Democratic Socialists of America hold national summit in Chicago

Jul 31, 2026

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), now over 120,000 members strong, revamped its platform at a Chicago summit, notably calling to abolish the U.S. Senate. The proposal, which sees the Senate as undemocratic due to population imbalances, has drawn agreement from some center-left critics like Jonathan Chait, while highlighting the DSA's growing influence and giving Republicans a tool to attack the broader Democratic party.

DSA platform and political strategy

▪The platform's immigration plank was changed to call for abolishing ICE and legalizing migration, removing a prior call to end all deportations.
▪The DSA's 2024 platform had previously only called for an end to the Senate filibuster.
▪Center-left writer Jonathan Chait agrees with the DSA's proposal to abolish the Senate.
▪The Democratic Socialists of America has grown to over 120,000 members, becoming the largest socialist organization in U.S. history.
▪The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) held a national summit in Chicago around August 1, 2026.
▪The new DSA platform calls for the abolition of the U.S. Senate, which the group sees as undemocratic.
▪Ahead of its summit, the Democratic Socialists of America revamped its platform, titled "Workers Deserve More."
▪Some DSA-endorsed candidates distance themselves from parts of the national platform.

Constitutional design flaws

▪Founders like James Madison and Alexander Hamilton reportedly believed the Senate was a bad design that gave small states "massively exaggerated political power."
▪The House of Representatives also gives smaller states a representation advantage because its size was permanently capped in 1920.
▪Jonathan Chait states the U.S. Senate was created as a compromise between large and small states to enact the Constitution.
▪The U.S. Constitution's designers decided against a general supermajority requirement for legislation in the Senate.
▪A 60-vote supermajority has become a routine barrier for most legislation in the modern Senate.

Historical evolution of malapportionment

▪At the time the U.S. Constitution was enacted, the population ratio between the largest and smallest state was approximately 13-to-1.
▪Today, the population ratio between the most and least populous U.S. states has grown to about 67-to-1.

British House of Lords comparison

▪The United Kingdom's House of Lords was once an equal power in a bicameral legislature.
▪The House of Lords was later transformed into a largely symbolic, pro forma chamber rather than being eliminated entirely.

Racial representation disparities

▪Following a court decision referred to as Callais, Southern districts are expected to reduce African American representation in the House through gerrymandering.
▪Jonathan Chait argues the Senate's structure results in Black, Latino, and Asian Americans having significantly less representation than in the House.