Does she like us? Or does she not? Do we like her, or do we not?
Is AOC even running, or is she not?
For months in DSA, we've plucked sadly at our roses, red petals falling to the ground until nothing is left but thorns. Even Bud has plucked himself bald. Welcome to the graveyard of our apathy.
The midterms are coming, and once they’re behind us, DSA will face a grave risk of being passively swept along by events. Presidential announcements could drop at any moment. I had a vision of the day when AOC stepped forward. In DSA, her campaign debut jolted us from our miserable paralysis. The energy was with her, so we decided to support her as best we could. Perhaps against the odds, AOC won it all, only to renege on her promises in indefensible ways. And because we failed to establish any independent profile for ourselves, our fate was tied up wholly with hers; with the whims of a politician who does not share our politics or our strategy.
Or more likely: AOC’s coalition will win a few early victories, before the DNC pounces to shut it down. Soon enough, she graciously concedes, and the Establishment tosses us the usual “progressive” concessions, all yanked away by November like Lucy with the football. Both timelines are senselessly boring, and worse, reduce DSA to passive boosters instead of active participants in history.
But don’t worry, comrades: we don’t have to repeat these old patterns. DSA has grown tremendously over the past ten years in both numbers and confidence. We can plan a bolder intervention in this election than ever before, if we discuss and prepare for it early.
In this dialogue, MUG will make no secret that we want a cadre candidate: a socialist tribune who will run for president on the DSA platform. DSA has many talented organizers who could rise to this task if given the opportunity. Even if they lack name recognition at the outset, we can make them famous. Together with our comrades, MUG will assist outreach to potential candidates and encourage them to take the leap. We believe a DSA presidential tribune can electrify working-class struggle and advance our party forward by decades.
But we know this hope is pure fantasy if we can’t win over our comrades in a fair debate. DSA needs a deliberative process that allows membership to advocate for our competing visions: whether it’s for endorsing AOC, abstaining from endorsing any presidential candidate, or going all in to raise up a cadre candidate. No matter your perspective, we all must stand and make our case, and not hope for external events to save us. We become a party by acting like one.
MUG has a vision for a democratic presidential process, to empower our movement to develop real choices. We will be promoting this vision at every level of DSA. These are our Five Demands for DSA’s Presidential Plan:
1. We want a debate. Between the candidates, and each other.
Fear is the mind-killer, right? Fear of exploring disagreements, of “looking weak”—of doing anything at all before AOC declares—is the weakest decision imaginable. This is a beautiful opportunity for our membership to discuss, debate, and grow as a party: to build our own structures, to face 2028 head on instead of just reacting to it.
DSA already has a presidential exploratory committee, tasked by our 2025 Convention with “[exploring] the different possibilities for a 2028 DSA Presidential campaign.” As an initial step, MUG wants this committee to organize a Socialist Presidential Debate in early 2027 between candidates seeking our presidential endorsement (or if there's only one, a participatory town hall with that candidate).
If we want to endorse a candidate as a democratic socialist, we need them to answer questions from DSA members—and from a wider working-class audience—to see how they intend to present the socialist vision, and use it as a catalyst for class struggle. It’s also a way to show working people everywhere that DSA is serious about acting as an independent movement. The Democratic Party has presidential debates. Why shouldn’t a socialist party have one of our own?
2. We want the rank and file to propose candidates.
To give our membership a real menu of options for 2028, we must trust them to take grassroots action. Our exploratory committee should conduct intensive outreach to help develop potential candidates, but DSA should also create a structure for members to circulate petitions encouraging specific individuals to enter the race.
The top five petition-getters would be invited to take part in the Socialist Presidential Debate in early 2027. MUG is also tentatively proposing a minimum threshold of 400 signatures to ensure everyone invited has a degree of organized support among DSA’s active membership.
With a touch of excitement and popular mobilization, DSA can break our spell of helpless apathy. When we empower our membership to propose candidates on their own initiative—and to think outside the box—we will bring our presidential process to life.
Imagine if you were a brilliantly charismatic but obscure socialist organizer, and DSA’s exploratory committee asked you to consider stepping forward. Which would be more convincing to you? A politely worded email from the exploratory committee and nothing more? Or learning that 500 DSA members have already enthusiastically petitioned for you to run, and you're going to be invited to a debate that will be watched by many thousands more? The best candidates are often those who are too humble to step forward initially, and they will need a friendly nudge. They deserve to see that they have comrades who will support them.
With a grassroots process and an open public debate, we will announce to the world and to ourselves that DSA is determined to act like a party in this presidential election. We will also be contrasting ourselves with the shameless, closed-door elitism of the DNC.
That's reason enough to do it.
3. We want cadre candidates to step forward.
No matter what process the National Political Committee settles on, MUG will reach out to potential candidates alongside other DSA comrades. There are plenty of interesting people who could make compelling arguments to be our tribune. Our membership must propose candidates with earnest sincerity if we want a real debate that can prepare us for this moment.
For those comrades who are named, we ask only that they take the petitions seriously. It is true that we remain a small movement, but small movements need bold representatives.
4. We want DSA’s program broadcast live to the world.
During the debate, we want candidates to be asked questions that put DSA’s distinct vision front and center. Candidates should be asked about their commitment to DSA’s program, their plans to advance the labor movement, and their solidarity with Palestine and other international struggles. If endorsed, how will you stand with Puerto Rico’s struggle for self-determination? How will you fight Israeli apartheid and genocide? How can we take back abortion rights, advance healthcare for all, and win a real democracy? What will you do if the Supreme Court and Congress try to block our political revolution?
Alongside our rank-and-file members, we could also invite union participants and other working-class attendees to ask questions of their own. Holding a debate will help DSA make our debut to working people everywhere as a party-like organization, with its own vision for political revolution in America.
5. We want a democratic conference to handle early decisions.
If DSA hesitates to take any preliminary action before our August 2027 Convention, the race will develop ahead of us and delegates will not be presented with meaningful choices. The first Democratic presidential debate will probably already be behind us (as it was at our August 2019 convention). If DSA converges, even preliminarily, on a candidate, we will need to do everything we can to help them get on the Democratic primary debate stage. The existing presidential exploratory committee already has a clear mandate to consider preliminary steps ahead of the 2027 Convention:
…[The Committee will submit] a report to the NPC prior to the 2027 convention. If DSA decides to endorse a candidate for the 2028 Democratic primary, the committee shall draft a consensus resolution outlining the campaign for the 2027 DSA convention.
2025 Convention delegates mandated DSA to actively prepare for this election, not to stand by in silence until our next convention. However, it’s important that the exploratory committee’s report, and any preliminary decisions it takes alongside the NPC, should emerge from a deliberative democratic process engaging the whole organization, not just a leadership core. We must also be clear that DSA’s 2027 Convention is free to approve, reject, or revise any preliminary plan as it sees fit.
In the coming months, MUG will work with our NPC comrades to democratize the exploratory committee as our presidential process continues. MUG will propose that chapters be asked to select delegations by proportional election to join the Committee around early 2027. A large virtual conference of chapter-elected delegates, focused squarely on the presidential election, would allow the Committee to complete its 2025 mandate by the most democratic means available, while also avoiding the severe procedural hurdles to calling a full special convention (which requires a three-fourths NPC majority). Chapter delegations will ensure that the committee approves a report that reflects the collective will of our movement.
2028 will bring many unknowns, but MUG is confident that the socialist movement can face it all with courage. Together, we will completely destroy the Democratic Establishment, which has stomped on the Left for years by rigging elections with their money and media networks. They’re laughing at us, because they think we’ll play the game as usual, and not come prepared, and fall back in line when the progressive concedes like we always have before. But DSA is rising as a party of our own, and this time, we decide our own fate!
If you would like to join us in advancing our Five Demands, please reach out here.
You’ll hear from us.
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