Socialists set sights on the ground floor of government as GOP warns of bigger plan unfolding

FIRST ON FOX — Dozens of individuals backed by the Democratic Socialists of America are set to appear on ballots as candidates for state legislature seats on Election Day, something Republicans say could set in motion a trend that transforms the Democratic Party.

At least 65 DSA-aligned candidates have advanced to contest state legislative seats in November’s general election. The Republican State Leadership Committee — the official GOP body responsible for ensuring state-level conservative victories — claimed that these races could very well determine the future of the Democratic Party, according to a memo obtained exclusively by Fox News Digital.

“The statehouse trend is also relevant because several prominent DSA-aligned Congressional candidates in 2026 have emerged from state and local political organizing,” the memo reads. “These victories demonstrate one potential progression: movement organizations can help develop candidates locally and at the state level, provide them with political experience and organizational networks, and eventually support campaigns for Congress.”

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“The scale of that presence matters not only because DSA-aligned candidates could influence the direction of their state legislatures if elected, but because state legislative offices can provide a platform, governing experience, donor networks and organizational infrastructure for future campaigns for higher office,” it continues.

The RSLC’s methodology included candidates who are DSA members, DSA endorsees or self-identified members of the organization.

DSA-affiliated candidates identified by the RSLC take positions on a number of issues that crucial swing voters and independents may find extreme, including defunding or abolishing police departments, left-wing economic policies and demanding race-based reparations.

Opposition to traditional policing has emerged as a prominent issue among some of the DSA-aligned state legislative candidates identified by Republicans.

“As a State Senator I will continue to do everything I can to end policing and incarceration in New York State,” Democratic State Sen. Jabari Brisport’s campaign website reads. Brisport also supports decriminalizing prostitution, arguing that removing criminal penalties for sex workers while maintaining protections against trafficking and exploitation would help keep communities safe.

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Over in Wisconsin, Democratic State Rep. Ryan Clancy has stood by his statement that police work has “no dignity or value.”

“It means that American policing has always been bad and it always will be,” Clancy told a local outlet in 2023, alleging that American police forces have their roots in slave patrols. “It’s not like we can get back to this to the early days… American policing… [is] epically racist and classist because that’s a dead end. That is the point of American policing.”

Clancy told Fox News Digital that his comments concerned officers who abused their authority over sex workers, although his original remarks and subsequent 2023 interview criticized policing more broadly as an institution he argued was inherently racist and could not be reformed.

He concurred with the RSLC’s assertion that DSA-aligned candidates are shaping the future of the Democratic Party.

State Rep. Eleanor Chávez, running with the DSA’s backing in New Mexico, meanwhile has called Immigration and Customs Enforcement “fascist” and compared its agents to the KKK. Republicans in New Mexico have condemned such rhetoric, arguing that it could spur people to commit violence against law enforcement officers.

Despite its propensity to draw attention to its stances on social issues, the DSA bills itself as an economically motivated organization.

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To this end, some of its members running for state legislatures have called for reforms some have described as radical.

New York Democratic Assemblywoman Sarahana Shrestha, who is running for re-election with the backing of the DSA, has pushed legislation that would allow the government to acquire the privately held Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp., potentially through eminent domain if a negotiated purchase cannot be reached.Dylan Wegela, a DSA-backed state house candidate in Michigan, has similarly pushed for state acquisitions of utility companies.

Shrestha agrees with the RSLC’s assessment that DSA-aligned state lawmakers could influence the Democratic Party’s trajectory.

“The things DSA-aligned state lawmakers are fighting for are things that are extremely popular with voters, and have been for a long time,” she told Fox News Digital. “A majority of our constituents believe the energy sector should not be for profit, healthcare should be single-payer and universal, the government should play a positive role in building necessary infrastructure such as permanently affordable housing and public transit, and so on.”

The DSA-affiliated lawmaker also defended her plan to take over the Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp., citing a feasibility study commissioned by supporters of the bill that found it would lower costs for consumers.

Sometimes, the stances of DSA clash with Democratic policy priorities.

Gabriel Acevero, a DSA-backed lawmaker in Maryland, for instance, opposed a marijuana legalization measure he argued did not go far enough to address racial inequities, declaring that “cannabis legalization without reparations for communities harmed by the intentional drug war is not progressive policy.” Scores of DSA-affiliated candidates running in states such as New York, Minnesota and Massachusetts have thrown their support behind reparations for racial minorities.

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Republicans have a vested interest in tying the mainstream Democratic Party to the DSA. A Fox News poll from September found that 55% of registered voters had an unfavorable opinion of the DSA.

While some in the Democratic Party argue that Republican attempts to tie the Democratic Party to socialism are bad-faith campaign tricks, party leadership has recently made significant concessions to its left-wing flank.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer backed Abdul El-Sayed’s more moderate opponent in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary, but a super PAC aligned with Schumer has since committed millions of dollars to supporting El-Sayed’s general-election campaign. El-Sayed is a progressive backed by prominent figures on the party’s left, but who has said he is not a socialist.

Due to the disorganized nature of the DSA and the varying degrees of affiliation held by candidates, estimates of the number of socialist candidates running for state legislature vary across sources. The Brookings Institution, for instance, found at least 76 had advanced to the general election, while the RSLC’s analysis identified a minimum of 65 running in a total of 24 states.

Though the DSA’s gains have received significant attention, a Brookings Institution analysis found that candidates backed by the organization represent only a tiny fraction of the nation’s state legislative seats, raising questions about how far the socialist movement’s growing influence extends.

“The RSLC has consistently said that socialism starts in the states and that is where we need to stop it,” the RSLC’s memo reads. “The DSA’s growing presence in statehouse races could have dangerous impacts for state policy in the short-term, and it reflects a clearly orchestrated long-term effort to build political power from the state-level up.”

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Every state legislative candidate mentioned was reached for comment by Fox News Digital on Tuesday.