When the Democrats take over Congress in January, they will bring with them a spate of new members who want to abolish ICE, replace capitalism with socialism, and fundamentally transform the American political system.
Voters across the country elected at least five members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) to the House on Tuesday, as Democrats swept to power in a massive blue wave that hit even red states like Kansas, South Carolina, and Texas. Here are the five DSA members heading to Congress:
Darializa Avila Chevalier (New York’s 13th Congressional District)
Avila Chevalier, a DSA member backed by New York City Mayor and fellow member Zohran Mamdani, handily won a deep-blue congressional seat encompassing portions of Harlem and the Bronx on Tuesday. Her victory came after she defeated incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat during the Democratic primary.
A community organizer and activist who worked as an investigator for a New York City public defender’s office and is a doctoral student, Avila-Chevalier has shared and written posts on social media advocating for getting rid of police, seizing private property, and eliminating all borders.
Throughout many deleted posts on Twitter, now X, Avila-Chevalier consistently repeated anti-police rhetoric.
“F**k you. We’re gonna defund and abolish. You don’t get to water down our movements,” she said of the police on June 8, 2020.
Two days later she repeated the call and said that she supported “no more police at all ever.”
In other deleted posts, she called then-candidate Joe Biden a “war criminal” and the United States “a f**king disgrace.” In another post, she took a shot at relationships between black and Arab men and white women, writing “Black men [handshake emoji] Arab men fetishizing ugly colonizer women.”
In September 2021, she shared a post declaring that “a world without borders — just like a world without prisons or police — is possible, necessary, and the only moral way forward.”
She has also joked about forgetting napkins, saying she “wiped my hand on the American flag behind me,” and said she was rooting for Senegal in the World Cup.
While Avila Chevalier has attempted to distance herself from some of her past rhetoric, her platform still includes abolishing ICE, government-funded college tuition, “gender affirming care for everyone,” and establishing a “universal basic income.”
Melat Kiros (Colorado’s 1st Congressional District)
Kiros, a 29-year-old immigrant from Ethiopia and DSA member, easily won a congressional seat covering much of Denver, leading with about 78% of the reported vote. Her platform includes abolishing ICE, providing universal child care and elder care, Medicare for All, and passing a federal “Trans bill of rights.”
Like Avila-Chevalier, Kiros defeated an incumbent, beating Rep. Diana DeGette in the Democratic primary.
“I have a fundamental belief that our government is responsible for meeting our most basic needs,” she said in one interview during the campaign.
In another interview, she claimed that socialism was more in line with the values of the Declaration of Independence than capitalism. Kiros also faced criticism over her comments on Israel and for saying that the 9/11 attacks were “inevitable in the sense that we destabilized a lot of the Middle East, which led people to believe that another act of violence was the only response.”
Donavan McKinney (Michigan’s 13th Congressional District)
McKinney, a member of the DSA, cruised to victory in a Detroit-area congressional seat, leading with approximately 76% of the reported vote. Backed by leftist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), McKinney ousted incumbent Democrat Rep. Shri Thanedar during the Democratic primary.
McKinney supports Medicare for All, implementing the Green New Deal, ending cash bail, abolishing ICE, a government program to provide “free” housing to everyone, using taxpayer dollars to fund abortion, and giving amnesty to illegal immigrants.
During one interview from the campaign trail, McKinney said that billionaires should not exist. “Bottom line? Hell no,” he replied when asked if billionaires should “ethically” exist.
Like many of the other DSA candidates, McKinney made opposition to Israel a central part of his campaign against an incumbent more supportive of Israel.
Chris Rabb (Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District)
Rabb easily won the Philadelphia-based seat on a platform promising government-funded housing, food, healthcare, and income for everyone. He wants to abolish ICE, create “national grocery stores,” pass reparations for black people, implement the Green New Deal, end the “war on drugs,” invest in “mental health responders,” impeach President Donald Trump, and abolish the death penalty.
Rabb refers to detention centers for illegal immigrants as “concentration camps” and wants to tear down the political establishment.
“There are those folks who may be fairly ambitious, who are not being embraced by the establishment for whatever reason, legitimate or otherwise, and they’re upset that they can’t join the clubhouse,” Rabb said in a May 2026 interview. “And then there’s folks like me who wanna burn the clubhouse down. I do not believe in concentrated power.”
Claire Valdez (New York’s 7th Congressional District)
Valdez is another DSA member who will represent parts of New York City in the next Congress. Valdez made headlines during the campaign for promising to “carry” Mexico’s fight against imperialism to Congress.
“215 years ago, Mexicans fought an empire that demanded our land and our labor. And we won. I’ll carry that fight with me to Congress as New York’s first Mexican American representative,” Valdez said on Mexico’s Independence Day. “And I’m strengthened not just by Mexico’s history but its present.”
That post drew criticism from Republicans who noted the difference in tone in her posts about the Fourth of July.
“Freedom is only possible when we have the conditions for the good life — healthcare, housing, education, and dignity on the job. But the system is rigged and our planet poisoned by billionaires, bosses, and war profiteers,” she wrote. “This 4th of July we recommit ourselves to remaking it. To fight for liberation from Palestine to Puerto Rico, for a Green New Deal, for the world we deserve.”
Backed by Mamdani, Valdez wants to abolish ICE, provide government-funded coverage for transgender procedures, and implement universal rent control.
Other left-wing candidates also saw success across the country. William Lawrence, a former DSA member, has declared victory over Republican Rep. Tom Barrett in a Michigan swing district, though the race had not been called as of Wednesday morning. Senate candidates Abdul El-Sayed and Troy Jackson won their respective races in Michigan and Maine.
.png)
.png)
