organization toward anti-Zionism and support for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movements. This shift brought in a broader array of ideologies than the DSA's original focus on reformist and popular front strategies. During the 2023 DSA National Convention, Marxist-Leninist and revolutionary socialist factions won a majority of seats on its National Political Committee for a first time, marking a further shift to the left and growing efforts to implement a policy of democratic centralism. This led many older members to leave, citing entryism, rising centralization, and ideological drift.

The DSA's 2021 platform, its most recent, calls for abolishing police and prisons; ending all misdemeanors; fighting institutional white supremacy through racial reparations for people of color, anti-discrimination, and hate crime laws; enacting single-payer healthcare; raising the minimum wage; a Green New Deal; abolishing the Electoral College, Senate, and fillibuster; and transitioning to a parliamentary system. Identifying with anti-imperialism, it supports withdrawing from NATO, PEPFAR, and other forms of American foreign aid; an end to the dollar as the world's reserve currency; and normalizing relations with China, Venezuela, Cuba, and Iran. It describes the United States and Israel as settler states built upon genocide. To that end, it is anti-Zionist and supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movements; independence for Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Native American reservations, and other territories; and a second constitutional convention to establish a decolonized and socialist republic.

DSA members support a wide range of socialist ideologies, including Trotskyism, Marxism–Leninism, the democratic road to socialism, libertarian socialism, orthodox Marxism, social democracy, evolutionary socialism, socialist feminism, and eco-socialism. Members' views vary on topics like democratic economic planning, market socialism, reform versus revolution, democratic centralism versus horizontalism, and degrowth.

Economy

The dominant position in DSA regards the abolition of capitalism and the realization of socialism as a long-term goal, therefore the organization focuses its immediate political energies on reforms within capitalism that empower working people while decreasing the power of corporations.

Labor

The DSA has been involved in a variety of labor organizing campaigns. In 2020, the DSA and United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America founded the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC) to "help workers organize" by developing training programs and connecting labor organizers with appropriate resources. ''Jacobin'' attributed various labor organizing drive and union election victories to the assistance of EWOC organizers. The DSA has frequently adopted the strategy of getting socialists hired in key occupations to establish new unions or reform caucuses within existing unions.

On March 7, 2021, DSA launched a coalitional effort with Communications Workers of America and the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades to pass the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, with rallies and hundreds of thousands of phone calls to voters. During the 117th Congress, the bill passed the House but died in committee in the Senate.

In October 2023, the University of Oregon's YDSA chapter led a campaign to form the nation's largest wall-to-wall undergraduate labor union, and successfully unionized 4,900 student workers.

Environment

DSA supports the implementation of a Green New Deal, including "Massive public investment to transition away from fossil fuels toward a green and sustainable economy. Guaranteed support for workers in the fossil fuel industry, massive infrastructure and jobs programs, and public ownership over major transportation and energy infrastructure and natural resources."

Build Public Renewables Act campaign

In late 2019, the New York City DSA chapter established the Public Power NY Coalition, aimed at expanding public renewable energy in collaboration with organized labor and DSA members in the New York state legislature. According to campaign organizer Ashley Dawson, the Coalition was formed after private utility company Consolidated Edison increased electricity prices; it was also concerned about Consolidated Edison's fossil fuel lobbying, its failure to invest in upgrading its energy infrastructure, and respiratory illnesses caused by pollution in low-income and minority neighborhoods.

In March 2023, DSA members in the U.S. House Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman wrote to Governor Kathy Hochul to urge the passage of the Build Public Renewables Act (BPRA).

In May 2023, the DSA claimed that the four-year organizing campaign led by New York state chapters enabled the BPRA to pass. DSA and progressive media called it "the biggest Green New Deal victory in U.S. history" due to its provisions for public renewable energy, unionized public jobs, electricity price discounts, and closing natural gas plants.

Some have criticized the New York Power Authority for lack of transparency around progress toward the goals of the BPRA, and for hiring McKinsey & Company to implement the plan, which advocates have criticized for corruption and alleged bias for private development.

Migration

DSA calls for the abolition of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an end to all immigrant detention and deportations, and a "demilitarization" of the Mexico–United States border.

Prisons and police

In the 1990s, the DSA Fund directed resources to the Prison Moratorium Project led by the youth section of DSA, which aimed to divest from private prisons and contributed to Sodexo partially divesting from them.

Foreign policy

The organization was a member of the Socialist International from 1982 to 2017. A majority of delegates at the 2017 DSA National Convention voted to leave the International due to its alleged support for neoliberal economic policies. Delegates at the 2021 DSA National Convention voted to apply to join the São Paulo Forum, and DSA became an Associate Member organization in 2023. Delegates at the August 2023 DSA National Convention voted for the organization to join the Progressive International, and DSA became an official member in October 2023.

Israeli–Palestinian conflict

DSA originally supported Israel and Zionism. When the United Nations passed Resolution 3379 in 1975, which called Zionism a form of racism, Harrington called it a "preposterous charge" that "drain dthe concept of racism of any serious meaning." Former DSA vice-chair Jo-Ann Mort has said the group was formerly "the place to go on the left if you were a socialist and you were pro-Israel".

After 2016, DSA shifted toward an anti-Zionist stance, viewing Israel as an imperialist, apartheid ethnostate. On August 5, 2017, DSA members nearly unanimously passed a resolution to formally endorse the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Iron Dome vote controversy

In 2021, the DSA attracted criticism from the socialist left due to a vote by U.S. Representative Jamaal Bowman, an elected member of DSA at the time, in favor of providing $1 billion in additional annual aid to Israel, in violation of DSA's anti-Zionist and pro-BDS platform. Bowman was also criticized for meeting with Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett on a trip to Israel organized by the liberal Zionist lobby group J Street.

In February 2022, Bowman removed his sponsorship of the Israeli Relations Normalization Act, which some DSA members considered a win from engaging with Bowman's office. In April 2023, Bowman co-led a letter to President Joe Biden with Senator Bernie Sanders urging a probe into the use of U.S. weapons to commit human rights abuses against Palestinians. The letter called for restricting $3.8 billion in annual military aid to Israel and "immediate action to prevent the further loss of Israeli and Palestinian lives".

In July 2023, the House of Representatives passed a resolution, 412–9, declaring that "The State of Israel is not a racist or apartheid state, Congress rejects all forms of antisemitism and xenophobia, and the United States will always be a staunch partner and supporter of Israel." Among those voting against the resolution were DSA members Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib, Bush, and Bowman, who each cited the Israeli government's human rights abuses against Palestinians.

2023 Israel–Gaza war

On October 7, 2023, DSA published a statement saying Hamas's attack that day was the direct result of Israel's " apartheid regime". It went on to condemn all civilian casualties, reaffirm its stance against the occupation of Palestinian territory and support for Palestinian statehood, call for an end to U.S. financial support to the State of Israel, and spotlight an initiative by DSA-endorsed New York State Assembly member Zohran Mamdani that would end nonprofit status for organizations funding Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity. The same day, Cori Bush released a statement mourning "the over 250 Israeli and 230 Palestinian lives that have been lost today", criticizing Israel's military response to the attack, and calling for "ending U.S. government support for Israeli military occupation and apartheid". On October 8, Rashida Tlaib released a statement that likewise grieved "the Palestinian and Israeli lives lost yesterday, today, and every day", called for lifting the blockade of the Gaza Strip and ending Israeli occupation and apartheid, and cited U.S. government support for Israel as part of the problem. DSA-endorsed members of Congress—Bush, Tlaib, and Ocasio-Cortez—have all called the State of Israel an apartheid regime, citing human rights abuses against Palestinians.

Over the months following the start of the Gaza war, various DSA chapters and DSA rank-and-file members and public officials organized and participated in numerous protests and vigils alongside Jewish and Palestinian advocacy groups, including Jewish Voice for Peace, IfNotNow, and Students for Justice in Palestine, in support of a ceasefire and Palestinian liberation.

On October 8, the New York City DSA chapter promoted a pro-Palestine rally in Times Square. Several New York politicians condemned the rally for statements at the event by Party for Socialism and Liberation member Eugene Puryear mocking the victims of the Re'im music festival massacre and for an unidentified attendee displaying a swastika on a cellphone. The DSA later distanced itself from the rally, as did Ocasio-Cortez. Representative Jamaal Bowman confirmed in light of the rally that he had let his DSA membership expire in 2022. In the days after the rally, some socialist magazines such as ''Jacobin'' published editorials disputing negative characterizations of DSA, arguing that mainstream media outlets had falsely accused it of supporting Hamas and organizing the rally. Some Jewish members of DSA denounced Mayor Eric Adams for falsely accusing the DSA of "carrying swastikas and calling for the extermination of Jewish people", calling the accusation "horrific defamation". Progressives outside of DSA as well as opponents of the organization similarly deemed Adams's comments inappropriate and false. In addition to denouncing Adams's comments, Abby Stein wrote disapprovingly in the New York ''Daily News'' about other New York politicians, such as Ritchie Torres and Nicole Malliotakis.

On October 13, Mamdani and another DSA New York State Assembly member, Marcela Mitaynes, were arrested for disorderly conduct at a rally in Brooklyn for a ceasefire, organized by Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), IfNotNow, and Jews for Racial and Economic Justice. Mamdani told media, "We are looking at imminent genocide ... now is not the time to be silent", and said he had received death threats and Islamophobic voicemail messages in the days following the protest.

On October 20, New York City DSA led a more than 3,000-person protest in Manhattan calling for U.S. senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer to support a ceasefire resolution. At the event, 139 protesters were arrested for "acts of civil disobedience as protesters sat down and blocked traffic", including DSA member and New York State Senator Jabari Brisport.

On November 15, JVP, DSA, and IfNotNow held a candlelight vigil and protested at the Democratic National Committee Headquarters in Washington, DC to call for a ceasefire in Gaza during a fundraiser attended by members of Congress. The vigil and protest ended in U.S. Capitol Police clashing with protestors who were "illegally and violently protesting" at the building, according to police, injuring 90 protestors and 6 police officers. Congressmen Representative Brad Sherman and Senator Marco Rubio claimed the protestors were violent and "pro-Hamas."

From November 29 to December 2, DSA officially joined a coalition led by the Adalah Justice Project to carry out a five-day hunger strike outside the White House, with DSA members including New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, Michigan State Representative Abraham Aiyash, Palestinian writer Sumaya Awad, actress Cynthia Nixon, and then-interim DSA chair Ashik Siddique participating in the strike. Five members of Congress joined the strikers to speak in support on November 29, including Bush and Tlaib.

Throughout 2024, DSA led or endorsed several state-level Uncommitted campaigns, and YDSA chapters led or supported encampment organizing on university campuses. On July 11, 2024, DSA pulled its endorsement of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez after she hosted an online panel discussion about antisemitism with Jewish leaders. During the discussion, Ocasio-Cortez said that some criticism of Israel was antisemitic. The DSA called the panel "a deep betrayal to all those who've risked their welfare to fight Israeli apartheid and genocide through political and direct action in recent months and in decades past".

Russian invasion of Ukraine

On February 26, 2022, the DSA issued a statement condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine while arguing that the U.S. and NATO provoked Russia. The statement called for "diplomacy and de-escalation to resolve this crisis" and for the U.S. to withdraw from NATO and "end the imperialist expansionism that set the stage for this conflict". Many Democratic members of Congress, including politicians affiliated with the DSA, criticized this statement, with some calling it "tone-deaf". Others defended the statement and criticized the responses from mainstream media and politicians attacking the organization. According to ''New York'', "The suggestion that the U.S. was somehow to blame for Vladimir Putin's war of aggression was seized on by the DSA's critics across the ideological spectrum—from the ''New York Post'' to Democratic congressional candidate Max Rose—while setting off a round of recriminations and counterstatements among American leftists."

Elections

Historically, the DSA was associated with Michael Harrington's position that "the left wing of realism is found today in the Democratic Party". In its early years, the DSA opposed Republican presidential candidates by giving critical support to Democratic nominees like Walter Mondale in 1984. In 1988, the DSA enthusiastically supported Jesse Jackson's second presidential campaign. Since 1995, the DSA's position on American electoral politics has been that "democratic socialists reject an either-or approach to electoral coalition building, focused solely on a new party or on realignment within the Democratic Party". During the 1990s, the DSA gave the Clinton administration an overall rating of C−, "less than satisfactory".

Since the early 2000s, the DSA has been critical of the Democratic Party leadership, which it argues is corporate-funded. The organization has stated:

In recent years, the DSA's stated long-term goal has become to form an independent workers' party, while in the meantime it adopts a "proto-party" strategy called the "dirty break". DSA's elected leadership has often seen running in Democratic Party primary elections, rather than immediately forming a Third party (U.S. politics), third party, as necessary for socialist visibility and electoral victories while the organization builds the resources for a viable workers' party. DSA has also developed a stricter endorsement policy since 2016, endorsing only democratic socialists.

Presidential elections

In 1984, the DSA endorsed Walter Mondale in the 1984 United States presidential election. In 1987, the DSA endorsed Jesse Jackson in the 1988 Democratic Party presidential primaries, to Jackson's disapproval.

In 2000, the DSA took no official position on the 2000 United States presidential election, presidential election, with several prominent DSA members backing Green Party of the United States, Green Party nominee Ralph Nader while others supported Socialist Party USA nominee David McReynolds and others voting for Democratic nominee Al Gore.

In 2004, the organization backed John Kerry after he won the Democratic nomination. In its official magazine, the DSA's political action committee said that Kerry's defeat would be taken as a defeat of the mainstream left, but that "a Kerry victory will let us press onward, with progressives aggressively pressuring an administration that owed its victory to democratic mobilization from below." The only resolution on upcoming elections at the DSA's 2005 convention focused on Bernie Sanders's independent campaign for the United States Senate, U.S. Senate in Vermont. The organization's 2007 convention in Atlanta featured record-breaking attendance and more participation by the organization's youth wing. Sanders gave the keynote address.

In 2008, the DSA supported Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama in his race against Republican nominee John McCain. In an article in the March 24 edition of ''The Nation'', DSA members Barbara Ehrenreich and Bill Fletcher Jr., along with Tom Hayden and Danny Glover, announced the formation of Progressives for Obama, arguing that Obama was the most progressive viable Democratic presidential candidate since Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. Following Obama's election, many on the Right-wing politics, political right began to allege that his administration's policies were "socialistic", a claim the DSA and the Presidency of Barack Obama, Obama administration both rejected. The claim led DSA National Director Frank Llewellyn to declare that "over the past 12 months, the Democratic Socialists of America has received more media attention than it has over the past 12 years".

In the 2016 United States presidential election, 2016 presidential election, the DSA endorsed Sanders for president. Sanders's candidacy prompted a surge in DSA membership among young voters, bringing a major shift in the organization's federal endorsements toward a stricter line. After Sanders lost to Hillary Clinton in the Democratic Party presidential primaries, 2016, 2016 Democratic primaries, the DSA called for Republican nominee Donald Trump's defeat, but did not officially endorse Clinton.

In 2020, the DSA endorsed Sanders for president again after an advisory poll reported 76% of the participating membership approved his endorsement, despite objections from part of the membership about Sanders's statements on, among other topics, Reparations for slavery, slavery reparations. No other candidates were included in the poll. After Sanders dropped out in April 2020, the DSA explicitly did not endorse the presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden. Two DSA chapters (Colorado Springs, Colorado, Colorado Springs and Salt Lake City) voted to endorse Green Party of the United States, Green Party nominee Howie Hawkins 2020 presidential campaign, Howie Hawkins. In May 2020, 91 "founders, officers and activists" of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) in the 1960s criticized the DSA's failure to endorse Biden in an open letter "to the New New Left From the Old New Left" published in ''The Nation''. Daniel Finn of ''Jacobin'' responded that in invoking the specter of fascism under a second-term Trump, the former SDSers were engaging in "melodramatic hyperbole", and that climate change was not an issue that could wait until 2024 or 2028. "No socialist", he argued, "who campaigned for Bernie Sanders should feel guilty about abandoning [the Democrats] and concentrating on building a movement that is the only real hope for the planet's future".

In 2023, DSA member and former DSA honorary chair Cornel West announced his campaign in the 2024 United States presidential election, initially with the People's Party (United States, 2017), People's Party, then with the Green Party of the United States, Green Party, and then in October 2023 as an Independent politician, independent candidate.

In 2024, DSA endorsed a multitude of state-level Uncommitted National Movement, Uncommitted campaigns in the 2024 Democratic Party presidential primaries, Democratic primaries to protest the Presidency of Joe Biden, Biden administration's stance on the Gaza war. DSA made no endorsement in the 2024 general presidential race. DSA members expressed split views on West's campaign despite widespread admiration for him, with some citing People's Party (United States, 2017)#History, controversies within the People's Party or the potential for a spoiler effect, and others arguing the campaign could be an opportunity to make socialist ideas more visible. Others advocated voting for other third-party candidates, such as Claudia De la Cruz of the Party for Socialism and Liberation or Jill Stein of the Green Party of the United States, Green Party. Some supported voting for Vice President Kamala Harris 2024 presidential campaign, Kamala Harris, particularly in swing states, and traveled to swing states to knock doors for her, as they saw defeating Trump as necessary.

Congressional elections

On June 26, 2018, DSA member and then-endorsee Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez 2018 New York's 14th congressional district election, won the Democratic primary against incumbent Representative Joseph Crowley in New York's 14th congressional district in an upset, virtually guaranteeing her the congressional seat in the heavily Democratic district, which spans parts of the Bronx and Queens. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi dismissed the win as "not to be viewed as something that stands for anything else" and said it represented change only in one progressive district. In contrast, Democratic National Committee head Tom Perez called Ocasio-Cortez "the future of our party". The Trotskyist International Committee of the Fourth International critiqued her and the DSA as a "left" cover for the "right-wing Democratic Party", particularly in regard to foreign policy. Six weeks after Ocasio-Cortez's primary victory, DSA member and endorsee Rashida Tlaib won the Democratic primary in Michigan's 13th congressional district. Both Ocasio-Cortez and Tlaib won their general elections to become members of Congress.

Ocasio-Cortez's victory and the subsequent publicity for the DSA led more than 1,000 new members to join the organization the next day, approximately 35 times the daily average.

In the 2020 United States elections, 2020 elections, at least 36 DSA members won office, earning more than 3.1 million votes. Four DSA members were elected to the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives, including incumbents Ocasio-Cortez and Tlaib and newly elected members Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush. DSA members were unsuccessful in being elected to the House in West Virginia (West Virginia's 2nd congressional district, WV-2), Mississippi (Mississippi's 1st congressional district, MS-1) and California (California's 12th congressional district, CA-12).

In Tennessee, Marquita Bradshaw won the Democratic nomination for the 2020 United States Senate election in Tennessee, 2020 Senate election in an upset. Initially not nationally endorsed, she was endorsed by the Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis-Memphis metropolitan area, Midsouth chapter of DSA and after her primary victory was also endorsed by Tennessee's other DSA chapters, in Knoxville, Tennessee, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Tennessee, Chattanooga, Middle Tennessee, Middle and Tri-Cities, Tennessee, Northeast Tennessee. She lost the general election to Bill Hagerty.

In November 2022, Greg Casar was the fifth DSA member jointly elected to the House, though he was not endorsed due to Greg Casar#Israel and Palestine, his stances on Palestine. The next year, Bowman announced that he had stopped paying his membership dues, and Shri Thanedar, who had quietly joined the organization, was expelled for supporting the governments of Israeli war cabinet, Israel and Premiership of Narendra Modi, India.' But in May 2024, Bowman rejoined the organization and was endorsed by its New York City chapter. This came as he faced a strong primary challenge from George Latimer (New York politician), George Latimer, who was endorsed by many Israel lobby in the United States, pro-Israel lobby groups. In June 2024, Bowman lost the primary to Latimer. In July 2024, the DSA's National Political Committee (NPC)'s endorsement of Ocasio-Cortez was revoked due to her stances on Palestine, though the New York City DSA chapter rejected the NPC's conditions for her endorsement; Ocasio-Cortez is endorsed locally by the NYC-DSA chapter, but does not have the national endorsement. In August 2024, Cori Bush lost the Democratic primary election for her seat to Wesley Bell.

State and local elections

In the 2017 United States elections, United States elections of 2017, DSA endorsed 15 candidates for office, with the highest position gained being that of Lee J. Carter in the Virginia House of Delegates. DSA members won 15 electoral offices in 13 states, bringing the total to 35 (having changed its electoral strategy at its national convention, the DSA had anticipated picking up approximately five seats) 56% of the DSA members who ran in this election cycle won, compared to 20% in 2016 United States elections, 2016. These results encouraged dozens more DSA members to run for office in the 2018 elections.

In the 2018 midterm elections, DSA anticipated reaching 100 elected officials nationwide from its strategic down-ballot campaigns, with most of those in state and local races. 39 formally endorsed people ran for office at the state and local levels in 20 states, including Florida, Hawaii, Kansas and Michigan; Maine's Zak Ringelstein, a Democrat, was its sole senatorial candidate. Local chapters endorsed around 110 candidates in total. Four female DSA members (Sara Innamorato, Summer Lee, Elizabeth Fiedler and Kristin Seale) won Democratic primary contests for seats in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, with Innamorato and Lee defeating incumbents. Additionally, Jade Bahr and Amelia Marquez won their primaries in Montana for the Montana House of Representatives, State House and Jeremy Mele won his primary for the Maine House of Representatives. In California, Jovanka Beckles won one of the top two spots in the primary and advanced to the general election for a California State Assembly, State Assembly seat in the East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), East Bay. Ultimately, about a dozen members (or non-members who were endorsed) won office in state legislatures. In the aggregate, the DSA had backed 40 winning candidates at the state, county and municipal levels. DSA members elected to state legislatures in 2018 include Hawaii House of Representatives, Hawaii Representative Amy Perruso, New York State Senate, New York Senator Julia Salazar, and Pennsylvania House of Representatives, Pennsylvania Representatives Fiedler, Innamorato, and Lee.

The 2019 Chicago aldermanic elections saw six DSA members elected to the 50-seat Chicago City Council: incumbent Carlos Ramirez-Rosa and newcomers Daniel La Spata, Jeanette Taylor, Byron Sigcho-Lopez, Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez, and Andre Vasquez. The six newly elected DSA members informally organized the Chicago City Council Socialist Caucus in 2019, later formalizing it in 2021 as the Democratic Socialist Caucus. In the 2019 United States elections, 2019 off-year elections, DSA members made further gains by capturing over a half dozen city council seats across the country; Dean Preston became the first democratic socialist elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 40 years, while Lee J. Carter, Lee Carter was reelected to the Virginia House of Delegates.

In 2020, the DSA made significant gains in State legislature (United States), state legislatures. Over 30 DSA members and endorsed (either nationally or by local chapters) candidates were elected in 16 states, including five in Pennsylvania and seven in New York (state), New York. Notable victories were in West Philadelphia, where Rick Krajewski beat a 35-year incumbent, and in New York City, where a slate of five candidates was (re)elected to the New York State Assembly, state house and the New York State Senate, state senate. All DSA incumbents were reelected, with the sole exception of Jade Bahr (politician), Jade Bahr, who lost her race for the Montana House of Representatives.

Dozens of DSA members and affiliated candidates have won races for local offices since 2020. Most notably, Nithya Raman, endorsed by the national DSA, won her race for Los Angeles City Council, Los Angeles city council in district 4, and Janeese Lewis George won her race for Washington, D.C. Council of the District of Columbia, city council Neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., ward 4, after winning her primary against incumbent Brandon Todd (politician), Brandon Todd. Dean Preston was reelected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. José Garza was elected as district attorney for Travis County, Texas, Travis County in Texas and Gabriella Cázares-Kelly was elected county recorder in Pima County, Arizona Other DSA-affiliated candidates were elected to city councils in Austin, Texas, Austin, Aurora, Oakland, California, Oakland, Burbank, California, Burbank, Berkeley, California, Berkeley, Mountain View, California, Mountain View, South San Francisco, California, South San Francisco, Redwood City, California, Redwood City, Sacramento, California, Sacramento, Burlington, Vermont, Burlington, Madison, Wisconsin, Madison, Stoughton, Wisconsin, Stoughton, St. Petersburg, Florida, St. Petersburg, and Portland, Maine, Portland, Maine.

In March 2021, an all-DSA leadership of a state Democratic party was elected for the first time in its history, sweeping the leadership of the Nevada Democratic Party. After the elections, the entire Nevada Democratic Party staff resigned. On March 4, 2023, a "unity" slate of candidates was elected, ending DSA leadership of the party. In February 2023, the DSA's Las Vegas chapter said that communication between the slate and the chapter had faltered and the slate had become increasingly moderate over its term despite initial statements in favor of democratic socialist causes. From this experience, the chapter wrote in opposition to both entryism in the Democratic Party and solely focusing on electoral organizing as formidable strategies for socialist organizers:

In June 2021, the Buffalo, New York chapter-endorsed candidate, India Walton, won the Democratic Party primary election for mayor, defeating incumbent Byron Brown. Following the primary election loss, Brown qualified for the general election as a write-in candidate. In November 2021, Walton lost the mayoral race to Brown, who earned 38,338 write-in votes to Walton's 25,773 votes.

In the 2023 Chicago aldermanic elections, all five incumbent DSA members were reelected, as was Andre Vasquez, whom the organization endorsed in 2019 but censured in 2020 for supporting a neoliberal budget. After James Cappleman retired, DSA member Angela Clay was elected in the 46th Ward, bringing the total membership of the Democratic Socialist Caucus back up to six.

At the 2023 DSA National Convention, delegates declared Board of education, school board elections to be an electoral priority. ''Jacobin'' and the ''New York Post'' both noted the success of DSA candidates in school board elections in at least 15 states since 2021 from left- and right-wing perspectives, respectively, including that such candidates ran on supporting Transgender rights in the United States, transgender rights, fighting Institutional racism, systemic racism, and supporting teachers' unions and funding for State school, public education.

See also

* List of conventions of the Democratic Socialists of America
* American Left
* The Squad (United States Congress)
* Rashida Tlaib
* Zohran Mamdani
* Maria Svart
* Michael Harrington
* Barbara Ehrenreich
* Cornel West

Notes

References

Further reading

* Kate Aronoff (August 7, 2017)
"Are the Democratic Socialists of America for Real?"
''The New Republic''. Retrieved June 30, 2018.
* Joel Freedman (November–December 1981). "No Enemies on the Left as DSOC and NAM Merge". ''New America''. New York. vol. 18. no. 6. p. 5.
* Lauren Gambino (August 6, 2019
'We're here to win': US democratic socialists move to center stage
''The Guardian''. Retrieved August 7, 2019
* Joel Meyerson
"What the Socialists Just Did — And Why"
''The American Prospect'', August 9, 2019.
* Jennifer Swann (February 8, 2017)
"How Democratic Socialists Are Building on Bernie's Momentum"
''Rolling Stone''. Retrieved June 30, 2018.
* Marc Tracy
"Is 'Bernie or Bust' the Future of the Left?"
''New York Times,'' August 6, 2019. Print version: "Party on the Left Gets Bigger, Stronger and Declares 'Bernie or Bust.'" August 6, 2019, section A, pg. 11.

"DSA Members Comment on Their 2017 Convention"
Portside.org. August 24, 2017. Retrieved June 30, 2018.

External links

*

Constitution of the DSA
Dsausa.org. Retrieved July 14, 2021.

Young Democratic Socialists official website
(youth affiliate of DSA).

January 2018 National Public Radio segment on the burgeoning interest in the DSA


July 2018 National Public Radio segment on the political impact of the DSA



in the ''New York Daily News'' following Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's primary win.

What We're Building
A methodological survey of DSA chapters.


''New York'' article by Simon van Zuylen-Wood about socialism's sudden popularity, with a focus on DSA. (March 3, 2019)

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