A new wave of socialists clinched wins in recent Democratic primaries, putting them on a path to Congress in deep blue districts but also creating potential headaches for the broader party.
These candidates, all associated with Democratic Socialists of America, are expected to win in November, while other DSA-backed candidates in states including Michigan and Missouri are still awaiting primaries.
The hopefuls have tapped an insurgent energy among Democratic voters, while also opening the door for Republicans to accuse Democrats of being too far left to be trusted to control Congress.
DSA is the largest socialist organization in the U.S. and boasts high-profile members such as New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. The membership group—not a political party—campaigns for policies including universal healthcare and wealth taxes. Membership nearly doubled to top 100,000 after Mamdani announced his campaign in October 2024. Still, some prominent progressives, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), aren’t DSA members.
Here’s who the new candidates are, what they have said and what they stand for.
Melat Kiros, 29
Melat Kiros defeated Rep. Diana DeGette in the Democratic primary for a Colorado seat that DeGette has held for longer than Kiros has been alive. She portrayed the progressive incumbent as an out-of-touch establishment Democrat whose time was up.
Kiros became a DSA member on the campaign trail, where she advocated for universal health and child care, abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and an arms embargo on Israel.
Before politics, she worked in corporate law. Kiros joined Sidley Austin, one of the country’s largest and most elite corporate law firms, as a full-time associate in 2022, but was fired just over a year later after publishing an essay-style letter arguing that questioning Israel’s legitimacy shouldn’t automatically be considered antisemitic.
In her essay she criticized a letter signed by over 100 U.S. law firms, including her own, condemning “anti-Semitic harassment, vandalism and assaults on college campuses” following the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in southern Israel.
“We will not wait to abolish ICE and pass Medicare for all,” Kiros said in a speech following her primary win. “And no, we will not wait to end the genocide in Palestine.”
Chris Rabb, 56
Christopher M. Rabb is a current member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, where he has served since 2016. Rabb bested Pennsylvania state Sen. Sharif Street and former Biden administration health official Ala Stanford in a May 19 Democratic primary, carrying over 44% of the vote.
The lawmaker has built a reputation as one of the Pennsylvania House’s most progressive members, pushing for cannabis legalization and repealing the death penalty.
Rabb drew national attention in 2021 when he circulated a memo for legislation that would require men to undergo vasectomies after having a third child or turning 40. The politician later clarified it was “parody legislation” meant to highlight the double standard of regulating women’s bodies.
Rabb’s campaign platform includes universal healthcare, publicly owned grocery stores, free public transit, ending U.S. military aid to Israel and abolishing ICE.
“I have been critiqued along this campaign for being too radical, being too bold,” Rabb said during a post-primary victory speech. “They ain’t seen nothing yet.”
Claire Valdez, 36
Claire Valdez is an artist and labor organizer who has served as a New York assemblywoman since 2025. Valdez is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Ysleta del Sur Pueblo, a Native American sovereign nation in El Paso, Texas.
Valdez topped a four-candidate race with 56% of the vote for a seat in New York’s 7th Congressional District left open by retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez. The district comprises several young, college-educated and gentrifying neighborhoods in Queens and northern Brooklyn, and was notoriously dubbed “Commie Corridor” after propelling Mamdani’s election victory last year.
The longtime DSA member ran on a platform of ICE abolishment, solidarity with Palestinians and affordability, alongside advocating for universal healthcare, a four-day workweek and rent control.
“Solidarity Forever. Abolish ICE. Free Palestine. Organize Your Union and Join DSA,” Valdez said in a victory speech following the primary.
Valdez was arrested twice during protests in 2025—once at the office building of Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand protesting their votes on Israel arms sales, and a month later during a sit-in at an ICE detention center in Manhattan.
Darializa Avila Chevalier, 32
Doctoral student and activist Darializa Avila Chevalier, often referred to as “DAC,” is the daughter of Dominican immigrants. The first-time candidate defeated progressive Democrat and fellow Dominican-American Adriano Espaillat in a June primary. Espaillat had represented New York’s 13th Congressional District, which covers Upper Manhattan and part of the northwest Bronx, for almost a decade.
Avila Chevalier joined the DSA in 2025. Her agenda centers on government-funded healthcare, tenant protections, abolishing ICE, ending U.S. aid to Israel and banning congressional stock trading.
Much of the controversy surrounding the activist stems from her participation in pro-Palestinian encampment protests at Columbia University, her alma mater, and posts on a now-deleted account.
Tweets from 2020 and 2021 show her labeling President Joe Biden “a rapist,” posting “f— Kamala Harris” and calling COVID-19 a “European plague,” pinning its origin on France. Avila Chevalier has since said that although she regrets the tweets, she deleted the account to take a break from social media, not because of her campaign.
“Even if the establishment’s machine has done everything in its power to keep our community from having a seat at the table, well, I have some bad news for them. We’ve brought folding chairs,” Avila Chevalier said on the night of her primary.
Write to Maya Davis at maya.davis@wsj.com
