The Democratic Socialists of America notched historic victories on Tuesday, sending a new wave of left-wing lawmakers to Congress and raising eyebrows over their past statements.
At least six more DSA-backed candidates won House races, including New Yorkers Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez, Melat Kiros in Colorado, Donavan McKinney in Michigan, Angela Gonzales-Torres in California and Chris Rabb in Pennsylvania.
They’ll join a growing bloc of DSA-aligned pols, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), who have pushed the party to embrace more aggressive positions on immigration, policing, foreign policy and green energy.
The incoming freshman lawmakers have campaigned on everything from universal health care and affordable housing to abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement — but their past comments have included calls to abolish police departments, eliminate national borders and radically overhaul America’s economic system.
Here’s a look at some of the DSA candidates’ most head-scratching comments.
Darializa Avila Chevalier: ‘We’re going to defund and abolish’ police
Avila Chevalier, who defeated longtime Rep. Adriano Espaillat in New York’s 13th Congressional District, has one of the most extensive histories of controversial social media posts among the incoming lawmakers.
CNN’s KFILE uncovered thousands of now-deleted posts and reports from her former X account, including a response to a user asking what a better slogan would be than “Defund the Police.”
“F you. We’re going to defund and abolish. You don’t get to water down our movements,” she replied.
Other posts called for “no more police at all ever,” abolishing prisons and getting rid of national borders.
She also called for seizing private property and nationalizing major industries, according to CNN’s review of her deleted account.
Her social media presence also includes a 2021 attack on then-Vice President Kamala Harris, who she told to “F—” herself after Harris warned migrants against entering the country from Mexico.
A separate CNN investigation found her old account also repeatedly praised Marxist ideology and communist figures, including Vladimir Lenin. Her account’s biography at one point read, “how communist of you.”
However, Avila Chevalier has now said that she’s “grown considerably” since writing the posts.
Claire Valdez: Liked post saying ‘Glory to the resistance’ after Oct. 7 attacks
New York Assemblywoman Claire Valdez, who won the 7th Congressional District election, also faced criticism over her social media and public comments about Israel.
According to a screenshot obtained by Jewish Insider, Valdez liked an X post published shortly after Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that read: “Glory to the resistance and the people of Palestinian [sic].”
Valdez also sat for an interview with Twitch streamer Lilan Beyer, whose account had previously been suspended after she called Jews a “demonic ethnicity.”
She has also made it clear that she wants to do away with ICE altogether.
“Ultimately it just shouldn’t exist,” Valdez told El País in a September interview when asked about her push to abolish the agency.
Valdez argued that ICE would continue to expand and become more militarized until it was dismantled. Her campaign platform calls for abolishing the agency and replacing the current system with what it describes as humane pathways to citizenship.
Melat Kiros: Calls for abolishing ICE, 9/11 was “inevitable”
Colorado’s Melat Kiros, who defeated longtime Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette in the state’s 1st Congressional District, has been particularly outspoken about America’s immigration and foreign policies.
In a March interview with Colorado Public Radio, Kiros said she wanted to abolish ICE, arguing that the agency was created during an era of fear and Islamophobia following the September 11 attacks.
“We were able to enforce immigration long before the agency existed, and I think we’d be able to do it long after,” she said.
She also claimed that the 9/11 attacks were “inevitable.”
“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,” Kiros said in a June interview with Denver’s 9News.
She had previously described Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel as “an inevitable consequence of apartheid, of occupation, decades of occupation.”
Kiros said her comments were not intended to justify the attacks or diminish their horror, arguing instead that the conditions that lead to violence must be addressed. Her remarks nevertheless drew sharp criticism from her primary opponent, DeGette, who said 9/11 was not inevitable and called the comments shocking and disgusting.
Chris Rabb: Lock all of ‘lawless MAGA thugs’ up
In Pennsylvania, Rabb has offered a rather different take on the criminal justice system — one that includes a carve-out for President Trump’s supporters.
“I’m a decarceration person,” Rabb said during an appearance on Wajahat Ali’s podcast, arguing that the US incarcerates far too many people.
But the Pennsylvania Democrat quickly made an exception.
“It’s also bad policy, but I will make an exception for all of those f—ers who are lawless MAGA thugs, who have destroyed lives and communities. Lock all of those f—ers up,” Rabb said.
He acknowledged the apparent contradiction, calling it “a little hypocritical” to support decarceration while wanting to imprison MAGA supporters.
Rabb, who won the 3rd Congressional District, also found himself in a heated exchange with Fox News host Sean Hannity over his views on policing.
When asked if he wanted to abolish police and prisons during an August appearance on “Hannity,” Rabb argued that most police responsibilities could be handled by other professionals.
“99% of what police do are not going after the bad guys,” Rabb said. “All of that can be done in different ways.”
Rabb argued that public safety should be approached differently, with other trained professionals handling responsibilities that do not require traditional policing.
Donavan McKinney: Politics is about ‘redistribution’
And in Michigan, McKinney — who defeated Democratic Rep. Shri Thanedar in the primary — offered his own blunt definition of democratic socialism.
“I define politics as the redistribution of resources. That’s it; it’s black and white,” McKinney said in a November interview with Jacobin.
“If you’re in these positions of power and influence, if you’re not trying to figure out ways to bring home as many resources as possible back to your communities and the people you represent, then I need you to get up out of here,” he added.
The Michigan Democrat also argued that money spent on foreign conflicts should instead be directed toward struggling Americans, invoking rapper Tupac Shakur’s lyric: “They got money for wars but can’t feed the poor.”
“You’re telling me we’re spending money for a war that nobody wants — a billion dollars a day in Iran,” McKinney said in the interview, arguing that the money could be used to help people in his district.
