The Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America (MDC DSA or Metro DC DSA) is the Washington metropolitan area chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). MDC DSA organizes in Washington, D.C., southern Maryland, and Northern Virginia. MDC is the 3rd-largest DSA chapter, below DSA-LA and above Portland DSA. The chapter's logo is presumably derived from the cover art of Bad Brains' 1982 eponymous album.
MDC DSA has been active in local electoral campaigns, tenant organizing, labor solidarity efforts, and protest mobilizations.
Notable MDC DSA members include Hilda Mason, Janeese Lewis George, Zachary Parker, Oye Owolewa, Marc Elrich, and Ashik Siddique.
Structure MDC DSA maintains branches in Northern Virginia (NOVA), the District of Columbia (DC), Montgomery County (MoCo), and Prince George's County (PG).
MDC DSA holds a local convention each year at which members set chapter priorities, endorse candidates, and elect the Steering Committee.
From 2009 to 2015, MDC DSA had about 200 members. In 2016, MDC DSA had 200 members. In October 2017, MDC DSA had 1,000 members. In 2019, MDC DSA had 2,000 members.
History In 1982, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) formed as a merger of the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee and the New American Movement. DSA had two Washington area chapters: A larger DC/MD chapter and a smaller Northern Virginia (NOVA) chapter, divided by the Potomac River. In 1985, these chapters "affiliated" together. In 1988, they formally merged into the DC/MD/NOVA chapter. The 1993 DSA National Convention endorsed the statehood for DC.
MDC DSA shrank from 2000 to 2006, becoming fully inactive in 2007. Around 2009, local members restarted the chapter and formally renamed it into Metro DC DSA. In 2016 and 2017, MDC DSA grew dramatically, alongside national DSA, after Bernie Sanders' first presidential campaign and the election of Donald Trump.
As MDC DSA and the broader progressive movement grew, they displaced centrist forces in DC politics, such as the Washington Post. In 2018, Washingtonian writer Adia Robinson wrote that Washington is "listening more closely to the Washington Teacher's Union or DSA" than "to the Post's editorial board".
Electoral campaigns Unlike most political parties, Metro DC DSA does not have a ballot line. Instead, MDC DSA acts "like a party" or a "party surrogate" by endorsing, pamphleteering, and canvassing for candidates it supports. MDC DSA has endorsed and run candidates in local, state, and federal elections.
National elected office Many DSA and DC/MD DSA members participated in the April 17-19, 1986 founding convention of the National Rainbow Coalition, held at the Washington Convention Center. IAM President and DSA National Vice-Chair William Winpisinger wrote the introduction Jackson's keynote speech. The DC/MD chapter hosted the 1987 DSA National Convention in the First Congregational United Church of Christ, where members voted to endorse Jesse Jackson for president. Jackson, hoping to win over moderates, requested DSA un-endorse him.
In 2014, MDC DSA supported DSA's "We Need Bernie Committee" campaign to encourage Bernie Sanders to run in the 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries rather than as an Independent. Metro DC DSA's rally was hosted by Barbara Ehrenreich, former Texas Department of Agriculture commissioner Jim Hightower, former CWA President Larry Cohen, and Busboys and Poets owner Andy Shallal.
In 2021, MDC DSA did not endorse Oye Owolewa, a MDC DSA member, in his run for District of Columbia shadow representative, in order to focus on other races. Owolewa had won the 2020 Shadow Representative election Democratic primary with 74,101 votes (95.8%) and won the general. In 2022, Owolewa won the primary with 51.6% and won the general. In 2024, Owolewa won the primary with 57.7% and won the general. In 2026, Owolwewa declined to run in order to join the 2026 DC Council election.
Elected offices in DC From 1977 to 1999, MDC DSA member and endorsee Hilda Mason held an at-large seat on the DC Council. Mason, who ran on the Statehood Party ballot line, became the longest-serving elected official in the district's history since home rule. Mason, a Civil Rights Movement veteran, said to Washington Socialist: "What is a civil right if you don’t have food and shelter and health care? [....] [I]f we really want freedom, we have to build an economically equal system."
In the 2010 DC Mayoral election, MDC DSA narrowly voted to endorse Vincent C. Gray as the best option in the Democratic primary. Gray won the Democratic primary and the general.
In the 2012 Shadow Representative election, MDC DSA endorsed incumbent Eleanor Holmes Norton and in the DC Council election, MDC DSA endorsed Phil Mendelson for Council Chair. Neither were socialists or DSA members. Both won their Democratic primary and the general.
In the 2014 DC Mayoral election, candidate Muriel Bowser called candidate Andy Shallal "a rich socialist", because Shallal owns Busboys and Poets and was running on a strongly progressive platform, including a minimum wage hike. Mayor Vincent C. Gray responded that Bowser's comment was "a page out of the Tea Party's playbook". MDC DSA was delighted and endorsed Shallal in the Democratic primary. Shallal lost with 3,196 votes (3.3%).
In the 2014 DC Council election, MDC DSA endorsed Reverend Graylan Scott Hagler as an Independent and Eugene Puryear as a Statehood Green for the two At-Large seats. In the Shadow Representative election, MDC DSA endorsed Joyce Robinson-Paul as a Statehood Green. Hagler lost in 7th with 10,539 votes (3.9%), Puryear lost in 6th with 12,525 votes (4.6%), and Robinson-Paul lost in 2nd with 19,982 votes (13.6%).
In 2018, MDC DSA ran 11 candidates for the Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) positions. Ashik Siddique ran for district 4C03 as part of an 11-candidate MDC DSA ANC slate. but lost to an incumbent. Siddique is now a Co-Chair of national DSA.
In the 2020 DC Council election, MDC DSA supported a progressive slate. MDC DSA supported Janeese Lewis George in the Ward 4 Democratic primary against incumbent Brandon Todd, a moderate and close ally of Mayor Muriel Bowser, and supported Ed Lazere for an at-large seat as an Independent. During the campaign, the centrist group Democrats for Education Reform sent mailers attacking Janeese as anti-police, which a DFER founder later said was "wrong". In a major upset, Janeese won the primary with 10,965 votes (54.8%) and won the general. Lazere lost the top-two general with 61,882 votes (11.5%) in 4th place. Janeese was first self-described democratic socialist to serve as a Council member since Hilda Mason lost re-election in 1998. In 2021, Janeese proposed a social housing model of both publicly owned and subsidized mixed-income housing. In April 2022, Lewis George introduced two bills inspired by the Green New Deal, first to create an agency to construct and maintain mixed-income social housing, and second to accelerate the removal of lead pipes. In 2024, business-backed political committee Opportunity DC again attacked George as anti-police. Janeese won 66.2% in the primary and won the general.
In the 2022 DC Council election, MDC DSA endorsed Zachary Parker in the open Ward 5 Democratic primary. Parker won the primary with 7,761 votes (43.5%) and the general with 25,554 votes (93.9%). In 2023, MDC DSA censured Parker over his support for the "Secure DC" crime bill, after he supported parts of an earlier crime bill that would roll back police-accountability measures opposed by Lewis George and other councilmembers.
On December 1, 2025, Lewis George announced her candidacy for mayor of the District of Columbia in the 2026 election. On June 11, Trump called Lewis George a "crazy socialist" and threatened to revoke Home Rule in DC, saying "maybe we take back Washington, run it on the federal basis". On election day, Lewis George, Raj, and Oye opened up huge leads over their opponents. Speaking to The Hill, MDC DSA chair Kurtis Hagans said Lewis George and Raj's election shows "momentum for a new kind of politics in the DMV" and that DSA electeds would demonstrate good governance via "sewer socialism".
Elected offices in MD In the 2016 US Senate race, MDC DSA endorsed endorsed Donna Edwards. In the US House race, MDC DSA endorsed Jamie Raskin for District 8 and Joseline Peña-Melnyk for District 4. All were progressives and none were socialists or DSA members. In the Democratic primaries, Edwards lost in 2nd with 343,620 votes (38.9%), Pena lost in 3rd with 21,724 votes (19.0%), and Raskin won with 43,776 votes (33.6%). Raskin won the general election.
In the 2018 Maryland House of Delegates election, MDC DSA endorsed Gabriel Acevero in District 39 and Vaughn Stewart in District 19. In the top-3 Democratic primary elections, Acevero won 5,116 votes (20.1%) in 1st; Stewart won 6,363 votes (16.8%) in 3rd. Both won their top-3 general elections. Acevero was the first openly gay Afro-Latino elected to the Maryland House of Delegates. Stewart has proposed social housing and tenant protections in the House. In the 2022 top-3 Democratic primaries, Acevero won 7,480 votes (27.9%) in 2nd place; Stewart won 11,815 votes (29.5%) in 3rd. Both won their top-3 general elections.
In the 2018 election for Montgomery County Executive, MDC DSA endorsed Marc Elrich. Elrich has been a DSA member since the 1980s and is often attacked as a "socialist", but personally supports "blending aspects of both" capitalism and socialism. Elrich won the Democratic primary with 37,532 votes (29.0%), just 80 votes ahead of 2nd place David Blair, and won the general. In the 2022 elections, Elrich won the Democratic primary with 55,504 votes (39.2%), just 30 votes ahead of 2nd place David Blair, and won the general.
In 2022, MDC DSA endorsed Kristin Mink for the District 5 seat on the Montgomery County Council. Mink won her primary and general election. MDC DSA also endorsed Brandy Brooks for an at-large seat on the Montgomery County Council. After a campaign staffer accused Brooks of sexual harassment, the Brooks campaign ended and MDC DSA rescinded its endorsement. The endorsement dispute became part of broader tensions in Montgomery County's progressive coalition during the 2022 at-large race.
In 2024, following a MDC DSA tenant organizing campaign in Rockville, Councilmember Zola Shaw joined DSA.
In 2025, MDC DSA endorsed Shayla Adams-Stafford for the Prince George's County Council District 5 Democratic primary, a special election. Adams-Stafford won the primary election with 49.6% and won the general election.
In 2025, MDC DSA endorsed Frankie Fritz for the Greenbelt City Council. Fritz had been a chair of the MoCo-PG Branch of MDC DSA and a senior aide to Mink's election campaign. MDC DSA organized 122 volunteers to knock 17454 doors. Fritz won in the top-7 general with 2,052 votes (11.3%) for 5th place. Fritz was the first challenger to defeat any incumbent Greenbelt City Council members since 1985.
Elected offices in VA In 2017, Metro DC DSA canvassed for Lee Carter's campaign for the Virginia House of Delegates, sending 15 to 25 members to Manassas on weekends and averaging about 1,500 doors per weekend.
Ballot measure In 2022, MDC DSA endorsed and organized for Initiative 82, a District ballot measure to phase out the tipped minimum wage. District voters approved the initiative with 73.9% in favor.
Other campaigns
Labor organizing MDC DSA's labor activity has included solidarity actions with labor union campaigns in the Washington region. In 2022, MDC DSA organized a solidarity rally for Starbucks Workers United in Arlington during a national strike day.
Washington Teachers' Union negotiator Dieter Lehmann Morales previously cut his teeth organizing with MDC DSA.
Tenant organizing