State Rep. David Morales, a DSA member, defeated incumbent Providence Mayor Brett Smiley 57% to 43% in Wednesday's Democratic primary, with Smiley's campaign outspending his roughly 7.6-to-1 in the final weeks. A CNN/SSRS poll put Michigan's Senate race at 47%–44% for Abdul El-Sayed, inside the 4.1-point margin of error, in a week when speakers at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas made El-Sayed their most frequent target. In Portland, the Green-Morillo amendment adding resident enforcement to the Zenith–ISQ franchise transfer failed on a 6–6 tie, and the council approved a PSU performing-arts venue plan 8–4 with the left bloc split — Green and Avalos in favor, Koyama Lane, Morillo, and Kanal opposed. The Congressional Black Caucus PAC endorsed El-Sayed, and DSA-LA's endorsement of Nithya Raman drew questions at a Los Angeles press conference.
Portland City Council · 2026-09-09 · on the Zenith–ISQ franchise transfer and the Green-Morillo amendment vote
The council took up consent to the franchise transfer from Zenith Energy Terminals Holdings LLC to ISQ Springer Holdings LLC (document 2026-263). The Green-Morillo 1 amendment, which Councilor Morillo said would allow affected residents to ask the courts to enforce the franchise if ISQ violates its terms and the city fails to act, failed on a 6–6 tie, with Council President Dunphy joining Koyama Lane, Morillo, Green, Avalos, and Kanal in favor. The ordinance passed to second reading, scheduled for September 16.
Morillo and Green introduced the amendment at the September 2 council meeting; the second reading is on the September 16 agenda.
The council voted 8–4 to adopt recommendations advancing a Broadway-capable performing arts venue at Portland State University while initiating planning for the Keller Auditorium's future. KPTV reported the new venue's cost is estimated at around $450 million. The left bloc split: Green and Avalos voted aye; Koyama Lane, Morillo, and Kanal voted nay, joined by Dan Ryan.
The official roll call: Aye (8) Novick, Clark, Green, Zimmerman, Avalos, Smith, Pirtle-Guiney, Dunphy; Nay (4) Koyama Lane, Morillo, Kanal, Ryan.
Willamette Week reported that a September 3 Finance and Governance Committee review of the city's annual investment policy, at which the city treasurer presented options to further restrict investments in industries including military aircraft, defense equipment, munitions, and naval ships, turned into a dispute over antisemitism. Councilor Zimmerman said there had been "a fixation since before we took office on things that this council could do to send an anti-Jewish statement"; Green called the allegations "wildly off base and frankly a breach of decorum," and Councilor Pirtle-Guiney said the conversation had "become deeply antisemitic in places." The staff options have not been introduced as an ordinance.
The screening options stem from a December 2025 council resolution directing that city investments be screened against human rights abuses.
Willamette Week reported that Councilors Koyama Lane, Morillo, and Green — the three DSA members among the six council incumbents seeking reelection — have each logged more than 1,600 campaign contributions through the city's Small Donor Elections program, nearly 750 more than their centrist colleagues running for reelection. Per the program's website, Koyama Lane has received $200,000 in matching funds, Morillo $160,000, and Green $162,000. The paper reported the only nonincumbent at similar levels is District 4 candidate Eli Arnold, at $194,000.
The Small Donor Elections program matches contributions by up to 10 to 1; the general election is November 3, 2026.
KPTV reported the council will vote Wednesday on a resolution directing city officials to refuse non-disclosure agreements over potential data center projects and requiring staff to alert councilors when a company seeks a preliminary meeting or permit for a facility drawing 20 megawatts or more; the resolution is on the September 16 council agenda. It is sponsored by Councilors Koyama Lane, Green, Avalos, Pirtle-Guiney, and Kanal; city documents accompanying it say data centers consume 5.6% of Oregon's electricity, and Portland hosts 17 smaller data centers with no hyperscale facilities.
Hillsboro's city council enacted a 120-day moratorium on new data center developments earlier this summer.
The Mercury profiled the twelve candidates running for three seats in District 4, including incumbents Mitch Green, Olivia Clark, and Eric Zimmerman. Green's profile describes an economist and Army veteran focused on fossil fuel accountability and social housing; Zimmerman's describes a councilor "considered part of the Council's moderate bloc, largely using the position to block policies brought by progressive councilors."
Green was elected to a two-year City Council term in 2024, so his seat is on the November 3, 2026 ballot.
Rhode Island Current · 2026-09-09 · on Providence mayoral primary won by DSA member David Morales
State Rep. David Morales, a 27-year-old member of the Democratic Socialists of America endorsed by Bernie Sanders and Ro Khanna, defeated incumbent Providence Mayor Brett Smiley in Wednesday's Democratic primary, 57% to 43%, with 31% turnout. Smiley's campaign spent $652,537 from August 12 through September 1, about 7.6 times the $85,789 Morales's campaign spent. Morales faces Republican Dave Talan in the November 3 general election; three Working Families Party-backed council candidates also won their primaries.
The Providence City Council's 4% rent-cap ordinance, vetoed by Smiley in April, fell one vote short of a veto override in May.
A CNN/SSRS poll of 843 Michigan likely voters conducted August 31–September 6 put Abdul El-Sayed at 47% and Mike Rogers at 44%, inside the poll's 4.1-point margin of error. Fifty percent of voters called El-Sayed's positions too liberal, against 42% who called Rogers too conservative. Black likely voters backed El-Sayed 77% to 10%, and 40% of Black voters and of voters under 35 said they had not firmly decided.
El-Sayed lost Wayne County, home to Detroit, by roughly 17,000 votes in the August Democratic primary against Haley Stevens.
At the two-day Republican midterm convention in Dallas September 9–10, speakers repeatedly invoked communism, socialism, and Marxism, with Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed the most frequent target; Rogers said of his opponent, "He's a con man. I'm a law man," and Trump said of democratic socialists, "actually they're communists." Trump promised American adults $5,000 if Republicans retain control of the House and Senate. NPR reported thousands of empty seats on both days, including almost all of the upper level.
The House passed a resolution condemning socialism the previous week, with 8 Democrats joining Republicans.
Rogers attacked El-Sayed over ties to streamer Hasan Piker, who in 2019 said "America deserved 9/11"; El-Sayed, who has distanced himself from Piker, responded Friday by citing Rogers's vote against the 2010 James Zadroga Act providing healthcare to 9/11 first responders. Rogers said on X the "insinuation that I do not support the victims or their families is patently false" and cited an annual $150 million appropriation he advocated. GOP groups supporting Rogers have run at least three ads referencing 9/11 and Piker's comments; El-Sayed's supporters and Muslim advocacy groups called the association attempts Islamophobic.
The Senate Leadership Fund, the leading Senate Republican super PAC, has announced over $45 million in ad reservations in Michigan this fall.
MS NOW · 2026-09-09 · on Congressional Black Caucus PAC endorsement of Abdul El-Sayed
The Congressional Black Caucus PAC endorsed El-Sayed on Tuesday; in the primary, 14 Black members of Congress, including PAC chair Gregory Meeks, had endorsed Haley Stevens. The PAC had a little under $600,000 on hand per FEC filings and no imminent plans to campaign in Michigan. Rogers has attended services at predominantly Black Detroit churches and launched a "Democrats for Rogers" coalition alongside outgoing state Rep. Karen Whitsett, who left the Democratic Party this year.
Rep. James Clyburn, who cut ads for Stevens in the primary, endorsed El-Sayed last month.
Moody told Spectrum News she does not intend to debate Nixon this fall, saying "I am running against a self-proclaimed socialist who, when has been given a stage, likes to quote the Communist Manifesto and, very disturbingly, cop-killers." Nixon, campaigning in St. Petersburg, cited a leaked Leon County grand jury report finding the DeSantis administration "misappropriated" $10 million of taxpayer money in 2024, with Moody as attorney general aware of the plans. Nixon, who joined DSA in June, also cited an AP report that about 440,000 Floridians dropped ACA coverage this year, more than any other state.
Nixon's primary opponent Alex Vindman also declined to debate her; Nixon won the August 18 Democratic primary by double digits.
The Trump-affiliated No Going Back PAC reserved more than $74 million in ad time across 15 House races and Senate races in six battleground states — Alaska, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire and Ohio — according to ad research firm AdImpact. Reuters reported that Trump's political operation is supporting the new group, citing a person familiar with the matter.
The Senate Leadership Fund has announced over $45 million in ad reservations in Michigan this fall.
New York Post · 2026-09-09 · on Nithya Raman's DSA-LA endorsement
At a Wednesday press conference, the Post pressed Raman on why she held press conferences for union endorsements but none for DSA-LA's, and on whether the group's "extreme left-wing ideology" would help Los Angeles; Raman did not directly answer, saying "I believe my policies and my agenda will help the city." The Post reported she waited a day before acknowledging the DSA-LA endorsement on social media. DSA-LA endorsed Raman on September 2 after she secured more than 60% of the vote among participating chapter members.
Raman called the press conference to criticize Mayor Karen Bass over homelessness oversight after Bass stepped down from the LAHSA Commission on September 9.
In The Wall Street Journal, Joshua Chaffin cataloged the internal caucuses of the Democratic Socialists of America — among them the Socialist Majority Caucus, Groundwork, North Star, Bread & Roses, and the Communist Caucus — and sorted them by their positions on electoral pragmatism versus revolutionary strategy. The piece traced the caucuses' competition over endorsements and seats on the organization's National Political Committee.
The piece's tally of DSA primary wins draws on an August 2026 Brookings Institution analysis of DSA-aligned candidates' performance this cycle.
In a Cato at Liberty post, Ryan Bourne and Nathan Miller argued that rising favorability toward the DSA has not translated into support for collective ownership. Citing July polling by The Argument, they wrote that government ownership of the means of production draws support from 11 percent of voters with 79 percent opposed. They also cited Gallup finding support for socialism rose from 36 percent in 2010 to 39 percent in 2025, and Cato's own July polling finding 61 percent of Democrats more likely to back a democratic-socialist presidential candidate.
The nationalization figures come from July 2026 polling by The Argument, whose DSA-favorability crosstabs were shared with Cato.
Block Club Chicago's Quinn Myers reported that Chicago DSA's membership has grown to 3,200 people, about 1,000 of them added over the past year, while national DSA membership passed 120,000 in July. The chapter declined to endorse incumbent alderpeople Jeanette Taylor and Daniel La Spata; Taylor called the group "anti-Black," and WTTW News reporting cited in the piece said the chapter dropped La Spata after he declined to identify as "anti-Zionist." Critics quoted in the piece attributed the friction to weak coalition-building across the city's neighborhoods.
Six DSA-backed candidates were elected to Chicago's 50-member City Council in 2023, matching the caucus's 2019 total.
Peterson Institute for International Economics · 2026-09-10
In a PIIE RealTime Economics post, Cullen Hendrix argued that the United States is moving toward more state ownership of the economy and that the shift is driven by the Trump administration rather than by Democratic Socialists. Drawing on the V-Dem State Ownership of Economy measure, he wrote that in 2025 the US fell to a position with 15 countries below it in state control of the economy, a year-over-year shift larger than all but about 1.2 percent of changes since 2005. He pointed to federal equity or equity-like stakes in more than 30 firms, including a 10 percent stake in Intel.
The analysis uses the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project's State Ownership of Economy variable, coded by country experts.
2026-09-15 — Portland Housing and Permitting Committee meeting, for which Portland DSA is organizing renter testimony (source)
2026-09-16 — Portland City Council: second reading and final vote on the Zenith–ISQ Springer franchise transfer, and vote on the data center NDA resolution (source)
2026-10-21 — Sole scheduled televised Wisconsin governor debate, Crowley vs. Tiffany, on WISN 12 (source)
2026-11-03 — General election: Michigan Senate, Florida Senate special, Wisconsin governor, Providence mayor, Los Angeles mayor, and Portland council districts (source)