DSA has a unique opportunity in 2026. Support for both Republican and Democratic establishments is at an all-time low and Americans are clamoring for a political alternative. People are sick and tired of the economic insecurity and inequality, and state violence domestic and abroad, endemic to US capitalism and the Trump administration.
By posing a clear alternative to the status quo, DSA can elect a bench of socialists to congress on a shared national platform, establish a democratic socialist caucus in Congress and act as a collective pole of magnetism for popular anger and struggle for a better world. We elected to do so at the 2025 Convention, and are on our way. Already Claire Valdez (NYC), Darializa Avila Chevalier (NYC), Oliver Larkin (South Florida), and Byron Sigcho-Lopez (Chicago) have launched their DSA-endorsed campaigns for Congress, all running on similar demands including Abolish ICE, and a total Arms Embargo on Israel. In addition to these four, previously nationally-endorsed Rashida Tlaib is seeking re-election, and Cori Bush has launched a campaign to return to office.
Of course, the most famous DSA member, Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez, is also seeking re-election, and is seeking re-endorsement by DSA’s NYC chapter. As we attempt to knit together the aforementioned individual campaigns into a cohesive national slate and team, her inclusion could be a major boon given her profile, especially her role in the anti-Trump Fighting Oligarchy tour. Her inclusion is also made complicated by her continual public support of funding Israel’s Iron Dome. DSA members in NYC should attend the upcoming re-endorsement forum for AOC to ask her about the Iron Dome and her interest in cross-endorsing, becoming part of, and championing DSA’s national slate.
The Political
The Iron Dome is Israel’s unique missile defense system, funded by US taxpayers. It plays a central role in allowing Israel’s asymmetrical warfare. Without the Iron Dome, Israel wouldn’t feel so confident to level Gaza, invade Lebanon, and bomb Iran. The movement for a free Palestine around the world and in the US is calling for an arms embargo on Israel, including all funding and aid for the Iron Dome.
AOC has never voted for Iron Dome funding. But she’s not against it. After once voting no on the Iron Dome she changed her vote to “present,” a form of abstention. She also voted against an amendment that would have stripped Iron Dome funding from a larger military spending bill, though she voted against the entire package. She’s provided rather disappointing explanations of these decisions, arguing that cutting funding for the Iron Dome would hurt Israel’s defensive capabilities, and thereby cause more harm to civilians, even stating “all of us support strengthening the Iron Dome.”
Even if the Iron Dome was truly only “defensive” in function, it would still be wrong for US taxpayers to fund it. Would we fund a missile defense system for Russia during its invasion of Ukraine, or Nazi Germany during its occupation of Europe? Socialists, including our elected officials and candidates, need to help make this perspective common sense to millions of Americans. This is why it is so exciting that DSA has so many congressional candidates taking a clear stand against all military aid to Israel.
It is unclear why AOC has taken this position, which is out of step from the broader movement as a whole, as well as from her fellow democratic socialist in Congress, Rashida Tlaib. It’s possible she genuinely believes in the Iron Dome, as her public statements claim, which makes it the task of socialists to convince and move her otherwise. It’s also possible she doesn’t believe in the Iron Dome but fears the political backlash for opposing it, either from voters, the mainstream media, or establishment Democratic colleagues. In that case, it’s a bad strategic decision. By supporting Iron Dome funding she makes it easier for the media and Democratic establishment to marginalize those of us organizing against all military aid to Israel, as her statements effectively say that opposing Iron Dome is an anti-humanitarian position, throwing all of us under the bus.
The Procedural
DSA’s endorsement process would usually provide a clear venue for AOC to clarify her position, and bring herself in alignment with the socialist movement and the movement for a free Palestine. This election season, NYC-DSA has already held hybrid mass endorsement forums with hundreds, and even thousands, attending in-person and virtually to hear from candidates seeking endorsement, ask them tough questions, and debate their endorsement. It also allows the candidates direct and frank communication with DSA’s rank-and-file.
For instance, at the endorsement forum for Chi Osse’s proposed challenge to Hakeem Jeffries, members were able to directly ask Osse about the change in his relationship with DSA, which he was then able to clarify and explain. While he didn’t get DSA’s endorsement, his speaking directly to us moved many members to support his run and built a more powerful relationship between him and the chapter; he is now one of our two new City Socialists in Office.
The Re-Endorsement forum for AOC is today, March 31, 2026 at 7:30 PM. It unfortunately hasn’t been widely advertised throughout the chapter, and it is structured quite differently from the other endorsement and re-endorsement forums. The others have been hybrid, primarily in person with a virtual option. They’ve also allowed for direct audience questions. Right now, the AOC Re-Endorsement Forum is only virtual. It is also unclear if members will only be able to submit questions in advance or get an opportunity to speak directly to AOC about their hopes for her race and standing concerns. The general lack of information on the event has made it difficult to discern.
What Is to Be Done?
It is important that all NYC-DSA members who are available attend the forum tonight, and submit questions in the RSVP that get to the stakes of the issues at hand. Members should be strategic with their questions, focusing on whether she would vote for or against Iron Dome funding in the future. People should also submit questions about whether she would cross-endorse and run on a national slate with our other DSA candidates for Congress, as well as our down-ballot NYC-DSA candidates, and if she would join a democratic socialist caucus in Congress. Flooding the question form — and asking the questions directly should the opportunity present itself — will hopefully force these discussions in a productive direction. Direct unmediated engagement and taking tough conversations out into the open as we saw with Osse’s forum can, in fact, strengthen our relationships with elected officials and serve to secure stronger commitments from them.
If AOC does not commit to opposing funding for the Iron Dome, and NYC-DSA members still think it is worth endorsing her, the chapter should at the very least put out a statement clarifying the places of difference with the congresswoman, and why a majority of Americans think ending U.S. military supplies to Israel is crucial to ending the genocide of Palestinians, preventing an even broader war, and fighting back against Trump’s authoritarianism. If the chapter endorses AOC without anti-Iron Dome commitment from her, we can’t allow her stance to de facto become ours, and instead we must publicly urge her to change position.
An article from DSA’s Groundwork caucus yesterday acknowledges AOC’s faults on Palestine, while making the case that it is essential to endorse her in 2026 despite these issues, as it will set her up for a strong Presidential election campaign in 2028. The arguments for her Presidential run are well taken but they fail to consider that the volunteer core of such a campaign will be drawn from the same Americans who do truly care about ending all funding for Israel, and for whom equivocation may serve as a wet blanket. By taking a clear stand against all military funding for Israel, AOC will repair relationships with the movement for a free Palestine, and lay the foundations for a powerful and consistent anti-war run, should she choose, in 2028. The political stakes of this moment are too high for socialists not to lead on the central moral issue of our time.
