The Democratic Socialists of America has handed Republicans a new attack line. Its Workers Deserve More platform, published earlier this month, calls for abolishing the Senate, drafting a new constitution and remaking the structure of the United States government.
That is why the keyword DSA is drawing attention now: the platform is not just a policy wish list, but a live argument in the run-up to the midterm elections. It is already being used to paint Democrats as radical at a moment when control of Congress next year is still up for grabs.
The platform goes far beyond constitutional change. It would replace the president and the Supreme Court with leaders chosen by Congress, allow all permanent U.S. residents to vote, expand voting rights, publicly finance all elections and replace the two-party system with a multi-party democracy. It also calls for public ownership of large corporations, broader rights for immigrants and an end to Immigration and Customs Enforcement detentions and deportations.
Republicans moved quickly. Over the weekend, House Speaker Mike Johnson and the Republican National Committee seized on the platform, with Johnson posting on X that “The barbarians are inside the gate — and Democrats are WELCOMING them in,” and later that “Communism is no longer a far fetched threat. It is here on our SHORES!” The ’s conservative-leaning editorial board also warned about the agenda and called it radical, while urging Republicans to avoid communism attack lines that may not land with younger voters.
Still, the platform does not map neatly onto the Democratic candidates now being targeted. Progressive and DSA-backed candidates are running in Democratic primaries across the country, but they do not all subscribe to the group’s full agenda, and that gap gives Republicans room to blur the difference between the party’s left wing and the platform itself. Megan Romer said on Sunday that some of the proposals, including abolishing borders and prisons, would be considered parts of a long-term plan.
The political edge is obvious. President Donald Trump said this year that Democrats want to “destroy the traditional American way of life,” and the new platform gives him and other Republicans fresh material for that argument. Jon Torsch, who wore a T-shirt promoting democratic socialism during a gathering of the Southern Maine Democratic Socialists of America at City Hall in Portland, Maine, on July 16, 2018, reflected a movement that has been in the open for years; what has changed is how easily its agenda can be turned into a campaign weapon. The unanswered question now is not whether Republicans will use it, but how much of the Democratic field they can successfully tie to a platform that many of those candidates never embraced.
