The Democratic Socialists of America have thrown their national endorsement behind a Michigan state lawmaker challenging Rep. Shri Thanedar, the latest sign that the party's far-left flank is openly cannibalizing its own incumbents ahead of the midterms.
The national DSA confirmed to Fox News Digital on Monday that it is backing Donavan McKinney, a Michigan state lawmaker, over Thanedar in a deep-blue Detroit-area congressional district. The Detroit-area DSA chapter had already endorsed McKinney. Politico first reported the national endorsement.
Thanedar, a Democrat running for a third term, is not some centrist holdout. He pushed to impeach President Donald Trump, pursued impeachment-related actions against several Cabinet officials including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and championed legislation aimed at creating a national reparations system for Black Americans. By almost any measure, Thanedar occupies the left side of his own caucus.
None of that was enough. The DSA turned on him after he renounced his membership in the organization in October 2023, citing fellow socialists' refusal to condemn the terror attacks on Israel.
In the days following the October 7 attack, Thanedar issued a public statement explaining his break with the organization:
"After the brutal terrorist attacks on Israel, which included the indiscriminate murder, rape, and kidnapping of innocent men, women, and children, I can no longer associate with an organization unwilling to call out terrorism in all its forms."
That was apparently the wrong answer. McKinney now carries not only the DSA's national and local endorsements but also the backing of Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the Michigan Democrat and DSA member. Two sitting members of Congress are actively working to remove a fellow Democrat from his seat, not because he is too moderate for the district, but because he condemned a terrorist attack without equivocation.
Fox News Digital reached out to Thanedar's campaign for comment and did not immediately hear back.
The broader pattern is hard to miss. Several sitting House Democrats have already lost primary races to challengers running to their left. In Colorado, DSA-backed candidate Melat Kiros unseated longtime Denver-area Rep. Diane DeGette, a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. In New York, Rep. Dan Goldman and Rep. Adriano Espaillat, Espaillat chaired the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, both fell to left-flank challengers.
The DSA's ambitions extend well beyond Michigan. The New York Post reported that the organization has already claimed four breakthrough House primary victories, including wins in Colorado, Pennsylvania, and New York, and has at least nine more House races on its target list in states including Missouri, Wisconsin, Florida, and New Hampshire. Five House Democratic incumbents have lost primaries so far, some to progressives not even backed by the DSA, suggesting the leftward pressure goes beyond any single organization.
Some Democrats closer to the center have tried to push back. Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas, described as one of the most vulnerable Democrats this election cycle, told Fox News' "Saturday in America" exactly what he thinks of the DSA's agenda:
"As a Democrat, I reject what the DSA is doing. I read their platform, and it is radical."
Cuellar's warning is blunt. But there is little evidence the party's leadership is listening. The DSA-backed primary sweep across multiple states has not triggered a visible course correction from Democratic leadership. If anything, the establishment appears to be accommodating the shift rather than resisting it.
Republicans have seized on the string of socialist-backed victories as evidence that Democrats are moving further left and away from where most Americans stand politically. That framing gains force every time a DSA-endorsed candidate knocks off an incumbent, especially when the incumbent in question already holds progressive positions on impeachment, reparations, and oversight of the Trump administration.
The intra-party fracture runs deeper than any single race. Sen. Sanders and Rep. Tlaib backing McKinney against Thanedar is not a rogue action, it reflects an organized effort by the party's socialist wing to reshape the Democratic caucus from within, replacing members who deviate from the DSA line with candidates who will not.
The anxiety inside the caucus is not subtle. One House Democratic staffer, quoted by the New York Post, offered a grim assessment of where the party is headed: "We are so cooked. [Hakeem] Jeffries will have to start calling members comrade during caucus meetings come January."
That remark was meant as dark humor. It may also be the most honest description of the Democratic Party's trajectory available. When a sitting congressman who pushed to impeach a Republican president, targeted Republican Cabinet officials, and backed a national reparations program still is not left enough for his own party's activist base, the definition of "progressive" has moved somewhere most voters did not agree to go.
Some in the party have tried to frame the socialist surge as healthy grassroots energy. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has welcomed socialist candidates into the Democratic fold and dismissed concerns about a leftward lurch. New York City Mayor Mamdani has gone further, backing socialist challengers against fellow Democrats and drawing fire from party leaders in the process.
Meanwhile, the DSA's leadership has floated even grander ambitions. The organization has openly discussed positioning Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for a 2028 presidential run, treating the current wave of primary victories as a stepping stone toward national power.
The McKinney-Thanedar race is a test case for a straightforward question: can any Democrat survive a primary if the DSA decides to target them? Thanedar did everything the progressive base asked, except stay silent when terrorists murdered civilians. That was enough to make him the enemy.
When condemning a massacre disqualifies you from your own party's endorsement, the party has a problem no amount of grassroots enthusiasm can fix.
