Democratic Socialists of America Grows by Leaps and Bounds

FEATURING RENÉE PARADIS – The defeat of top Democrat Joe Crowley in New York by a Puerto Rican Latina named Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is likely the biggest upset of the primary election season. Although Ocasio-Cortez ran as a Democrat, her membership in the group Democratic Socialists of America has drawn much attention to an organization that seems to be churning out strongly progressive and electable candidates for office.

In fact DSA membership has swelled across the country, especially since the 2016 Presidential candidacy of Senator Bernie Sanders who identifies as a democratic socialist.

Rising inequality in the US appears to have transformed the word “socialist” from taboo to acceptable. So today we’ll examine what the DSA is, their current political strategy, and why they are seeing such phenomenal growth.

Renée Paradis, member of the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), and a member of the DSA’s National Electoral Committee, she is also a lawyer who has worked with the Brennan Center for Justice and the ACLU.

**This segment was originally broadcast on June 28, 2018.