For years, Republicans warned that the Democratic Party’s activist left was moving toward socialism. In 2026, the debate is no longer mainly about labels: Democratic-socialist candidates are winning nominations, while the Democratic Socialists of America is publishing, in unusually candid language, the anti-American political and economic system it wants to create.
In a recent vote in Congress, there was a resolution denouncing socialism in America, but 192 Democrats voted to support socialism. Democratic New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has said it is “the end goal of seizing the means of production.” Democrat Cea Weaver wrote that government has a “sacred right to seize private property” and “impoverish the white middle class.” Other Democrats like Francesca Hong have said that they want to not only defund the police, but they want to have a world without prisons — making violent crime dramatically expand.
In Michigan, Abdul el Sayed is the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate. In Texas, James Talarico is the Democratic Senate nominee. In Maine, Troy Jackson is challenging Republican Sen. Susan Collins. All three are campaigning for Medicare for All, much higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations, the dismantling and abolition of ICE, and opening our borders.
The movement is even more explicit in House races. Christopher Rabb, a DSA member, won the Democratic nomination in Pennsylvania’s heavily Democratic 3rd District. DSA celebrated his victory and highlighted his support for abolishing ICE and Medicare for All. In Colorado’s 1st District, Melat Kiros, who describes herself as a “Democratic Socialist,” defeated longtime incumbent Diana DeGette and is endorsed by DSA.
These victories show that socialism is no longer confined to activist circles.
Americans no longer need political opponents to tell them what DSA believes. DSA has done that itself.
Its 2026 national program, Workers Deserve More, asks readers to imagine “a future without capitalism.” It says DSA is fighting not merely individual corporations or politicians but the “entire global system of capital.” Its stated objective is to “draft a new constitution” and create what it calls a “democratic socialist republic.”
Then come some of the specifics.
DSA calls for free public education from preschool through college and cancellation of student debt; universal health care at no individual cost; publicly owned housing; a Green New Deal and the phaseout of fossil fuels; abolition of ICE; and an end to ICE detention and deportations and open borders.
Economically, it proposes public ownership of America’s largest corporations and essential industries, aggressive wealth taxes, and expanded union power.
Constitutionally, the agenda goes further. DSA calls for abolishing the Electoral College and the United States Senate. It proposes replacing the President and Supreme Court with an executive and judiciary “chosen by and subordinate to Congress.”
That is more than an argument for a larger social safety net. It is a proposal to destroy major elements of America’s economic and constitutional order and to limit freedom and opportunity with government controls.
Americans should also note the distance between parts of that agenda and public attitudes toward economic systems. Gallup reported in August that 81% of Americans view free enterprise positively, compared with 54% for capitalism and 39% for socialism. Americans may be frustrated with corporate power, healthcare costs, but Gallup’s findings also show broad support for competition, innovation, opportunity, and economic freedom.
Then there are candidates who are not formally members of the DSA but whose records place them within the far-left wing of the Democratic coalition.
Talarico is a revealing example. His campaign now describes him as a “proud capitalist.” Yet newly resurfaced video from a 2020 Sierra Club forum shows Talarico thanking activists for linking climate change, white supremacy, and capitalism, calling all three “oppressive systems” and discussing “dismantling them.”
Talarico’s record on cultural issues is similarly far left-wing. In 2021, while opposing legislation requiring K-12 athletes to compete according to biological sex, he declared that “God is nonbinary.” In another legislative debate, he said modern science recognizes “many more than two biological sexes — in fact, there are six.”
Talarico has since modified some of that rhetoric. His campaign says some earlier comments “missed the mark,” and he has said, “I know there are two sexes, men and women,” while emphasizing dignity for people with chromosomal abnormalities. Voters need to recognize that Talarico’s statements likely only reflect an election-year repositioning to hide his extremism.
El Sayed has claimed that he is a capitalist. But he is a fair left-winger backed by both Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. He is running on Medicare for All and higher taxes on wealthy Americans, and abolishing ICE, which means opening the border. Even other liberal Democrats have said that el Sayed has attempted to justify terrorist attacks on Americans.
The point is not that every candidate on the Democratic far left holds every plank of DSA’s program. The more important question is how far the movement’s ideas now extend inside the Democratic coalition.
Candidates endorsed by DSA can reasonably be asked whether they support abolishing the Senate, subordinating the judiciary to Congress, replacing the presidency, nationalizing major corporations, ending ICE deportations, opening our borders, or drafting a new constitution. Candidates outside DSA who have used similarly radical rhetoric can be asked the same questions.
BREAD LINES OR BREAD WINNING? THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY’S FATAL LEFTWARD DRIFT
The U.S. can debate healthcare reform without assuming that government must control all health insurance. It can debate economic issues without public ownership of major industries. It can protect the environment while debating the proper role of fossil fuels and other energy sources. And it can debate constitutional reform without obscuring just how sweeping some proposals actually are.
America’s constitutional system rests on divided governmental powers, federalism, individual rights, and protections for private property; its economy has long relied heavily on private enterprise and free-market competition. DSA’s published program proposes major destruction of each of those arrangements. So when 192 Democrats in the House vote against condemning that destruction of America, it is time for Americans to wake up. This is no longer the Democratic Party of your parents.
George Landrith is the President of the Frontiers of Freedom Institute and the author of Let Freedom Ring… Again: Can Self-Evident Truths Save America from Further Decline?