A UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll co-sponsored by the Times put Councilmember Nithya Raman at 39% and Mayor Karen Bass at 28% among likely Los Angeles voters, with 33% undecided; it surveyed 2,150 likely city voters online September 15–20. Bass's favorability was 28% favorable to 63% unfavorable, and Raman's 40% to 39%. IGS director Mark DiCamillo said "Raman clearly has the advantage" and called the share of undecided voters "extraordinarily unusual" this close to an election.
Bass finished first in the June 2 primary, 34% to Raman's 29%; mail ballots for the November 3 runoff go out beginning October 1.
New Haven Independent · on the DSA-endorsed win in New Haven's Ward 9 alder special election
Maria-Threese Serana, a Co-Op High School biology teacher endorsed by the Connecticut DSA chapter and the Ward 9 Democratic Ward Committee, won Tuesday's special election for New Haven's Ward 9 Board of Alders seat, taking 186 votes at the polls to Gavin Arnold's 16. She fills the remainder of the term vacated by Caroline Tanbee Smith in early August, running through the end of 2027, and becomes the second democratic socialist to serve on the Board of Alders, after former Ward 9 Alder Charles Decker.
Two of the original four candidates, Blaise Berglund and Conor Gilligan, dropped out in late August and endorsed Serana.
New York Post · 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.
Incumbent state Rep. Marjorie Decker defeated Boston DSA-endorsed labor organizer Evan MacKay in the Democratic primary for the Cambridge-based 25th Middlesex District, 4,104 votes to 3,599; the AP called the race Wednesday morning and MacKay conceded. MacKay lost the same race by 41 votes in 2024. Outside groups put more than $100,000 into the district, including more than $140,000 spent by Progressive Cambridge, an independent expenditure committee formed in July to back Decker.
Boston DSA said its field program knocked almost 50,000 doors and made over 100,000 phone calls for MacKay.
Portland DSA · on Portland DSA's endorsed slate for the November 3, 2026 election
Portland DSA announced its endorsed slate for the November 3 general election: incumbent Councilors Mitch Green (District 4), Tiffany Koyama Lane (District 3) and Angelita Morillo (District 3), plus Tammy Carpenter for Oregon House District 27, Farrah Chaichi for Oregon House District 35 and Nathan Ong Norris for Multnomah County Commissioner District 2. The chapter said candidates are endorsed by vote of dues-paying members at its monthly general meetings.
All three endorsed incumbent councilors were first elected in November 2024.
Democratic Left · on Michael Lachenmeyer's primary loss to Rep. Angelo Puppolo in the 12th Hampden District
River Valley DSA endorsee Michael Lachenmeyer lost the Democratic primary for the Springfield-area 12th Hampden state House district to incumbent Angelo Puppolo, trailing 1,878 to 3,544 when the Associated Press called the race. Lachenmeyer's statement called it the chapter's first endorsement in a state-level race and said members organized seven canvasses and knocked on 2,806 doors between August 5 and August 31. Puppolo had not faced a primary opponent since first winning the seat in 2006.
The chapter's co-chair said it endorsed after the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court removed a rent control question from the 2026 ballot in July.
Democratic Left · on DSA-LA's endorsement of Nithya Raman in the Los Angeles mayoral runoff
DSA-LA voted to endorse City Councilor Nithya Raman for Los Angeles mayor in her runoff against incumbent Karen Bass, with the vote crossing the chapter's 60% approval threshold. The chapter also endorsed candidates for the Burbank and West Hollywood city councils, the Inglewood and Centinela Valley school boards, and Angela Gonzales-Torres in her U.S. House runoff. The same roundup reported Chicago DSA is running six candidates — four incumbents and two challengers — in the February 23, 2027 Chicago City Council election.
The Los Angeles Times reported on the chapter's internal debate over the Raman endorsement on August 29.
DSA told members that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez "recently rejoined in August 2026" after her 2018 annual membership lapsed in 2019 and was never renewed. The organization said it disclosed her membership history because chapters are campaigning to draft her as a 2028 presidential primary candidate; DSA chapters in Los Angeles and Atlanta have passed resolutions calling on her to run.
DSA plans to begin its formal presidential endorsement process early next year, and its national leadership is split on whether to endorse her.
Los Angeles Times · on the DSA-LA endorsement vote in the Los Angeles mayor's race
DSA's Los Angeles chapter is holding an online vote on whether to endorse City Councilmember Nithya Raman, a DSA member, in her November 3 runoff against Mayor Karen Bass; Raman needs 60% of the vote to secure the endorsement, more than 6,000 chapter members received ballots, and voting closes Tuesday. Chapter members have argued both sides in essays in Geese magazine, with opponents citing her vote to confirm Jim McDonnell as police chief and her push to rewrite Measure ULA.
DSA-LA declined to endorse in the June 2 primary but recommended Raman in its voter guide, which did not include access to the chapter's get-out-the-vote operation.
Denver DSA announced Tuesday it endorsed City Council member Shontel Lewis, who is challenging incumbent Mayor Mike Johnston in the April election. The endorsement gives Lewis access to the chapter's field operation, which knocked more than 100,000 doors and made more than 500,000 phone calls before Melat Kiros's June primary win over Rep. Diana DeGette. Nine other candidates are also running, including 2023 DSA endorsee Lisa Calderón, who said she did not seek the endorsement this cycle.
Lewis first won her District 8 council seat in 2023, also with Denver DSA's endorsement.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz won the Democratic primary in Florida's redrawn 25th Congressional District over DSA-endorsed challenger Oliver Larkin, taking more than two-thirds of the vote. Moskowitz said in his victory statement, "I faced a challenge from the DSA. They threw everything at me and I didn't change who I am or what I believe…" Larkin conceded Tuesday night and said he committed to helping Democrats win the seat in November; former Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer won the Republican nomination.
The Cook Political Report rates FL-25 a toss-up; Trump carried the areas that make up the redrawn district by nine points in 2024.
Axios reported that although Nixon's win is being cast as a DSA victory, the national organization neither endorsed her nor anticipated the result, and that Nixon joined DSA during her campaign. Axios quoted Nixon saying "I don't campaign as a member of any organization" and "I don't believe in labels," and reported she joined to tap into DSA's grassroots organizational network and supports its positions on housing, public education, corporate power, and Medicare for All.
A Brookings count of the 2026 cycle identified 282 DSA-chapter-endorsed candidates, 29 of them carrying national DSA endorsements.
Newsweek · on Florida's Aug. 18 Democratic primary challenges
Newsweek reported on three candidates it described as insurgents on Florida's Aug. 18 Democratic primary ballot: democratic socialist Oliver Larkin against Rep. Jared Moskowitz in the redrawn 25th District, Elijah Manley against Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz in the 20th, and state Rep. Angie Nixon against Alexander Vindman for the U.S. Senate special election. Vindman has reported raising $16.7 million to Nixon's roughly $625,000, and Manley said he has been outspent by $650,000 from two super PACs. Prediction markets priced Moskowitz at 88 to 90 percent to win his nomination and Vindman near 94 percent.
The Sun Sentinel reported Larkin is endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America; polls close Tuesday, Aug. 18.
The "Chomp the Oligarchy" rally in Fort Lauderdale on Aug. 14, sponsored by the Florida Youth Justice Coalition, Gen-Z For Change, and the Broward and Miami-Dade DSA chapters to promote candidates Oliver Larkin, Elijah Manley, and Angie Nixon, drew hundreds of attendees, with Rep. Rashida Tlaib appearing. Two venues canceled after Tlaib was added to the lineup, and the final venue's owner said he received 600 messages opposing his hosting the event. Elected officials and party leaders quoted in the piece said 300 people at a rally "does not portend sweeping change"; Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said Broward Democrats are not "moving towards embracing the fringe left."
Organizers announced Tlaib's addition to the lineup on Monday, Aug. 10, after which the rally's first two venues canceled.
In Jacobin, Branko Marcetic argued that Francesca Hong's 0.5-point loss to David Crowley in Wisconsin's Democratic gubernatorial primary should not be read as a rejection of socialist candidates generally, noting that five of eight DSA-chapter-endorsed candidates in Wisconsin and Minnesota won their races the same night, four more advanced to the general unopposed, and five of seven DSA-backed candidates advanced in Connecticut and Vermont. Marcetic wrote that Wisconsin socialists have gone, in the space of a few years, from no state-legislature representation to two assembly members.
The piece links an August 12 Politico article as an example of coverage reading the result as a wholesale rejection of down-ballot socialists.