Every Democratic Socialist Who Won a National Race This Election

The Democratic Socialists of America are here to stay. One of the most contentious—and misunderstood—political groups in the country rode a wave of popular support to groundbreaking victories this election.

First reanimated by the 2016 Bernie Sanders campaign and reaffirmed since then by a lack of imagination and initiative from the Democratic Party’s center, the DSA left wing is now firmly entrenched within the Democratic machine. Eleven DSA House and mayoral candidates won Tuesday after running on platforms emphasizing affordability, ending U.S. aid to Israel, and expanding access to health care. As a whole, with down ballot races included, DSA-endorsed candidates won 149 of the 294 races they ran in, with 37 races still undecided. Eight of them will be in the U.S. Congress next year. Here are the biggest victors:

Nithya Raman — Mayor of Los Angeles

Janeese Lewis George — Mayor of Washington, D.C.

David Morales — Mayor of Providence, Rhode Island

Angela Gonzales-Torres — House of Representatives, California

Melat Kiros — House of Representatives, Colorado

Donavan McKinney — House of Representatives, Michigan

Darializa Avila Chevalier — House of Representatives, New York

Claire Valdez — House of Representatives, New York

Chris Rabb — House of Representatives, Pennsylvania

Rashida Tlaib — House of Representatives, Michigan

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — House of Representatives, New York

This story has been updated.

A blue wave has washed over the nation, as Democrats retake both the House and the Senate and voters across the country offer a resounding rebuke of President Donald Trump and his far-right administration. Democrats have flipped both the House and Senate, and New York Representative Hakeem Jeffries will become the first Black House speaker. Meanwhile, Democratic Senate candidates flipped seven seats previously carried by Trump and the GOP. But now that the Democrats will control Congress in January, what can they do? And will they actually do it?

Impeachment

Let’s start here first, since it’s at the top of everyone’s mind.

Democrats now have the numbers to impeach Trump or any of his Cabinet members. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has headed the disastrous, destructive, and expensive war on Iran, is reportedly the Democratic majority’s top target.

The impeachment process can begin in the House of Representatives with a simple majority, which Democrats now have. The trial then moves to the Senate. To actually convict and remove, they will need a two-thirds majority in the Senate, which means the Democrats will need some Republican votes.

While impeachment of Trump is certainly a possibility, there is a greater likelihood that Democrats will be able to convict and remove someone like Hegseth, who has been losing Republican allies over the course of the Iran war.

Investigations

The Democrats could also open a wide array of investigations into the Trump administration, much like they did last time they controlled the House in 2018.

This is certainly the most corrupt administration in modern history. Some top investigation targets could include:

The Epstein Files

This issue won’t be going anywhere, especially with a Democratic-controlled Congress. The party has called for a renewed push to reopen investigations into the world of infamous sex predator Jeffrey Epstein—and the Trump administration’s botched rollout of the files. Just last week, House Judiciary Democrats released a report on the cover-up, noting that “DOJ and FBI shut down investigations and withheld evidence while claiming no basis to prosecute or even investigate any additional Epstein co-conspirators.”

The UAE chips affair

In May, a firm of Emirati royal Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan gave $2 billion to World Liberty Financial Group, a crypto company controlled by the families of Trump and his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. Two weeks later, the Trump administration completed a deal to give the United Arab Emirates hundreds of thousands of the world’s most valuable AI chips—in an extremely questionable display of ethics.

Jared Kushner

Last month, a new book reported that the president’s son-in-law had his phone hacked during the first Trump administration, which revealed Kushner’s control of foreign slush funds filled by the leaders of the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Israel. The report exposed how Kushner appeared to make deals with those governments to violently transform Palestine, Iran, Lebanon, and the greater Middle East region.

Trump selling early access to Truth Social

Trump and his aide Natalie Harp were sued in September over the “Truth API” program, which offers Truth Social users early access to posts from government officials in exchange for $100,000 a month. Watchdog groups alleged that Trump is using the media company that he uses as a personal bulletin board to run a pay-to-play scheme, offering crucial information that affects global markets and policy decisions to whoever can afford it.

Heavily Impede the Trump Agenda While Pushing Their Own

At a bare minimum, any Republican bill or policy is all but guaranteed to die in Congress, as Republicans will need Democratic votes every time to pass anything. The Democrats’ majority allows them to go on the offensive, and it has been reported that they have a “First 100 Hours” agenda focused on ending Trump’s antagonistic and expensive foreign tariffs, reviving expired Affordable Care Act health care premium subsidies, and reversing almost $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts. They could also make efforts to impede the Iran war.

Unfortunately, to make their bill veto-proof, Democrats will need a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate, meaning they will need Republicans to join them. Whether Trump will veto will depend on his own temperament, as he may be likely to reject legislation from a Democratic Congress in his lame-duck era, regardless of how popular or bipartisan it is.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries isn’t interested in seeking impeachment charges against President Donald Trump.

Speaking on MS NOW’s Morning Joe Wednesday, Jeffries laid out his priorities for his party’s newfound leadership in the House of Representatives.

“The American people don’t want us to get even. They want us to get things done on their behalf because life is way too expensive,” Jeffries said.

Ahead of the election results, Jeffries similarly made clear that impeaching Trump was simply not a priority.

“I’ve made clear from the very beginning that our top priority is going to be to drive down the high cost of living,” the House minority leader said on Fox News Sunday.

While it’s clear that Democrats have more than their fair share of damage to undo, it’s not clear why they’d need to draw the line at impeaching the most corrupt president in American history. While we’re at it, why not pick off his Cabinet of cronies one by one?

If anything, voters have delivered a clear mandate against Trump’s entire reign of corruption. After two years of Republican control in Congress, and Trump’s disastrous leadership, voters don’t just want to get even—they want everything.

House Speaker Mike Johnson is stepping down from Republican leadership.

The Louisiana Republican announced on Wednesday morning on an all-staff call that he will not run for House minority leader for the new Congress next year, following Tuesday’s historical Democratic landslide takeover of the House of Representatives.

It’s not clear yet if Johnson has anointed a successor to lead the Republican caucus. Representative Jim Jordan, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, has already thrown his hat into the ring and announced he’s running for House minority leader. According to Punchbowl News, Jordan’s pitch will be that new blood is needed and that he specializes in investigations.

The current number two Republican in the House, Representative Steve Scalise, also announced that he is running for caucus leader.

“Scalise will be announcing his run for Republican leader for the next Congress today,” a source told The Washington Sun. “His number one goal will be to lead the conference back into the majority. He is a proven and tested leader who is ready on day one. He’s spent his career unifying Republicans and he is prepared for the big legislative and oversight battles ahead. The conference knows him, how he fights, and that he’s a trusted leader.”

Johnson’s tenure has been marked by his unwillingness to stand up to President Donald Trump, repeatedly playing dumb about new developments from the White House. Under Johnson’s watch, Trump took away congressional authority from controlling funds and levying tariffs, and Johnson supported—either openly or by inaction—every piece of Trump’s agenda. That proved to doom Republicans on Tuesday, and Johnson’s successor will have to choose between protecting Trump by fighting against an overwhelming Democratic majority, or actually trying to help the American people.

This story has been updated.

After the Democrats’ historic landslide victory on Tuesday, Republicans are looking for whom to blame, and uncharacteristically, they are openly pointing the finger at President Donald Trump.

“It sounds a little ironic,” Republican Bobby Charles, who lost Maine’s gubernatorial election, told Politico, “but I am nevertheless optimistic for the future because Trump’s going to be gone in two years.”

The chair of the Licking County Republican Party in Ohio, Matt Dole, told the publication that “there’s a little bit of a reckoning in the Republican Party about where they go.”

“I think you’re going to see a part of the Republican Party advocate for a return to normalcy, which is not repudiating Trump’s ideology and policies, but will repudiate Trump’s style,” Dole said. Licking County is a staunch Republican county in the Buckeye State.

Trump himself was defiant, calling Fox News around midnight to complain that the network’s polls showed that he wasn’t popular. In response, host Bret Baier pointed out that “tonight, actually, the results are pretty close to what the Fox polls showed.”

Trump disagreed, saying, “Well, I don’t know about that,” and he maintained that he had the “greatest two years in the history of the presidency,” despite the disastrous Iran war and faltering economy.

White House adviser Alex Bruesewitz said poor candidates were responsible for Republican losses, slamming them as “uninspiring, lazy, and thoroughly ineffective communicators.” He specifically mentioned Georgia Representative Mike Collins’s failed Senate campaign. But an unnamed Republican operative told Politico that candidate quality was a “lazy excuse.”

“This is more than just one lazy candidate here. I mean, the chair of the … NRCC is losing his election,” the operative said, referring to Representative Richard Hudson losing North Carolina’s 9th congressional district to Democrat Richard Ojeda, the first Democrat to represent the district since 1963.

“We are beyond candidate quality. It’s a bloodbath,” another senior Senate GOP official told Politico. “Trump did this.”