2026-08-06 · contested story

DSA Makes It Official: Endorsed Candidates Must Back Abolishing the Senate, Presidency and Supreme Court

The Democratic Socialists of America released a new platform titled 'Workers Deserve More' that calls for drafting a new constitution and making sweeping changes to the U.S. government—including abolishing the Senate, replacing the presidency and Supreme Court with an executive and judiciary 'chosen by and subordinate to Congress,' abolishing ICE, defunding the Pentagon, and phasing out prisons. The story exploded into national attention after DSA co-chair Megan Romer appeared on 'Fox News Sunday' with Shannon Bream and cheerfully confirmed support for each radical plank one by one. As DSA-aligned candidates have won recent primaries in New York, Colorado, Michigan and elsewhere, Republicans have seized on the platform to paint the entire Democratic Party as extremist ahead of the 2026 midterms.

How each side frames it

left
"The Senate is a very undemocratic institution. Uh I I I talked a bit about democracy, a small d democracy, and that's really important to us. We want democratic representation of of all people who who live in this country."
"That's that's part of our platform, and we don't think that's extreme. We think it's it's uh a a change that would help make this country more democratic."
"To call the DSA platform antithetical to the U.S Constitution is not hyperbole, or an insult to the platform's authors."
"It's not true that every politician who is associated with the DSA agrees with every plank of the DSA platform, just as Democratic and Republican candidates don't always agree with parts of their party platforms."
"The next campaign finance report from the Republican National Committee may need to report an in-kind contribution from the Democratic Socialists of America."
center
""It's in the Constitution, and it is a critical component of the United States government to pass legislation with the House," U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Arizona, told NOTUS. "In my view, that is not a serious recommendation.""
""These people sat in a room and said, 'How much crazy shit can we cram into a platform?'... That's crazy shit," Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. John Fetterman... told NOTUS."
"But most Americans may not know they also want to rewrite the U.S. Constitution."
"James Madison, call your office."
"According to a recent CNN poll, about a third of Democrats now identify as democratic socialists."
right
"This is literally a revolutionary program to topple the American system as we have known it since 1789."
"In short, it hopes for what Lord Hailsham, in his criticism of the British parliamentary system, famously called an "elective dictatorship.""
"The DSA wants to abolish the Senate and make the Supreme Court answer to Congress. That is not democracy. It is a politburo. And when the politburo controls the Court, your constitutional rights disappear. Free speech. Religious liberty. The Second Amendment. All out the window."
"The barbarians are inside the gate—and Democrats are WELCOMING them in! Communism is no longer a far-fetched threat. It is here on our SHORES!"
"As more and more DSA members take power, the group they belong to keeps getting more radical—a tension they will inevitably have to resolve."

What each side left out

The left left out — covered by the Ted Cruz (X) & New York Post & Hungarian Conservative
The left left out — covered by the City Journal
The center left out — covered by the The Damage Report / C-SPAN
The center left out — covered by the Hungarian Conservative
The right left out — covered by the VT Digger & Yahoo! News
The right left out — covered by the Washington Monthly

What's actually true?

[verified] The DSA 'Workers Deserve More' platform calls for abolishing the Senate and replacing the president and Supreme Court with an executive and judiciary chosen by and subordinate to Congress.
[verified] DSA co-chair Megan Romer confirmed support for abolishing the Senate, replacing the presidency/Supreme Court, abolishing ICE, defunding the Pentagon, and abolishing prisons on Fox News Sunday.
[verified] Bernie Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, said 'No' when asked about the proposal to abolish the Senate.
[verified] Abolishing the Senate would require a constitutional amendment, and Article V deems equal state suffrage in the Senate un-amendable without a state's consent.
[verified] AOC, the most prominent politician backed by a DSA chapter, shied away from embracing the call to abolish the Senate.
[unverified] About a third of Democrats now identify as democratic socialists, according to a recent CNN poll.
[verified] The 'real democracy' amendment replacing the president and Supreme Court with bodies subordinate to Congress passed the NPC by a razor-thin margin.
[verified] DSA-aligned candidates have won recent Democratic primaries in New York, Colorado, and a Michigan Senate primary (Abdul El-Sayed).

The narrative clash

Whether abolishing the Senate is 'extreme'
Left: That's part of our platform, and we don't think that's extreme. We think it's a change that would help make this country more democratic.
Right: This is literally a revolutionary program to topple the American system as we have known it since 1789.
Whether the Senate is democratic
Left: The Senate is a very undemocratic institution... it's very undemocratic at a basic level because a state with a small population has the same representation as a state that has 40 million people
Right: Contra Gordillo, the Senate is a democratic institution; no one wins a Senate seat without getting more votes than his or her opponent.
Whether the platform represents the Democratic Party
Left: It's not true that every politician who is associated with the DSA agrees with every plank of the DSA platform
Right: This is what Virginia Democrats think belongs under their 'big tent.' Every Democrat should be asked to explicitly denounce these insane anti-American positions & the DSA.

17 sources analyzed

PBS NewsHour Washington Monthly MSN (UK) Mediaite VT Digger The Wall Street Journal Yahoo! Search Ground News RealClearPolitics New York Post Hungarian Conservative Washington Examiner The Damage Report City Journal National Review Daily Caller Charlie Kirk

Perspectivity reads the coverage — not just who published it.

Read the full interactive analysis →