A third of Democrats now call themselves socialists. But these primary victories play into the hands of Republicans eager to tar socialists and Democrats with the same brush.
What exactly is Democratic Socialists of America, or DSA?
Democratic Socialists of America is a political organization that is becoming an increasingly influential player on the left.
Inflation may be hurting Republicans’ November midterm election chances. But what about the Democratic Socialists of America hurting the Democrats?
More and more Americans seem ready to give socialism a go. Classically, it means a system where the state owns and controls the major means of production – the goal being to share wealth fairly and meet human needs instead of chasing private profit.
Socialism has a bad rap in America, understandably. Vladimir Lenin built a Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Hitler rode to power on the back of his National Socialist German Workers’ Party – Nazi – party. But socialism, Peggy Noonan wrote in her Wall Street Journal column published Aug. 6, “is not a passing thing but an arriving thing.”
From Mamdani in NYC to El-Sayed in Michigan
Zohran Mamdani, a committed democratic socialist, is the New York mayor pushing new taxes on the wealthy that could drive high earners out of the city. Meanwhile, three Mamdani-endorsed congressional candidates won their June 23 primaries decisively. Two of them, Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier, are Democratic Socialists of America members who ousted longtime incumbents. Democratic socialists also won two New York state Senate races and four state Assembly races, despite millions in campaign spending against them.
Elsewhere, DSA candidates won the Democratic mayoral primary in Washington, DC, and will compete in Los Angeles’ November mayoral runoff. In Michigan, DSA-aligned candidate Abdul El-Sayed won the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate, edging four-term Rep. Haley Stevens by about 1 percentage point, racking up huge margins in progressive enclaves and university towns.
El-Sayed supports Medicare for all, an arms embargo on Israel and abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He has repeatedly campaigned with far-left Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, who has said that Hamas is “a thousand times better” than Israel and once said America “deserved 9/11” before walking it back.
In Minnesota, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, is running for the U.S. Senate as an anti-establishment fighter, calling for universal health care and a higher federal minimum wage. In the Democratic primary, Flanagan beat moderate U.S. Rep. Angie Craig by nearly 20 points.
The DSA’s version of MAGA
A CNN/SSRS poll in July found that a third of Democrats and Democratic-leaning adults identify as democratic socialists. What’s the draw?
It’s mostly a movement of the young (59% of self-identified democratic socialists are under 45) – disillusioned by the 2008 financial crisis, Trump-era corruption and widening economic disparities they came of age watching – looking for someone to blame.
The DSA party, says national cochair Megan Romer, has its own version of making America great again. Democratic socialists want a complete overhaul of the U.S. system of government: Abolish the Senate, replace the presidency and the Supreme Court, open the borders, defund the Pentagon, and put most large corporations under government ownership.
This is not socialism. But can Democrats, hungry to get back in power, win the midterms if they enter a shotgun marriage with the socialists? The DSA agenda rides roughshod over the Constitution, eroding the checks and balances that have long constrained government power. Socialist economics and DSA-style dismantling of the Constitution are a non-starter for most Americans.
Democratic socialists are a gift to MAGA Republicans
The socialist victories play into the hands of Republicans eager to tar socialists and Democrats with the same brush. Former Rep. Mike Rogers, the GOP nominee facing El-Sayed in November, called the Senate race a choice between “common sense or complete insanity,” branding El-Sayed an “extremist” tied to “ideological fanaticism.” Republican National Committee leaders, meanwhile, have moved to nationalize the race by tying El-Sayed to Mamdani’s brand of democratic socialism.
Democratic socialists are a gift to the MAGAs. What DSA proposes is a radical restructuring of American government that goes way beyond socialism.
King Charles III, in his address to the U.S. Congress in April, put it well: “Our common ideals were not only crucial for liberty and equality, they are also the foundation of our shared prosperity. … These features created the conditions for centuries of unmatched economic growth in our two countries.”
America’s economic tradition – thoughtful regulation, vigorous antitrust enforcement, judicious spending – has a track record of building broad prosperity, while socialism does not.
El-Sayed could still lose in November, as state Rep. Francesca Hong did in Wisconsin, if independents keep souring on the DSA brand the way they have so far.
But in a year that Democrats are favored to win big, democratic socialists might be the thing that costs them the majority they should already have.
James D. Zirin is a former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York and a published legal analyst.