The Democratic Socialists of America is moving to expand its political footprint beyond New York City, with candidates now competing in primary races across Colorado, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Florida in the coming weeks.
The push follows a string of wins in Tuesday’s New York primaries, where DSA-backed candidates Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez won Democratic House primaries. Avila Chevalier defeated Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a senior House Democrat and chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
DSA co-Chair Ashik Siddique told The Hill the group sees New York as a preview of a national shift.
“New York City, we think, is really reflecting where the whole country is going at this point, so we’re very excited, and we want to keep building from it,” Siddique said. “Increasingly we’re showing that candidates running on strong platforms like these can win in red or purple states, in the Midwest and the South.”
The DSA has grown from roughly 5,000 members a decade ago to more than 100,000 members spread across 200 chapters nationwide.
The group’s next primary test comes in Colorado, where 29-year-old Melat Kiros is challenging 68-year-old Rep. Diana DeGette, a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the longest-serving lawmaker from Colorado. Kiros is backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and the DSA’s national electoral arm.
In Wisconsin, state lawmaker Francesca Hong, 37, is running for governor in a wide-open race to succeed retiring Gov. Tony Evers. The Cook Political Report rates the seat a toss-up. Recent straw polling shows Hong running second behind Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez in her own party’s primary. If she wins, she would be the first democratic socialist governor in American history, organizers said.
In Michigan, DSA-backed state lawmaker Donavan McKinney is challenging Rep. Shri Thanedar in the 13th Congressional District ahead of an August primary.
Not all the movement’s bets have paid off. Maryland’s state Senate President Bill Ferguson defeated a DSA-aligned challenger this past week, and in Utah, moderate former Rep. Ben McAdams won a Tuesday primary over a slate of progressive candidates, including one backed by Sanders.
Analysts at the nonpartisan Cook Political Report urged caution about reading too much into the New York results.
“Races in some of the most liberal districts in the country don’t tell us very much about the strength of the left in the competitive races Democrats have to win to seize back control of Congress,” Cook Political Report analysts wrote in an assessment of the New York wins.
Wisconsin Democratic strategist Joe Zepecki called the momentum “pretty overblown,” noting the losses elsewhere.
“I think we need a lot more races and a lot more data to determine whether this is anything more than a moment in time inspired by a generational political talent like Zohran Mamdani,” Zepecki said.
