DSA-Backed Candidates Win Big in Primaries Across 5 States

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) are celebrating a major political breakthrough after more than a dozen socialist-backed candidates won or advanced in primary elections across five states on Tuesday, May 19 — a result that progressive leaders are calling a “shockwave” and a sign of growing anti-establishment energy within the Democratic Party.

The most consequential victory came in Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District, where state Representative Chris Rabb, a self-described democratic socialist, won the Democratic primary with approximately 45% of the vote. Because no Republican filed for the general election in the district — the bluest in the nation, where Kamala Harris won 88% of the vote in 2024 — Rabb is virtually guaranteed a seat in Congress this November, making him the DSA’s second nationally endorsed member of the U.S. House alongside Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

According to Fox News, Tuesday’s primaries produced outright wins, apparent victories, and runoff advancements for more than a dozen candidates linked to or backed by the DSA, spanning races for Congress, state legislatures, and local offices including mayor and city council across Pennsylvania, Georgia, Texas, Michigan, and Maine.

A Victory Against the Establishment

Rabb’s path to victory was anything but easy. He faced State Senator Sharif Street, who finished second with roughly 30% of the vote, and Dr. Ala Stanford, a pediatric surgeon who placed third with approximately 24%. Stanford had the backing of retiring incumbent Representative Dwight Evans and benefited from $3.5 million in outside spending by 314 Action, a left-leaning PAC. Street, meanwhile, was endorsed by Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker and supported by building trades unions that contributed more than $600,000 to his campaign.

Rabb was propelled by a coalition of progressive groups including the Working Families Party, Justice Democrats, and the DSA itself. Representative Ocasio-Cortez campaigned for him in Philadelphia just four days before the primary. In his victory speech, Rabb struck a defiant tone: “I have been critiqued along this campaign for being too radical, too bold,” he told supporters. “They ain’t seen nothing yet.”

As AP News reported, Rabb credited a grassroots movement inspired by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani — whose 2025 election created what progressives call the “Mamdani moment” — and fueled by voters hungry for a government responsive to their needs. “That was at the heart of why I was running,” Rabb told the Associated Press. “That is a chord we struck in this electorate that showed up and came out like gangbusters.”

A Broader Progressive Wave

The DSA described the results as “rosy” and said May’s primaries were “just the beginning,” citing 27 DSA-endorsed candidates on the ballot in upcoming June primaries. The organization’s election night live blog declared, “There is a new Democratic Socialist in Congress,” following Rabb’s win.

Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working Families Party, described Rabb’s victory as “a shockwave” heard around the nation. “What this means is that there’s potential for a new working-class alignment of voters… [who are] saying the same thing to the political establishment and the political machine in both the Republican and Democratic Party,” Mitchell told WHYY News.

As The Guardian noted, Alexandra Rojas, executive director of Justice Democrats, framed the result as evidence that voters are demanding representatives willing to challenge corporate influence. “Chris Rabb is exactly what Democratic voters nationwide are demanding — progressive trailblazers who fight for their communities, not just when it’s politically convenient but when it’s morally necessary,” Rojas said.

Internal Party Tensions

The socialist victories landed the same week the Democratic National Committee released its long-delayed 2024 postmortem report. The report warned that Republicans will continue trying to elevate Democrats whose positions can be used to paint candidates in competitive races as out of touch, and urged the party to reconnect with Middle America, rural voters, men, Latinos, and working-class communities.

DNC Chairman Ken Martin initially promised the report, then reversed course in December, before releasing it under pressure from former Vice President Kamala Harris, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, and other party leaders.

GOP strategist Colin Reed drew parallels to the Tea Party era, telling Fox News Digital: “Socialism is ascendant in today’s Democratic Party, and it’s influencing and shaping the primary election contests in a way that potentially spells doom for the party in general elections.” Reed compared the dynamic to the Republican Party’s struggles in 2010 and 2012, when far-right primary candidates won in safe districts but proved unelectable in competitive general elections.

Philadelphia-based political strategist Mustafa Rashed offered a more measured assessment, telling WHYY: “There’s dissatisfaction with the establishment. [Voters] want someone different and if you can unapologetically present yourself as an outsider, as someone that’s going to give you a different outcome, I think people will be receptive to that message and respond to it.”

What Comes Next

Rabb’s victory is the most significant progressive primary win of the 2026 cycle so far, but questions remain about whether the momentum can carry into the June primaries and beyond. Progressive candidates also saw wins elsewhere: Analilia Mejia in New Jersey, Frederick Haynes III in Texas, and incumbent Representative Summer Lee in Pennsylvania all won their primaries.

However, some Democrats caution that Rabb captured just 45% of the vote in a low-turnout election where fewer than one-third of registered Democrats voted. In a competitive general election, critics argue, his far-left positions — including support for abolishing ICE, Medicare for All, government-run grocery stores, and criticism of Israel — could alienate swing voters.

As Al Jazeera reported, the race in many ways mirrored the internal strife for Democrats kicked into overdrive following the party’s 2024 election loss. With control of Congress at stake in November and 27 more DSA-endorsed candidates on the June primary ballot, the battle for the soul of the Democratic Party is far from over.

“The question in this race was not whether we would elect a Democrat, but what kind of Democrat we would choose,” said Kendra Brooks and Nicolas O’Rourke, cochairs of the Pennsylvania Working Families Party. “The people of Philadelphia made their choice clear: bold, working-class leadership, and an end to the broken status quo.”

Rabb himself put it more bluntly in his victory speech: “We can learn lessons from this victory because, if establishment politics was as effective and productive as people would have us think, then I would have been blown out of the water.”