The Democratic Socialists of America are expanding their footprint on Capitol Hill.
Six candidates backed by the national DSA or local chapters won House seats this year, boosting a movement that champions Medicare for All, housing as a guaranteed right, abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement and ending U.S. military aid to Israel — as well as abolishing the U.S. Senate and replacing the presidency and Supreme Court with institutions appointed by and subordinate to Congress.
These new Congress members are all people of color and they all abhor President Trump.
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How much sway these newly elected socialists will have in the 120th Congress is an open question. They’re joining a Democratic caucus that also welcomed a sizable class of moderates in the party’s blue-wave gains, setting up a fresh fight over where the party goes next.
Darializa Avila Chevalier of New York
Darializa Avila Chevalier, a community organizer and the daughter of Dominican immigrants, will represent parts of Upper Manhattan and the Bronx. She has never held elected office.
She got to Washington by beating five-term Rep. Adriano Espaillat in the Democratic primary, which all but sealed the seat in one of the nation’s safest Democratic districts. She got a lift from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who is also a democratic socialist and endorsed Ms. Avila Chevalier in the primary despite previously backing Mr. Espaillat.
“Democratic socialism is the notion that the working people of this country, the people that make the wealth, should also get to enjoy the fruits of that labor,” she told News12 in New York. “The most popular policies in this country’s history, whether that is Medicare, whether that is Social Security, are socialist policies and what we are arguing is we need more of that.”
Claire Valdez of New York
Claire Valdez, a first-term state lawmaker, will represent parts of Brooklyn and Queens. A Latina and citizen of the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo Nation, she left Texas in 2015 to pursue a career in the arts and later became active in union organizing while working at Columbia University.
She defeated Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso in the Democratic primary with Mr. Mamdani’s backing. Mr. Reynoso had the support of retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez, making the race a closely watched proxy fight within New York’s Democratic coalition.
Ms. Valdez has voiced support for nationalizing the airline industry.
In her primary night victory speech, she said the movement “will not stop until working people are no longer just asked to build the table, no longer just offered a seat at the table, but will run the table.”
Melat Kiros of Colorado
At 29, the Ethiopian immigrant and lawyer, Melat Kiros became the first Black woman elected to Congress from Colorado, and she is also the first Gen Z woman to serve in Congress.
An organizer, she unseated longtime Rep. Diana DeGette in the Denver Democratic primary, one of the cycle’s biggest intraparty upsets and a sign that some Democratic voters want a more confrontational kind of progressivism.
Ms. Kiros argued that voters wanted a break from establishment politics and more focus on affordability, economic inequality and social justice.
She has been a vocal critic of Israel’s military efforts in Gaza and railed against the corrupting influence of corporate and special interest money on politics.
“There’s far too much work to do for the working families of this country and they deserve leaders who are unbought and unafraid to stand up for them against the corporations and special interests that got us into this mess in the first place,” she recently said on X.
Donavan McKinney of Michigan
Donavan McKinney, a Detroit state representative, built his profile advocating for working-class communities in one of the country’s poorest urban districts.
He scored one of the cycle’s most closely watched wins, defeating two-term Rep. Shri Thanedar in the Democratic primary and handed the DSA one of its biggest victories of the year.
“I define politics as the redistribution of resources. That’s it; it’s black and white,” he recently told Jacobin magazine. “It’s up to us Democrats to level the playing field and right the ship, so to speak. I’m going to push hard as hell and advocate for the poor folks in my communities.”
Chris Rabb of Pennsylvania
Chris Rabb is heading from Harrisburg to Washington after winning the race to succeed retiring Rep. Dwight Evans in Philadelphia. A longtime state lawmaker, he’s built a reputation as one of Pennsylvania’s most outspoken liberals.
He won the primary in a solidly Democratic district to carve out another socialist foothold in one of the party’s urban strongholds.
“I’m running as an unapologetic progressive. I’m running as a democratic socialist,” he told Current Affairs after winning the May primary. “I do not believe in concentrated power. I believe that we must diffuse power.”
“I run people-powered campaigns against a very powerful Democratic machine that does not want me to succeed, because I don’t kiss rings,” he said. “I’m not a rubber stamp, and my politics are way too left for them.”
Angela Gonzales-Torres of California
Angela Gonzales-Torres, 31, is a former president of the neighborhood park council who cast her campaign as a challenge to entrenched political and financial interests.
She unseated five-term Rep. Jimmy Gomez in California’s 34th District, which stretches from Koreatown to East Los Angeles and north to Eagle Rock. Unlike several of her classmates, she won a general election matchup against a fellow Democrat under California’s top-two system.
“Los Angeles doesn’t belong to AIPAC, Los Angeles doesn’t belong to crypto or Big AI, Los Angeles doesn’t belong to corporate real estate developers. It belongs to us,” she said after the election. “Workers deserve more. We deserve real representation and respect, and I think it’s time that we get it.”
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