> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.marxistunity.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # A Democratic Socialist Intervention in the 2028 Elections - URL: https://www.marxistunity.com/a-democratic-socialist-intervention-in-the-2028-elections/ - Published: 2026-11-12T16:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-12T16:00:02.000Z - Description: DSA is more than any one candidate's platform. Programmatic unity will light the way towards a disciplined socialist bloc in Congress and an independent profile for democratic socialism. - Author: Sunny O. - Tags: DSA *This article was written in support of the* [*World to Win*](https://www.w2w.nyc/platform/?ref=marxistunity.com) *resolution “For a Democratic Socialist Intervention in the 2028 Elections” for NYC-DSA’s 2026 chapter convention.* ### **Blue Wave, Red Tide** With the 2026 midterms in the rear-view mirror having delivered historic victories for both DSA and the Democratic Party, 2028 looms large on the horizon. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez continues to signal her openness to a presidential run, while Trump has repeatedly claimed his entitlement to another chance. We face an unprecedented moment in the fight for socialism in the United States—a historic number of socialists are entering office, a DSA member is mayor of the largest city in the U.S., and working class people everywhere are sick of U.S. dollars funding genocide in Palestine, war on Iran, tech oligarchs running our lives, and cost of living crises that no one can escape. But our ability to take advantage of this landscape to build an enduring socialist movement requires that we present a clear political alternative to the two capitalist parties. A DSA presidential run in 2028 has the possibility to produce both disastrous consequences and prolific yields for our budding party. On the one hand, we would have the opportunity to reach into the living rooms and dinner tables of everyday working-class people all over the country. On the other, we risk walking right into the quicksand of dissolving our organization’s principles only to carry water for the spineless, genocidal Democrats. Navigating the 2028 elections will require DSA to unite and coordinate on a higher level than ever before, and push forward our positive vision for socialism through every tactic available to us. The good news is this: DSA now has a political program, [Workers Deserve More](https://program.dsausa.org/?ref=marxistunity.com), which can cohere our organization and connect our fight for basic reforms to our long-term revolutionary, democratic, anti-imperialist, and abolitionist politics. Going beyond an election platform, Workers Deserve More is a declaration of our vision for a world ruled by the working class on a global scale. Surprising no one, its publication was met with widespread [hysteria](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dsa-backed-candidates-winning-primaries-vision-america-different?ref=marxistunity.com) from the capitalist media. There is nothing more threatening to the status quo than the working class united as a political force and aware of its mission to liberate society. The bad news is that, unsurprisingly, there is still a lot of work to do. Unpracticed in programmatic unity, DSA often acts more like a federation of autonomous chapters than a coordinated and politically coherent national organization. Our elected officials struggle to act in step with one another, let alone with the political will of our membership. And our program, despite its support from across the political spectrum of DSA, has yet to be fully integrated into the political fabric of our organization. In New York City, our chapter leadership is complicit in this lack of common action, even toying with threats to split. This doesn’t need not be the case. With our massive membership and deep bench of elected officials, NYC-DSA has an important role to play in rising to the historic challenges faced by our party. The [resolution](https://convention.socialists.nyc/proposals/474aba5b-f1b6-443d-a743-8fe8c1f6b6ce?ref=marxistunity.com) “For a Democratic Socialist Intervention in the 2028 Election," proposed for NYC-DSA’s upcoming convention, commits the chapter to becoming a leading force in the nationwide struggle for democratic socialism on the electoral terrain. ### **Towards a Disciplined Socialist Bloc in Congress** The bulk of the resolution is focused downballot. It commits NYC-DSA to integrating with the national electoral strategy by applying for a National DSA endorsement for our candidates, which it has refused to do in recent years. More importantly, it mandates that we encourage all congressional candidates to cross-endorse the National DSA Congressional Slate and participate in the Federal Socialists in Office Committee (FSIO) in order to develop a common strategy and vote as a bloc with our other federal socialist electeds. The newly minted Representatives hailing from New York, Claire Valdez and Darializa Alexa Chavalier, both have firm principles and deep organizational roots. But our congressional bloc will be disorganized from the start. With chapter backing, we can bring the lessons learned from socialists in the New York state assembly to our work in Congress. The “blue wave” of Tuesday’s midterms were tinged with socialist red, and seven DSA-endorsed Representatives will take their seats in January. The last time this many democratic socialists were elected to Congress was 2018\. That group, known to history as “The Squad,” was truthfully more of an exercise in media branding than a political bloc in any real sense. Despite many of them garnering DSA endorsements, none of these candidates had a strong identification with DSA and they were often indistinguishable from other progressives loyal to the Democratic Party. With an incoming slate of candidates with strong, public, and early identification with DSA, we are ready to move on from the Squad and towards a united socialist bloc in Congress. The first test will be the House Speaker election. With an overwhelming Democratic majority, DSA Representatives will not have the leverage to swing a Speaker vote. In the absence of power to decide the vote, DSA electeds should use this opportunity to make our politics clear. The DSA bloc could oppose Hakeem Jeffries’ bid for House Speaker unless Democratic leadership commits to support for Medicare for All, the Block the Bombs Act, and a repeal of the Faircloth Amendment which obstructs investment in public housing. If they refuse, our electeds would vote No as a bloc, staking out our political independence from the Democratic Caucus. None of this is preordained, and our Congressional representatives may fail in this first test. There has never been a disciplined socialist group in our federal government; our political system is designed to fundamentally discourage and disorganize opposition movements. Every step we take, however small, will be historically unprecedented. Moving towards a socialist bloc in Congress will be challenging, with disappointments and partial victories along the way, but will ultimately only be a fruitful process for developing the power and coherence of our movement. 2028 will be our next opportunity to strengthen that project and apply lessons learned. ### **Sticking to the Program** The resolution also commits NYC-DSA to the long-term strategic goal of holding our candidates to the politics articulated in Workers Deserve More. We are understandably [a long way](https://www.foxnews.com/video/6408037612112?ref=marxistunity.com) away from this being the reality, but setting the intention is a necessary first step. The next step is to openly campaign on Workers Deserve More and defend our democratically decided political demands. No longer will DSA be defined by the electoral platforms of this or that individual candidate. We will hold ourselves to the principles set by our entire organization. It is understandable but unfortunate that our elected officials will tend to focus on a more limited platform of immediate concerns. This is the inevitable result of unexercised electoral muscle in this country—politicians remain committed to localist loyalties that obscure the nationwide and international scale of the antidemocratic, capitalist, and imperialist system we aim to overthrow. Our job is to make selective, but no less sharp and open, course corrections, holding our organization to the standard of our program and our vision for total societal transformation. The resolution commits the chapter to drafting a common platform for all of our electoral races in 2028, derived from Workers Deserve More. Issues like Medicare for All, abolishing ICE, a military and arms embargo on Israel, ending economic warfare, and ending mass incarceration and police immunity are all feasible planks. Individual issues included in Workers Deserve More may have more salience for different electoral races, which are focused on the needs of the day. But in each race we must also connect individual issues to our broader vision for liberation. This is how we build an independent movement for socialism and break “brand loyalty” to the Democratic Party, despite running on their ballot line. For the 2028 presidential race, operational and political independence should be a primary condition for any DSA presidential endorsement. Whether we endorse a cadre candidate or someone from the outside, we must use it as an opportunity to popularize not only DSA’s name, but our political vision. Centering Workers Deserve More in our communications and printed literature will allow us to connect with the massive audience of national elections without ceding our political independence and liquidating into the Democratic Party. Finally, the resolution commits the chapter to publicly defend Workers Deserve More, even and especially when endorsed candidates’ actions or statements contradict our stated goals. The waters ahead are treacherous. Our endorsed candidates and elected officials often trend more towards the logic of backroom dealing over the necessary open and honest championing of socialist politics. But DSA is more than the proclamations of elected officials. We aspire to a total political and social transformation, and we should make our goals clear for all to see. ### **Workers Deserve More** Just days after the “blue tsunami,” we already find the Democratic Party in a state of political disarray. While some call to abolish ICE, the paramilitary secret police designed to terrorize immigrant communities, others make ridiculous pleas for ICE to be “reformed” through body cameras and marked vehicles. Our class enemies within the Democratic Party will fight like hell to prevent the Democratic majority from doing anything worthwhile. To lead the socialist movement in the US, DSA must demonstrate to the working class that, as an organization, we are uncompromisingly rooted in our mission to achieve universal human emancipation. To win the working class to the socialist movement, our vision must be coherent and compelling. A political party needs a clear statement of vision to organize around. We now have this in Workers Deserve More, and we must apply it diligently and take advantage of the opportunities ahead of us. Light & Air / Marxist Unity Group Liked what you read? Subscribe to stay plugged in. [Subscribe ](#/portal/signup)