The Orange County chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) has released its 2026 General Election Guide, outlining endorsements and recommendations for dozens of local races across the county. This guide offers a view into the organization's increasing role in local politics and its efforts to shape the future direction of the Democratic Party.
The DSA is a national political organization that advocates for democratic socialism, a philosophy generally supporting a larger government role in healthcare, housing, labor protections, and economic policy. While many DSA-backed candidates are Democrats, the organization often supports policies positioned further left than those embraced by many mainstream Democratic officeholders.
The group's new Orange County voter guide notes that it made only four official endorsements this election cycle. These include three candidates in Santa Ana and one in Irvine, representing campaigns that received formal approval from DSA members and a commitment of organizational resources.
Beyond these formal endorsements, the organization issued recommendations in numerous city council, school board, and ballot measure contests throughout Orange County. The concentration of official DSA endorsements in Santa Ana is notable, with three of the four endorsements in Santa Ana City Council races, reflecting the city’s significance to the local progressive movement.
These contests also highlight an increasingly visible divide within Democratic politics. In several Santa Ana races, DSA-backed candidates are competing against fellow Democrats who generally support maintaining robust police services and more traditional public safety policies. Over the past several years, Santa Ana leaders have debated issues ranging from police funding and public safety staffing to homelessness, affordable housing, development, and criminal justice reform. These discussions have often revealed differing philosophies among elected officials and candidates who otherwise share the same party affiliation. As a result, many of the city’s most closely watched political contests are now defined by competing visions within the Democratic Party itself.
The DSA’s growing influence has sparked debate nationally and within Orange County. Supporters argue that democratic socialist candidates are helping to push the Democratic Party to address affordability, worker protections, tenant rights, healthcare access, and economic inequality. Critics, including many moderate Democrats, contend that some DSA-backed policies move the party too far left and risk alienating mainstream voters.
Several prominent Democratic leaders have publicly distanced themselves from the DSA in recent years. Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, recently stated that he does not support the DSA’s agenda. Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville has been a vocal critic of the organization’s growing influence, arguing that Democratic candidates should focus on issues resonating with a broader electorate. Former Democratic National Committee chairman Jaime Harrison has also publicly criticized candidates who seek Democratic nominations while opposing the party’s direction, and Democratic Congressman Ritchie Torres of New York has frequently clashed with democratic socialist activists.
These disagreements reflect an ongoing debate over whether the Democratic Party should continue moving in a more progressive direction or maintain a more moderate approach focused on broad coalition-building and traditional public safety priorities.
On public safety, the DSA and many DSA-backed activists have supported reducing police budgets, shifting funding toward social services, limiting police powers, and implementing broader criminal justice reforms. Some DSA chapters have promoted “defund the police” or similar reform efforts. Moderate Democrats generally support police accountability reforms but tend to oppose reducing police staffing levels, arguing that effective policing is necessary for public safety. This is a visible point of disagreement in Santa Ana politics, where debates over police hiring, public safety spending, and enforcement priorities have divided local Democrats.
Regarding housing, the DSA often advocates for stronger tenant protections, rent control policies, public or social housing programs, and restrictions on market-driven housing development. Moderate Democrats frequently support affordable housing initiatives but are often more willing to partner with private developers and use market-based approaches to increase housing supply.
Economically, moderate Democrats often support expanded government programs but generally favor a mixed economy, in contrast to the more transformational economic changes advocated by democratic socialists. The DSA has also frequently taken positions that differ from many Democratic leaders on foreign policy, particularly regarding military spending, U.S. intervention overseas, and support for Israel.
At the local level, DSA-backed candidates often place greater emphasis on worker protections, tenant rights, environmental justice, community control over development, and social equity. Moderate Democrats generally support many of those goals but often place greater emphasis on fiscal responsibility, economic growth, public safety, effective government services, and balanced budgets. The criticism from moderate Democrats is not usually that the DSA is “communist,” but rather that many believe DSA-backed policies can be politically difficult to sell to swing voters and may move the party away from issues that resonate with a broader electorate.
Orange County has long been known as a political battleground, and progressive organizations have increasingly focused on local government races where city councils, school boards, and special districts make decisions affecting housing, policing, labor relations, and local development. The DSA’s 2026 voter guide includes recommendations in races across numerous Orange County cities, including Anaheim, Costa Mesa, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Mission Viejo, Newport Beach, San Clemente, Santa Ana, Tustin, Westminster, and others.
In the guide’s introductory statement, the organization argues that electing progressive candidates at the local level is critical to advancing its long-term political goals and building support for future policy changes throughout the county. The Orange County DSA’s voter guide offers voters an opportunity to better understand one of the county’s most active progressive political organizations and the candidates it believes best represent its priorities. Whether voters agree or disagree with the group’s recommendations, the guide highlights a significant trend in local politics: some of the most consequential contests are increasingly taking place within the Democratic Party itself, a dynamic particularly apparent in Santa Ana.
