The Democratic Socialists of America made their mark on the Democratic Party on Tuesday and are now preparing to flex that power in the next Congress.
Six candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America won new House seats and are plotting a path to passing the DSA’s historically far-left agenda that includes government-run healthcare, trans rights, abolishing illegal immigration enforcement, a 32-hour work week, eliminating fossil fuels, taxing wealth, and ending U.S. military aid to Israel.
“With the largest number of socialists in Congress in U.S. history, we are ready to make their demands a reality,” the DSA’s national headquarters bragged after the election.
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DSA-backed House candidates triumphed in New York, Colorado, Michigan, Pennsylvania and California.
In Maine, Troy Jackson, endorsed by the state chapter of the DSA, won the Senate race.
Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed, who won the Senate race Tuesday and distanced himself from the DSA during his campaign, is backing many DSA-endorsed proposals, including Medicare for All and abolishing Immigration, Customs and Enforcement.
SEE ALSO: Meet Congress’ new batch of DSA-backed lawmakers
The socialist newcomers will join DSA-backed Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont.
The group of official DSA House lawmakers will make up just a fraction of the anticipated 255-member House Democratic caucus and 56-member Senate Democratic Caucus.
Their agenda, however, will get plenty of support.
It closely aligns with the nearly 100-member far-left House Progressive Caucus and several far-left Senate lawmakers, especially when it comes to universal healthcare, which appears to be the top issue the DSA wants to achieve in the next Congress.
More than half of all current House Democrats have already signed onto the Medicare for All Act introduced by Progressive Caucus leader Pramila Jayapal of Washington.
In the Senate, more than a third of the Democratic Caucus have co-sponsored Mr. Sanders’ companion measure to replace private insurance with government-run healthcare.
“Our number one responsibility has to make sure that we get Medicare for All ready as legislation, so that in ’29, when we have the House, the Senate and the White House, we can sign it into law on day one,” said DSA-backed Melat Kiros, an Ethiopian immigrant and lawyer who won Colorado’s 1st District House seat.
Ms. Kiros’s agenda, like the other DSA winners, would extend the government’s reach far beyond healthcare. She campaigned on passing a transgender bill of rights guaranteeing “access to gender-affirming care for all ages.” She also proposes transitioning to a zero-emissions energy grid, implementing a “holistic approach” to public safety and providing government-funded “long-term housing for all,” free childcare and “federally supported” elder care.
Like most Democrats in the House, she would pay for it all by raising taxes.
A government-run healthcare program alone would cost more than $47 trillion over a decade, the White House Council of Economic Advisers estimated in October.
The DSA’s agenda would expand government programs much further than healthcare.
DSA-backed Angela Gonzales-Torres won a seat in Congress representing part of Los Angeles. She proudly boasted that her illegal-immigrant father was deported and plans to push to abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement when she’s sworn in to office in January.
Ms. Gonzales-Torres is gearing up to push for a federal spending spree that pays for family and sick leave, child care and housing.
She ran on a plan to launch guaranteed basic income, beginning with a pilot program for thousands who live in her district.
The plan would provide “direct, unconditional monthly payments” funded through “progressive taxation” and “public-private partnerships.”
The pilot program would aim to expand monthly government checks nationwide.
The new DSA-backed freshmen also have their sights set on reforming the criminal justice system.
Donavan McKinney, the DSA-endorsed Democrat who won Michigan’s 13th Congressional District with 77% of the vote on Tuesday, said he plans to do all he can to “transform” the criminal justice system to reduce incarceration rates. He wants to end cash bail, making it easier for those charged with crimes to go free pending trial.
Mr. McKinney said he backs reforming sentencing guidelines to shorten incarceration and ending qualified immunity that shields police officers from prosecution.
Mr. McKinney held a rally and canvass event in August with Hasan Piker, a divisive far-left streamer with 3 million followers. Mr. Piker blamed the United States for the Sept. 11 terrorist attack, declared he hates America and once called for killing landlords and conservatives.
Mr. Piker, a self-identified socialist and Marxist, campaigned for Mr. El-Sayed and embattled Rep. Ilhan Omar, who is under federal investigation for alleged immigration fraud.
On Wednesday, Mr. Piker celebrated big wins for the DSA and far left.
“It’s just beginning,” Mr. Piker gloated in his post-election livestream. “The tears of our enemies will be the delicious nectar of victory. And we haven’t even seen them cry yet.”
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