DSA is an organizational machine that feeds the socialist movement, but it is not a political party. Many candidates campaign on the organization’s values, but are not active members. Instead, DSA supports candidates aligned with its views, who typically register as Democrats to increase their chances of winning. 

The New York victories were particularly notable because they unfolded in the political backyard of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY). Several of the socialist candidates have argued the party’s leadership has failed to meet the moment, openly calling for a new generation of Democrats willing to embrace a more confrontational, economically populist agenda.

That approach paid dividends in New York this week, where socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s endorsed slate swept three closely watched primaries, defeating two incumbent members of Congress and another establishment-backed candidate. Brad Lander ousted Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), Claire Valdez defeated Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso in an open-seat contest, and Darializa Avila Chevalier unseated five-term Rep. Andriano Espaillat (D-NY). 

While each race had its own dynamics, the candidates shared common campaign themes: lowering the cost of living, expanding healthcare, and sharply criticizing Democratic leaders they argued had become too closely aligned with corporate donors or had failed to push aggressively enough for progressive priorities.

Their victories have emboldened socialists nationally, who now see similar opportunities in Democratic primaries across the country.

St. Louis socialist goes after AIPAC spending

In Missouri, self-proclaimed socialist Cori Bush is looking to regain her seat representing the St. Louis area, two years after losing her Democratic primary to Rep. Wesley Bell (D-MO). 

During that 2024 primary, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, through the United Democracy Project, pumped more than $8.5 million into Bell’s campaign challenging Bush, with Bell winning by just 5 percentage points before securing victory in the general election. The race is remembered as one of the most expensive House primaries in the country during that cycle.

Bush, 49, backed by a local DSA chapter and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), is leaning heavily on themes that helped define her political rise: expanding healthcare access, lowering housing costs, and supporting organized labor.

She has also taken a swing at AIPAC and corporate influence in elections, branding herself as a candidate “by the community for the community.” Following her fall to Bell, she said AIPAC spending “radicalized her.”

“As an activist, I know we don’t need bought-off politicians who take orders from corporate PACs and far-right donors,” her campaign website reads. “ And as a democratic socialist, I know we need a fighter who answers to the people, not the billionaires who have rigged the rules in their favor. I am that fighter.”

Bush highlighted a protest she held on the U.S. Capitol steps, bringing funding to St. Louis, and her support for Palestinians. Her campaign website does not mention Trump by name, but briefly notes her work fighting against the “MAGA agenda.”

Bush’s competition and ouster, Bell, takes a different approach to campaign messaging. Bell, 51, focuses on rooting out what he calls “corruption” in the Trump administration. 

“Wesley is running for reelection to continue fighting for his constituents in Washington: holding the Trump administration and MAGA Republicans accountable, expanding access to affordable health care and prescription drugs, lowering energy costs, bringing down the price of groceries, protecting our rights and freedoms, and creating good-paying jobs right here in St. Louis,” Bell’s campaign website reads.

While Bell also focuses his pitch for policy reform on lowering healthcare costs, affordability, and civil rights issues, his campaign website introduces voters to his platform with a heading that reads, “STANDING UP TO TRUMP.”

Other sections of the issues page on his campaign site blame Trump for the issues voters are facing. Bell has been endorsed by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

Polling sponsored by Bush’s campaign shows a tight race, with the socialist sitting 5 points behind Bell. 

Denver socialist is done with the Democratic Party

Several socialist candidates backed by DSA running in this cycle have built campaigns around issues closer to home than Washington’s day-to-day political battles.

In Denver, socialist candidate Melat Kiros is looking to unseat longtime incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO), who has held the seat since 1997. 

Kiros, 29, has focused her campaign on affordability and democratic establishment. The front page of her campaign website reads, “The ‘any Democrat will do’ era is over.” 

On her website, Kiros, an Ethiopian immigrant, explains that her running came after her employer asked her to remove an article she wrote that was highly critical of Israel and offered support to pro-Palestine student protesters. At the time, Kiros said she was working as an attorney for “a top law firm in New York City.” When she refused to remove the article, she was fired and subsequently moved back to Colorado.

“She may have lost her job but she was reminded that even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, change only happens when we show up for it,” her website said. “Today, Melat is running as a Democratic Socialist to fight for the working people of Denver, to deliver a more affordable city, and to root out the corruption in government once and for all.” 

Like Bush, Kiros does not mention Trump anywhere in her platform, which is focused on issues like affordability, healthcare access, ending wars, and abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

DeGette, 68, has made criticism of Trump the focal point of her campaign. On the issues page of her campaign website, the first tab is called “Standing Up to Trump’s Extremism.” 

DeGette makes her pitch to voters by citing her track record of voting with Democrats to fight Trump policies.

During a recent debate, the longtime congresswoman was on the offensive and told voters, “Now is not the time to gamble and send somebody with no experience to Washington,” urging stability.

The two candidates are aligned on most policy issues at face value, but Kiros’s messaging is more critical of Democrats’ inaction and what she describes as caving to corporations. 

“Until we have Democrats that aren’t taking money from the same corporations and billionaires that don’t want those things to pass, we will never see those policies come to fruition,” Kiros said at the June 19 forum. “So we have to call a spade a spade, and we have to call out the Democrats who are in bed with these same special interests.”

DeGette and Kiros’s big policy divide is Israel, another issue that socialist candidates have seen great success campaigning on. Kiros has refused to say that several violent attacks on Jewish populations are acts of antisemitism, instead saying they are “inevitable.” She similarly categorized the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as “inevitable.”

The incumbent drilled in on Kiros’s stance on Israel, running ads that claim the newcomer’s statements are “laced with antisemitism.” Several super PACs poured $1.3 million into an ad campaign meant to boost DeGette, which primarily focused on attacks against Kiros. 

NEW YORK SOCIALIST SURGE REVEALS WARNING SIGNS FOR SCHUMER

Recent polling sponsored by the socialist candidate shows Kiros’s strategy is working, as she is sitting 5 points ahead of DeGette.

Whether the socialist message resonates outside deep-blue New York remains an open question. But with candidates such as Bush and Kiros using many of the same campaign themes that powered socialists’ recent victories, this year’s Democratic primaries could offer the clearest test yet of whether the movement’s issue-first, anti-establishment approach can gain traction beyond its strongest political base.