On November 3rd, the American people sent a decisive message. We are sick and tired of MAGA and the Trump administration, of the cost of living crisis, of war, of corruption, of corporate greed, of billionaires dominating our political system. Alongside an overwhelming rejection of the far-right, voters also chose to send the largest number of democratic socialists in 100 years into the halls of power. Our movement elected over 100 democratic socialists with a clear message: we need a government and economy that works for working people, not the billionaires, capitalists, warmongers, and genocidaires. DSA will now have a bloc of 8 endorsed members in Congress along with a broader bloc to work closely with.
Among those elected (and re-elected) were Bread & Roses members Dylan Wegela (Michigan), Richie Floyd (Florida), Robert LeVertis Bell (Kentucky), and Tyler Rooney (Kentucky). We also commend B&R members Andrea Parr (Kentucky) and Todd Chretien (Maine) on their hard-fought races that fell short.
In addition to the elections of DSA members throughout the country, historic numbers of rank-and-file union members and leaders ran and won office. Union members played a decisive role in elections all throughout the country, helping defeat Republicans, and electing their union siblings to office. Notably, the UAW elected multiple of its members, including DSA’s Claire Valdez to Congress, as well as Scott Houldieson (a founder and leader of the rank-and-file movement to transform the UAW into a member-led class-struggle union) to the Indiana State Senate.
In multiple states — Florida, Michigan, and Maine — voters not only defeated Republican senators, but got to vote for Medicare for All, abolishing ICE, and a total arms embargo on Israel. We’re excited to see Abdul El-Sayed and Troy Jackson buck the so-called “pragmatism” of the Democratic establishment and win seats in the Senate. And we are further impressed by DSA member Angie Nixon’s narrow loss, which suggests that the Democratic Party’s refusal to seriously invest in her campaign was the decisive factor. Their three races show that workers are hungry for transformative change and want a rebellion not only against MAGA but the corporate Democratic Party and even capitalism as well. It is on DSA to organize and lead that rebellion.
We also recognize that there were setbacks in this election. Bans on trans athletes won in Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska and Washington. A tax on billionaires was defeated in California — with the help of leading members of the state’s Democratic Party. The ranks of the democratic socialist left in national politics will grow, but many conservative Democrats were also elected, and the pro-business wing of the Democratic Party still dominates the party leadership. Finally, Trump’s response to the election defeat may be to double down on his authoritarian agenda. The choice of Stephen Miller to be his new chief of staff indicates that Trump has no intention of softening his approach. While we celebrate the many defeats handed to MAGA this week, these defeats for our side remind us that we still have a great deal of work to do to build a powerful, majoritarian movement that defends the rights of queer people, can really take on the power of billionaire class, and can remove the far right from power.
Once inaugurated in January, it is incumbent on DSA and our socialists in office to seize the initiative, quickly seeking to pass data center moratoriums on the state and federal level, and a war powers resolution in Congress to end the US war on Iran. DSA can coordinate with our state legislators to get enough states to join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact and effectively abolish the Electoral College as the first step in the political revolution. National DSA’s Federal Socialists in Office Committee should immediately bring together all DSA congresspeople to launch a Democratic Socialist Caucus in the House of Representatives. They should begin a public campaign in the House for either an alternative Speaker to Jeffries or to demand the conditions and concessions with which we would vote for him, without which we’d vote no. A similar campaign against Chuck Schumer’s leadership in the Senate also deserves our support. Our maximal demand should be a rules change to allow our congressmembers to bring forward legislation without leadership approval so we can call votes on Block the Bombs for an arms embargo on Israel, the MELT Act to abolish ICE, Medicare for All, and the PRO Act to reform labor law and unleash the power of organized labor, without Jeffries’s support.
DSA chapters must immediately onboard the thousands of new members we will receive in the next few months, provide political education and organizing training, and plug them into important issue campaigns and union struggles. And we must begin laying the foundations for AOC 2028 and a massive congressional and downballot slate, today. Alongside our efforts in the labor movement to build toward May Day 2028, DSA and the organized working class will move, and the earth will shake.
