Summary
- The DSA has endorsed 10 House candidates.
- While DSA hasn’t endorsed Senate candidates, three are in the DSA orbit.
- DSA is also pushing state and local candidates, as well as ballot initiatives.
Socialism is on the ballot in the midterm elections, and not just in high-profile congressional races.
The Democratic Socialists of America has endorsed 255 candidates and ballot initiatives, according to the DSA’s national tracker. The candidates from around the country are running for a variety of local, state, and congressional offices.
Eleven of the candidates have already won their races for local office, while 59 candidates have lost their local races or congressional primaries.
More than half of the DSA-endorsed state legislative candidates hail from just five blue states, suggesting the group is building a bench of local leaders who could become national candidates.
Expanding ‘The Squad’
DSA-backed candidates could expand the socialist contingent in the House beyond prominent members such as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.
Two DSA-endorsed candidates, Darializa Avila Chevalier in New York’s 13th Congressional District and Melat Kiros in Colorado’s 1st Congressional District, unseated established Democrats in their primaries. They have already discussed plans to demand policy concessions of Democrats running for Speaker of the House, should the party win the majority next week.
In addition to Chevalier and Kiros, the DSA has endorsed Donavan McKinney (Mich., 13), Claire Valdez (N.Y., 7), Chris Rabb (Pa., 3), Angela Gonzales-Torres (Calif., 34), Mai Vang (Calif., 7), and Lauren Jewett (La., 1). The DSA endorsed former Squad member Cori Bush, who lost her House primary earlier this year.
Socialism in the Senate
The DSA’s national tracker does not include any U.S. Senate candidates, though the national organization has previously endorsed one candidate. Another candidate joined the DSA this year, and the last candidate is firmly in the movement’s orbit.
Abdul El-Sayed, the Democrat nominee for U.S. Senate in Michigan, has neither joined the DSA nor received a DSA endorsement, but has supported DSA policies and previously addressed DSA events.
Though he said he thinks of himself “as a capitalist,” El-Sayed has supported DSA policies such as Medicare for All, ending the filibuster, and abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement. El-Sayed also spoke at DSA events between 2017 and 2020, Fox News reported. His campaign website touts endorsements from DSA member Ocasio-Cortez and socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
Cook rates Michigan’s Senate race as a “toss-up.”
The Memphis-Midsouth DSA in Tennessee has urged supporters to vote for Marquita Bradshaw, the Volunteer State’s Democrat nominee for Senate. The DSA has not officially endorsed her this year in a race the Cook Political Report rates as “Solid R.”
Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon, meanwhile, joined the DSA in June before winning the August Democrat Senate primary. She had previously described herself as a capitalist. The national DSA has not endorsed Nixon, who faces Republican Sen. Ashley Moody in a race the Cook Political Report rates as “Solid R.”
State and Local Races
The largest share of the DSA’s candidate slate, however, lies at the state and local levels. The movement’s national tracker lists 59 candidates for state legislative offices across 25 states.
More than half of those candidates are concentrated in New York, Vermont, Minnesota, Illinois, and Oregon.
A DSA candidate is likely to take power in the nation’s capital, as Janeese Lewis George won the June Democrat primary for Washington, D.C., mayor. The city’s main DSA chapter mobilized more than 300 members to canvass for George, who ran on a platform of universal affordable child care and strengthening tenants’ rights, Time Magazine reported.
Nithya Raman, the DSA-endorsed candidate for Los Angeles mayor challenging incumbent Democrat Karen Bass, is locked in a race that is effectively tied even as she faces the prospect of losing the DSA’s backing over the issue of Israel.
Ballot Initiatives
The DSA has also endorsed and opposed a bevy of ballot initiatives.
The DSA is urging voters to oppose Washington Initiative 645, which would repeal a new 9.9% state tax on adjusted gross income over $1 million, set to begin on Jan. 1, 2028. Initiative proponents say the tax represents a “test case” for a broader income tax.
The DSA has endorsed Tenants Right to Repair, a ballot initiative in St. Paul, Minnesota, that would allow city renters to be reimbursed for the cost of fixes to their homes totaling up to $500 or half their rent, whichever is greater, according to MPR News. The city council opposed allowing the measure on the ballot, citing concerns that it would violate state law.
Simultaneously, the DSA is training members to build what it calls “militant tenant unions,” organizing renters into citywide and regional groups to build a lasting political movement.
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[ H/T The Daily Signal ]
