The hard-left Squad, once dismissed as a noisy fringe, is now poised to become a powerful bloc in the next House of Representatives, with ambitions that reach far beyond social media theatrics.
According to The New York Post, the faction that began with the 2018 election of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is on track to transform into a sizable force determined to convert its sweeping wish list into legislative reality. That agenda includes abolishing ICE, imposing Medicare for All, expanding gender-affirming medical interventions, and even experimenting with government-run supermarkets.
Election analysts say the core group of seven Squad members could swell to as many as 16 after a string of primary victories, and the number climbs to roughly two dozen when including progressive allies who share much of the same ideology but are not formally tied to the Democratic Socialists of America. The scale of their influence will hinge heavily on the size of any Democratic majority, with a narrow margin giving them disproportionate leverage over the partys direction.
If Democrats emerge from Election Day with only a razor-thin edge above the 218 seats needed for control, the expanded Squad could effectively hold the House hostage. In that scenario, they would have the power to sink procedural rules crafted by party leaders and to force votes on polarizing amendments that push the party further left than many swing-district members would like.
Republicans are already sounding the alarm, warning that the Democratic Party is increasingly captive to its most extreme elements. RNC spokeswoman Delanie Bomar told The Post that lunatics running the party would embark on woke wild goose chases, dragging Democrats into ideological crusades instead of focusing on bread-and-butter issues like the economy, public safety, and border security.
Bomar did not mince words about the stakes for Democratic leadership, especially for the man expected to wield the gavel. These communist wannabes would hold [likely Speaker] Hakeem Jeffries hostage until he helps them turn America into a socialist hellhole.
Establishment Democrats, though more guarded in their language, share the concern that the Squad will be a destabilizing force inside their own caucus. Theyre going to cause problems. Theyre going to try to dominate the narrative, a former Democratic leadership aide told The Post, predicting that self-described socialists will aggressively seek prime committee assignments and other institutional levers of power.
Critics stress that the danger is not merely the raw number of Squad members, but the influence they could wield over a leadership desperate to hold a fragile majority together. If they do take back control of the House on Tuesday, the Democratic leadership youve been promised will change too, former RNC national spokesperson Elizabeth Pipko warned, adding, This is not just about the Squad doubling in size, but the consequences of the Squad possibly doubling in influence.
The Democratic Socialists of America, the ideological engine behind many of these candidates, has been expanding rapidly. A Brookings Institution study from August found 282 DSA candidates running nationwide, with 19 winning primaries in federal races, while the groups internal figures, reviewed by The Post, show a surge from 90 candidates in 2015 to 338 this year nearly a four-fold increase and a total of 1,452 campaigns over eight years.
With more high-profile victories in November, members of this socialist bloc will be demanding greater respect and visibility within the party, and their rise could even fuel a future presidential bid by Ocasio-Cortez, who has been crisscrossing the country to rally support for fellow left-wing candidates. That prospect would push the Democratic Party even further from the political center, deepening the divide between progressive activists and moderate or working-class voters who are more concerned with inflation, crime, and border security.
The policy menu advanced by DSA-backed candidates is unapologetically radical by traditional American standards. Proposals include abolishing ICE entirely, while incoming New York City radical Darializa Avila Chevalier, notorious for defiling the American flag, wants taxpayer-funded lawyers to help millions of illegal immigrants secure citizenship, and New York congressional hopeful Claire Valdez has championed nationwide rent control and called for demilitarizing the border.
Pennsylvania state Rep. Chris Rabb, favored to win a Philadelphia-area House seat, has endorsed the idea of nationalized grocery stores, echoing a pet project of New York City socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Such schemes would move the United States closer to the kind of state-controlled economy that has historically produced shortages, inefficiency, and dependency rather than prosperity and opportunity.
On health care, the movement is equally aggressive. Nineteen of 22 left-wing lawmakers identified as potential Squad allies support some version of Medicare for All, a plan critics warn would effectively abolish the private insurance plans relied upon by tens of millions of Americans and place life-and-death medical decisions under federal control.
Their broader priorities extend well beyond economics and health care. The candidates agenda includes ending military aid to Israel, eliminating cash bail, and abolishing life sentences without parole, positions that align with the most hardline elements of the criminal-justice and anti-Israel activist left.
On cultural and gender issues, the rhetoric is even more strident. Valdez has attacked cowards who are betraying the entire working class by distancing themselves from transgender activism, demanding a trans bill of rights and making sure that Medicare for All includes gender-affirming care and health care for trans folks.
The DSAs official platform goes further still, calling for fully abolishing the police and prison system which protects the rich and jails the poor. That stance stands in stark contrast to the concerns of many Americans who have watched crime rise in major cities and want more effective law enforcement, not less.
This far-left program diverges sharply from the message of many Democrats who campaigned in competitive districts by attacking high gas prices and promising to rein in inflation. Those candidates now risk being overshadowed by colleagues more interested in ideological crusades than in addressing the cost-of-living crisis facing families.
Were going to enter a new era of performative politics and just like crazy demands as well, warned Stu Smith, a socialism expert at the Manhattan Institute. He pointed to the DSAs Workers Deserve More platform, which calls to defund the Department of War and takes steps toward fully abolishing the policy and prison system.
Smith argued that the latest crop of DSA-aligned candidates is even more extreme than the original Squad. This whole new batch [of DSA members] that they have are a totally different bunch of people. Their kind of pedigree has been selected to be far more radical compared to someone like AOC, he said.
Voters appear uneasy about this sharp leftward lurch. An October CNBC poll found that 28% of voters said their top concern under a new Democratic Congress would be the enactment of DSA-backed policies, a higher share than those who cited inflation or rising taxes as their primary worry.
While Democrats from swing districts may try to distance themselves from the socialist agenda, individual Squad members in deep-blue strongholds will face no such political pressure. They can instead build national fundraising machines by defiantly embracing the far-left program, following the example of Ocasio-Cortez, who pulled in more than $37 million this election cycle, ensuring that the most radical voices in the party will also be among its best-funded and most visible.
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