The DSA’s Hostile Takeover of the Democratic Party

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The New York primary results should concern every Democrat who still cares about the party’s future.

The Democratic Socialists of America have achieved a major victory. Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s chosen candidates won all three competitive congressional primaries. Darializa Avila Chevalier defeated five-term congressman Adriano Espaillat in New York’s 13th district. Claire Valdez won easily in New York’s 7th district. And Brad Lander, who was endorsed by Mamdani, beat incumbent Dan Goldman in New York’s 10th district. DSA also picked up at least six seats in the state Legislature, giving them the second largest socialist bloc in any state Legislature in American history, behind only Wisconsin in 1919.

This is a hostile takeover, and Israel is the weapon being used to drive it.

The DSA’s litmus test for endorsement includes explicit rejection of the IHRA definition of antisemitism, the standard adopted by the State Department, dozens of countries, and leading Jewish organizations worldwide. AOC reaffirmed on a DSA endorsement call that she will never vote to fund Israel’s defense, including the Iron Dome. Mamdani’s first act in office was revoking his predecessor’s executive order adopting the IHRA definition. Running against AIPAC has become the left’s primary mobilization tool, and moderates like Goldman and Espaillat paid the price for taking pro-Israel money.

Goldman said it himself before losing: Demonizing AIPAC the way the DSA does fuels antisemitism. He’s right. Treating Jewish political advocacy as uniquely corrupting, as something to be purged from the Democrat party, while every other organized interest group gets a pass, is not campaign finance reform. It is targeting Jews.

The moderate wing sees the problem. Tom Suozzi called it an “earthquake.” Another centrist House Democrat, speaking anonymously, called it “a huge defeat for Democratic leadership.” But seeing the problem and fighting back are two different things. Right now, the moderates are wringing their hands at cocktail parties while the DSA is knocking on three million doors. That gap in energy and organization is how you lose a party.

The DSA’s own publications describe Palestine as “a critical wedge” to pull voters away from the Democrat party and toward socialism. They are not hiding what they are doing. The DNC failed earlier this year to pass even a symbolic resolution limiting AIPAC’s influence, exposing just how paralyzed the party is on this question. Meanwhile, the socialist bloc grows, the litmus tests harden, and Jewish Democrats are being asked to choose between their party and their community.

What does the fight look like from here? It starts with moderates treating this as the emergency it is. The DSA has a mayor, a congressional delegation, and now a significant state legislative bloc. These people have a turnout machine, a clear ideology, and the willingness to knock out incumbents. What the moderate wing has, so far, is an AIPAC checkbook and a lot of post-election hand-wringing. That is not a match.

The moderate path forward requires candidates who can make an affirmative economic argument without conceding the Israel question, and party leadership willing to defend the legitimacy of Jewish political participation rather than treat it as a liability. It requires Jewish donors and organizations to invest not just in individual races, but in building the kind of grassroots infrastructure the DSA has spent years developing. And it requires Democrat voters who care about this to stop assuming someone else will handle it.

The DSA is explicit about its long-term goal. Its members want to transform the Democrat party into a vehicle for democratic socialism, and they are willing to use antisemitism as a wedge to get there. New York just showed they are winning. The question is whether the people who should be stopping them have finally decided to start.

Josh Kantrow is a lawyer in Chicago, where he focuses on technology, privacy, and complex commercial litigation. He writes on law, politics, and culture at his Facebook page: facebook.com/share/1BLwcus4PR.

Image: hendricjabs via Pixabay, Pixabay License.