The 2024 presidential election was the first since 2012 in which we didn’t have a democratic socialist candidate to campaign for and support. DSA was left in the difficult position of critiquing the two candidates of the status quo without being able to point to an alternative left candidate as a positive example of what we want. In retrospect, not putting forward a candidate of our own was a mistake. With Joe Biden and Kamala Harris alienating both the left-wing of the Democratic party and the labor movement through their support of Israel’s genocide and their failure to champion popular progressive demands, like Medicare for All, the 2024 Democratic primary would have been a perfect opportunity for us to run a left-wing, anti-genocide candidate, who could have appealed to millions of discontented working-class voters. 

The presidential election is the best opportunity we have to spread our vision as it is the single-most important political event that working-people pay attention to. Even when they are unsuccessful, presidential campaigns can grow a nascent political movement and, through their coat-tail effects, deepen its bench of down-ballot local, state, and federal elected officials. The 2016 and 2020 Bernie Sanders presidential campaigns were the most important factor in the growth of the modern socialist movement in general and the modern DSA in particular. Through fielding Eugene Debs for president five times between 1900 and 1920, the Socialist Party of America was able to grow by more than 80,000 members and elect dozens of mayors, state legislators and members of congress across the United States. Likewise, the spectacular growth of Brazil’s Workers’ Party (PT) in the early 2000s can be attributed to its popular presidential candidate, Lula da Silva, who they fielded four times before he finally won in 2002. During this time, the PT won 91 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, 14 seats in the Senate, and 5 state governorships. 

Additionally, even an unsuccessful DSA-backed primary campaign would force whoever ends up winning the primary to the left as well as growing the organization. Bernie’s challenges in 2016 and 2020 forced Biden to adopt more progressive, pro-labor economic policy. Without pressure coming from a left challenger, the Harris campaign was free to tack to the right and run on tax-cuts, draconian immigrant policy, and embracing “moderate” neoconservative Republicans. 

We should seriously explore the idea of running a Presidential candidate for the 2028 Democratic primary. What would a DSA-backed presidential campaign look like? For starters, DSA is in a much stronger position than we were in 2016 and 2020. Instead of being a junior partner in such a campaign, DSA would be one of the main drivers behind it. With our national structure of hundreds of chapters across the United States, a DSA candidate would have a pre-built campaign infrastructure – complete with local offices and a strong volunteer ground game in dozens of cities – ready to go on day one. A DSA candidate would also be immediately endorsed by a swath of federal, state, and local DSA candidates across the country. Additionally, we can leverage our presence in the labor movement as DSA cadres push for their locals and internationals to endorse our candidate. 

With a strong association between DSA and our candidate’s campaign, we could more easily translate enthusiasm behind the campaign into growth for the organization. New chapters would spring up around campaign efforts across the country, thousands of new campaign volunteers would flow into their local Y/DSA chapters just like with the Bernie campaigns, and millions of people inspired by our candidate’s vision would identify DSA as their political organization. 

While a presidential campaign has tremendous potential to grow the organization, we shouldn’t limit our horizon to just building DSA. A 2028 Presidential campaign also has the opportunity to unite the Left with the labor movement, bringing together DSA, labor unions, and other mass working-class organizations into a political coalition and laying the foundations for a mass proto-party organization. In the lead up to the 2028 election season, DSA can call upon labor unions and other mass organizations to come together in a convention to launch a national labor coalition, draft a shared platform, and nominate our presidential candidate. With the election season coinciding with the 2028 May Day mass strike, we have an opportunity to tie the presidential campaign with this mass economic action. Our candidate would be the most vocal in support of the action, championing the economic demands of the strikers and giving speeches alongside Shawn Fain and other leaders of the strike-wave. Additionally, we can tie these campaigns with down-ballot federal, state, and local campaigns through a national “Labor slate”, with all the candidates running on the same pro-worker platform. 

A 2028 presidential campaign is an opportunity that we should start taking seriously. It could reinvigorate the democratic socialist movement started by Bernie’s first campaign and make DSA a household name. Through running both a 2028 labor strike wave solidarity campaign and a presidential campaign, DSA can become a linchpin in the merger of the labor and socialist movements.