DSA backs Oliver Larkin in Moskowitz primary bid

DSA endorsement – The Democratic Socialists of America has endorsed Oliver Larkin in a Democratic primary challenge to Rep. Jared Moskowitz in Florida’s 25th District, a seat that was once comfortably Democratic but was redrawn by state Republicans to favor the GOP. The race ha

Fresh off Democratic-leaning primaries where Democratic Socialists of America-backed candidates beat incumbent Democrats, the DSA is setting its sights on a more dangerous target—one of the rare races where a Democratic primary fight could decide the general election.

The organization has endorsed Oliver Larkin to challenge Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) for Florida’s 25th District. President Donald Trump won the district by nine points. and this year Florida Republicans redrew the district earlier this year to favor the GOP—changes that have turned what once looked like a safer Democratic seat into an opening Republicans are eager to exploit.

The DSA’s push is already framed as a national escalation. “The movement moves from New York to Colorado to FLORIDA!” the DSA posted on social media. Hasan Piker, described in the report as a socialist influencer, hosted a virtual fundraiser for Larkin on Tuesday.

For Democratic leaders, the central worry isn’t only whether Larkin wins. It’s what the primary itself could do to Democrats’ chances in November—especially if the party’s nominee becomes difficult for swing or opposition voters to support in a district shaped to favor Republicans.

That anxiety rests on demographic and political realities. The report describes Florida’s 25th District as South Florida-based and “full of older Jewish voters with an emotional connection to the country.” It also says a socialist candidate built much of his campaign around opposition to U.S. aid to Israel, a position the piece suggests would be hard to translate into electoral appeal there. Democrats. the reporting notes. have downplayed in other races how much DSA victories matter in November because many of those bright-blue seats are unlikely to flip to Republicans and would not reshape House speaker dynamics for Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

But this district is portrayed differently—potentially large enough that a Democratic nominee shaped by the primary could hand the seat to the GOP.

Larkin rejects the idea that his candidacy is out of step with local voters. In a phone interview with HuffPost, he argued that even conservative-leaning voters would be attracted to his message. “This one is the next one up. the place where we can prove the viability that this democratic socialist vision and this movement across the country is not just confined to the deep blue districts. ” Larkin said. He added. “This is. in fact. what Democrats need to embrace writ large if we’re going to take back the House in November. and if we’re going to take back the White House in 2028 along with the United States Senate.”.

Campaign polling cited in the report adds to the sense that the race could hinge on Israel-aid attitudes. Polling commissioned by Larkin’s campaign earlier this year found 86% of Democratic primary voters in the district and 68% of general voters favored conditioning or stopping aid to Israel.

Moskowitz’s campaign declined to comment.

The DSA’s case against Moskowitz is also built on visibility and message control. The report describes Moskowitz as 45 years old and as having served in the House since just 2023. while also being highly visible on social media and television—qualities that. in this telling. make it harder for Democratic challengers to paint him as an abstract Washington figure.

Among the examples highlighted: the piece says Moskowitz held up giant photos of Donald Trump together with Jeffrey Epstein long before Democrats fully caught on to the president’s past association with America’s most notorious sex predator. To Larkin. the report says Moskowitz’s vote for the Laken Riley Act. his support for Israel. and his decision to be the first Democrat last year to join the “DOGE Caucus. ” described as a fan club for Elon Musk. all make him a “perfectly logical target.”.

Larkin also points to the politics around that DOGE alliance. “We’ve got people who are really upset about what Elon Musk and DOGE did to the federal government,” he told HuffPost, adding that Moskowitz’s DOGE dalliance contributed to the Florida AFL-CIO’s decision not to endorse him.

Even with the DSA’s push, the reporting suggests the numbers are not currently favoring Larkin. It says polling suggests an uphill battle. A survey released this week found Moskowitz up by more than 30 points. The same survey found 64% of Democratic voters said they favored whichever candidate could beat a Republican in November. with 28% of voters described as undecided.

For Larkin, the uncertainty is framed as something he thinks will shrink once voters learn his case. “I think this is really a toss-up environment as soon as people learn about our campaign,” he said.

The report also captures how establishment Democrats are looking at DSA wins with unease beyond this one contest. It says Democrats have worried that DSA members who win primaries are endorsing unpopular positions on social issues like crime and immigration in ways that will hurt the party’s overall brand.

That concern is illustrated through the report’s comparison to other DSA-backed primary outcomes last month. It cites Reps. Diana DeGette (D-Col.) and Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.). both of whom were beaten in primaries last month by socialist challengers Melat Kiros and Darializa Avila Chevalier. The reporting suggests Moskowitz might be harder to define than those incumbents. but it also says Republicans have seized on those earlier wins as proof Democrats are “becoming full-blown communists.”.

Avila Chevalier’s record is central to that criticism in the report. She is described as a prison abolitionist, and it says she declined to say last month that someone who randomly commits murder should be locked up.

Larkin says he essentially agreed with her approach. “I think most Americans agree that we need to radically reform our system of criminal justice. There are far too many locked up in prisons,” he told HuffPost. He added. “Of course. I’m going to treat the level of homicide or violent assault with the seriousness that it entails. but I think what Darializa Avila Chevalier is speaking to is very true. that our criminal justice system does not. in its current form. rehabilitate people.”.

The Israel issue—and how it may land with Jewish voters in Florida’s 25th District—remains a defining test of Larkin’s message. The report says Larkin pointed to Zohran Mamdani. a DSA-backed candidate whose electoral success in New York City is described as taking place in a city with the largest Jewish population outside of Israel. Larkin argued that Jewish voters and many others may see the Israel-aid issue as moral and practical rather than partisan. “People in general just do not like to see our taxpayer-dollars going toward war crimes. toward genocide and toward propping up a Jim Crow apartheid regime when so many of us are struggling here. ” he said.

This year’s primary calendar puts pressure on how quickly the argument lands. The winner of the Aug. 18 Democratic primary will face the winner of a crowded Republican primary between Scott Singer, George Moraitis, Joe Kaufman, Daniel Franzese and Raven Harrison.

The DSA’s endorsement language aims directly at Moskowitz’s place in the broader caucus map. In its March endorsement, the group said Larkin would take on “one of the most war-mongering” Democrats in Congress. The report adds that this was the DSA’s first endorsement of a candidate for federal office this year.

In a statement carried in the report, the DSA said on its website: “We will no longer allow billionaire-backed democrats to claim that we have to spend billions on war while healthcare is further decimated — we’re challenging them in the primaries with organized people who can’t be bought.”

Operationally, the DSA is already treating the Florida race like a major coordinated effort. It says Megan Romer. a co-chair of the national DSA. said the organization helped coordinate 500. 000 phone calls on behalf of Melat Kiros in Colorado. and that it would do the same for Larkin. “We believe that we can run in tough territory,” Romer said.

The next step will come quickly: Aug. 18. By then. the DSA will learn whether its message—built through a broad national campaign style and anchored in opposition to U.S. aid to Israel. criminal justice overhaul. and attacks on Moskowitz’s alliances—can survive in a district that has been redrawn for Republicans and that is described as carrying intense emotional and demographic stakes.

DSA Oliver Larkin Jared Moskowitz Florida 25th District Hakeem Jeffries Hasan Piker Laken Riley Act DOGE Caucus Larkin primary Aug. 18 Democratic primary