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Democratic socialists have won House primaries in New York and Colorado this summer, as well as D.C.'s mayoral primary.
All of that came after Zohran Mamdani became New York City's mayor in January.
Backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, the largest socialist organization in the country, their message is finding traction as the gap between rich and poor widens and billionaire wealth reaches record highs.
But the DSA is not a political party. It's an activist organization, so its members typically run as Democrats. Some in the DSA advocate what's called the "dirty break" strategy: Build power within the Democratic Party for now, with an eye toward eventually splitting off.
So what actually separates democratic socialists from mainstream Democrats? On many economic issues, they're headed in the same direction - the DSA just wants to go further. But where Democrats want to smooth out capitalism's rough edges, the DSA ultimately wants to replace it. Here's how they compare on seven issues.
The workweek: 40 hours or 32?
The 40-hour workweek has been the law since 1940. Although some Democrats have advocated a shorter workweek, they are largely content to focus instead on protecting overtime pay, union organizing rights and worker safety. The DSA, on the other hand, has made cutting the standard workweek to 32 hours part of its economic platform. Worker productivity has far outpaced wage growth over the decades, and the DSA argues those benefits went to corporate profits rather than workers themselves. In 2024, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a self-described democratic socialist often aligned with the DSA, introduced a Senate version of the Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act. Companies could still require more than 32 hours, but they'd have to pay overtime. The bill did not advance.
The minimum wage: $15 or $30?
The federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 an hour since 2009. Both Democrats and the DSA want to raise it - they've disagreed on how far. The 2024 Democratic platform called for $15 an hour. A bill co-sponsored by Sanders would increase it to $17. Though the idea has broad Democratic support, the measures have not passed. The DSA would go further, arguing that the minimum wage should be a living wage, enough to cover housing, food and other necessities in a given area. Mamdani has called for $30 an hour by 2030 in New York City. This is an area where Democrats may be moving closer to the DSA's position. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut), whose name is frequently floated as a potential 2028 presidential candidate, introduced a bill last month dubbed the Living Wage for All Act, which would raise the minimum wage to $25 an hour in coming years.
Obamacare or Medicare-for-all?
Both Democrats and the DSA want to expand access to health care, but they disagree on how. Mainstream Democrats defend the current mix of private insurance and public programs. They want to protect and build on the Affordable Care Act by lowering drug prices, capping out-of-pocket costs and extending coverage to more people. The DSA wants to replace the system entirely, framing health care as a basic need that should be "decommodified," meaning it shouldn't be bought and sold on the market like other goods. Their solution is Medicare-for-all, a single-payer government system that would eliminate most private insurance.
Taxing the rich: 25 percent or 70?
Both Democrats and the DSA want to tax the rich, but they frame it differently. Democrats talk about making the wealthy "pay their fair share" to fund social priorities. Billionaires "pay an average 8 percent in taxes" while middle-class workers pay more, the party's 2024 platform says. President Joe Biden proposed a 25 percent minimum tax on those worth over $100 million. For the DSA, taxing the wealthy is one piece of a larger project to shift economic power from corporations to workers. Their long-term aim is public ownership of the largest corporations. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), a DSA member, has proposed a 70 percent marginal tax rate on income over $10 million.
Housing: Commodity or human right?
Everyone agrees there's a housing crisis. But Democrats and the DSA diverge on whether the market can fix it. Democrats accept housing as a commodity and work to make it more affordable through increasing supply, providing subsidies and tax credits, and regulating landlords. Kamala Harris, for instance, proposed $25,000 in down payment assistance for first-time home buyers to help them compete in the market. The DSA views housing as a human right that shouldn't be subject to market forces. They advocate for publicly owned "social housing" and universal rent control.
Defund the Pentagon?
While the Democratic Party's progressive wing has supported military cuts, the party as a whole has backed sustained military spending. The Pentagon budget, the largest category of federal discretionary spending, has grown steadily regardless of which party controls Congress. The DSA takes a harder line. Echoing the "defund the police" slogan, their international committee has called for "defunding the military industrial complex." They oppose U.S. participation in NATO and military aid in foreign conflicts, including Russia's war against Ukraine. The DSA frames military spending as serving imperialist and corporate interests and seeks to redirect those funds to health care, housing and education.
Capitalism?
This is the core distinction. Democrats want to fix capitalism. The DSA wants to end it. While they agree on the direction of immediate changes, they diverge on that ultimate goal. Democrats accept the economic system where private individuals or companies own the means of production and goods are distributed through market competition. "I'm a capitalist," Biden said often. Democrats want to regulate and reform capitalism to curb its excesses and make the results fairer to everyone. The DSA, by contrast, seeks in the long term to replace capitalism, which the group sees as "a system designed by the owning class to exploit the rest of us." They want workers to "run both the economy and society democratically to meet human needs, not to make profits for a few."
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