"Hungry For Revolutionary Change:" Inside The Democratic Socialists of America's National Convention

I got active in the Seattle chapter of Democratic Socialists of America last year and was elected to be a delegate for the 2025 convention having never taken part in mass debate or democracy. So, I had no idea what to expect as I settled into my seat on a flight to Chicago last week on my way to the 2025 National Convention for Democratic Socialists of America. I’d been given pieces of advice and anecdotes from other chapter members about conventions past and I’d tried to imagine what it would be like to wander a convention hall full of over 1,200 dedicated socialist organizers. 

As the weekend began there was an electric, and anticipatory energy. Despite long travel days for much of the delegation, including myself, everyone hurried to check into their hotel room so they could cross one of Chicago’s famed sky bridges from our hotel to the convention hall where early check-in for the convention was buzzing. Organizations were setting up their tables and hugs and handshakes were being shared between organizers who hadn’t seen each other since the last convention, or were meeting for the first time in person after countless Zoom meetings and group Signal chats.

Seattle’s presence at the convention could be seen and heard all over; Chanpreet Singh, a leader in our chapter’s electoral work and a member of the National Electoral Committee, led workshops on fundraising for socialist candidates and spoke several times during debate about processes regarding federal endorsements and party building. Two members of our chapter’s local leadership Alex Mayben and Chris W. chaired debate at different points through the convention, and two of our chapter members Ella Teevan and Amy Wilhelm were elected to the National Political Committee, the highest elected body within Democratic Socialists of America and the body charged with making political decisions between conventions. 

Democratic Socialists of America have seen massive growth since jumping onto the national political scene during Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential run. Nearly 10 years since that campaign, DSA is now an organization with more than 80,000 members, and over 200 members elected to various positions of elected leadership throughout the country, including Seattle DSA member and Washington State’s 43rd Legislative District Representative Shaun Scott. DSA is an organization that is on the verge of helping to elect an open socialist Zohran Mamdani to mayor in the biggest city in the country, a city known for its capitalist culture. It is now without question a reality that the projects, candidates and campaigns that DSA chooses to put its organizational muscle behind will indeed matter in a turbulent political era. 

The idiom goes that once you’ve seen “how the sausage is made” in any type of organization you’re often left unimpressed, or disillusioned or even disgusted, and I’ll be honest, there were moments during debate on internal structural issues that I may have lost my focus, but on the whole, watching the process of debate play out with over 1,200 socialists from every corner of the country was so inspiring that for small moments one may have forgotten that all of us have been living through a fascist regime that is working day and night to disappear our neighbors, squash our right to dissent, and turn this country into a right wing dictatorship that can continue our nation’s centuries long project of labor exploitation and imperialism.

Midway through the first day of the convention we were given a keynote speech by US Representative Rashida Tlaib where the Michigan Legislator scorched her Democrat and Republican colleagues who continue to vote to fund the genocide in Palestine and she spoke of the importance of organizing; “that’s why DSA is so important, we’re able to honestly, truly, authentically, diagnose the problems facing working class americans, and fight for real change that addresses those problems at the root. The working masses y’all, they’re hungry for revolutionary change, and DSA can grow as a political force when it focuses on organizing the people that the corporate Democrats and Republicans have abandoned.”

Left-wing streamer Hasan Piker showed up to interview the congresswoman and at one point his live stream of the convention had over 24K viewers. Piker’s presence, just days before a thirst trapping GQ spread dropped, in addition to several other traditional and new media outlets at the convention, was yet more proof of the influence that Democratic Socialists of America have created and continue to build upon in the American political and cultural arena. 

Coming from Seattle, a city well known for its progressive politics and culture of protest I was personally especially curious to hear from members from other parts of the country where socialism is a very dirty word and where walking around with a DSA shirt may get you more scowls than head nods and raised fists in solidarity. 

I got my first taste of this reality on the first night. Another Seattle member and I were discussing the recent social housing bill that passed in Seattle and how it may be executed, and what obstacles it may come across. At some point I looked over at the couple from Middle Tennessee who had been listening to us chatter and saw that one of them had a curious crooked smile on her face, as the conversation slowed she interjected and in the kindest way she could she reminded us of the scope of the crisis in spaces less protected than Seattle.

 “We’re trying to stop Elon’s stupid tunnel and we’ve got an AI farm in our backyard.” She said through a stifled laugh, a common defensive mechanism of so many that weekend, some kind of human attempt to continue forward with levity even while we’re all witnessing mounting crises in our various pockets of America. 

Sometime midway through the third day of convention it occurred to me that I thought I went to the 2025 DSA National Convention to take part in political debate and help make political decisions for a political organization that was working to build political power, and we did do that, but the cumulative work that was done was really much larger than that.

After a few days of mulling over what actually happened in Chicago, I’ve realized that what I really took part in wasn’t really as much about politics as it was about a shared humanity. The convention was a deeply moving gathering of humanity. I met 22 year olds that took part in campus encampments last year and were weeks removed from their college graduations, enthusiasm spilling from their bright eyes and clear voices. I heard from a mid 60 year old from Rockport, Texas who’d joined DSA just a few years ago after decades of wandering the American political arena feeling like a lone socialist soul in the sea of Red Texas. I was scolded by a security officer for trying to enter a door that was “only an exit” and as I walked to the “correct” door a few yards away with a French socialist who I’d just seen speak on stage, she looked at me and chuckled and as she put a cigarette to her lips she said, “it’s interesting to see, the police state you are already living in.”

When I landed back in Seattle my phone was buzzing with messages about various projects and events coming up for Seattle DSA; new projects for our chapter endorsed candidate Mike Westgaard’s City Council campaign in Renton, our chapter’s Summer Social & Organizing fair which is this weekend at El Centro de La Raza. A chat with requests to accompany migrants to their appointments with DHS was filled with volunteers offering to help, and before I could pull my suitcase from the overhead storage I was refueled for the work of building a movement that can take on the fascist forces that are working to oppress and exploit us. 

If you’ve caught glimpses of Seattle DSA in the city and wondered to yourself what it’s all about, I can tell you that it is all about whatever you want it to be about, whether it’s electoral work, immigrant rights, LGBTQ+ rights, the environment or everything in between, there is no limit to what you can find folks to organize around within this wonderful collection of human beings. To quote one of my most trusted comrades and leaders in our electoral work, Livey Beha, “be the DSA you want to see in the world.” 

We will need an army of activists to build a better future and to paraphrase the great Italian Socialist Antonio Gramsci; since we are all political beings, we are all also legislators.