DSA Leader VOWS to Abolish Prisons and Jails

The Democratic Socialists of America wants to get rid of the U.S. Senate, replace the presidency, and reshape the Supreme Court into a body chosen by Congress.

Quick Take

The DSA’s new platform, “Workers Deserve More,” calls for abolishing the Senate and rebuilding the executive and judicial branches.
The group’s official program page confirms plans to expand the House, add ranked choice voting, and end the Senate entirely.
DSA co-chair Ashik Siddique defended the plan on camera, saying the Senate serves no real purpose.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a DSA member herself, has distanced herself from the Senate abolition push.
Prison abolition and ending “mass incarceration and police immunity” also appear as core planks of the platform.

What The New DSA Platform Actually Says

The Democratic Socialists of America posted its full platform update at program.dsausa.org this July. The document, titled “Workers Deserve More,” lays out plans to expand the House of Representatives, add proportional representation, and bring in ranked choice voting nationwide. Then it goes further. The platform states plainly: “abolish the Senate”. That is not a stray comment. It is printed policy.

The plan does not stop at the Senate. Reporting on the platform shows it also calls for swapping out the presidency and Supreme Court for “an executive judiciary selected by and answerable to Congress”. In plain English, the DSA wants Congress to pick judges directly, cutting out the independent court system Americans have relied on for over two centuries.

Prisons And Police Immunity Land On The Chopping Block Too

Beyond restructuring government branches, the platform lists “End Mass Incarceration and Police Immunity” as one of its headline goals. City Journal reported the group wants to “destroy constitutional checks and balances” and eliminate what it calls the “carceral forces of the capitalist state”. That phrase covers prisons, policing, and the legal machinery that holds people accountable for crimes.

This is not a brand new idea for the DSA. Its 2021 draft platform already proposed constitutional amendments to abolish the Senate and the Electoral College, and to overturn Supreme Court rulings like Citizens United. The 2026 version takes that same blueprint and sharpens it into concrete demands with a public rollout and media push behind it.

DSA Leaders Defend The Plan On Camera

DSA co-chair Ashik Siddique did not dodge questions about the Senate when pressed on television. He argued government should be proportional to population and said “we just don’t see the point of the Senate”. Co-chair Gustavo Gordillo called the chamber “an undemocratic institution” that gives too much power to small states, drawing pushback from a Fox News host on air.

Washington Examiner reported co-chairman Ashik Siddiqu defended the Senate abolition push directly, arguing the chamber is fundamentally undemocratic and that scrapping it would make the federal government more representative. These are not fringe volunteers speaking off script. These are the organization’s own elected co-chairs, stating the position for cameras and reporters without hesitation.

Democratic Lawmakers Squirm When Asked About It

Not every Democrat wants to own this platform. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, herself a DSA member, has tried to create distance from the Senate abolition demand. The Washington Times reported she is “looking for wiggle room,” arguing the upper chamber needs reform rather than outright elimination. Fox News also caught several House Democrats appearing caught off guard when reporters asked them directly about the platform’s push to eliminate the Senate, president, and Supreme Court.

That hesitation matters. It shows even sitting Democratic lawmakers recognize how radical these ideas sound to everyday voters. Wanting to soften a platform in public while staying quiet about disavowing the group entirely tells conservatives something important. It is a signal that mainstream Democrats know this agenda cannot survive honest scrutiny, yet many are unwilling to break with the socialist wing of their coalition outright.

Why This Matters For The Constitution’s Checks And Balances

The Founders built the Senate, an independent judiciary, and a separately elected president as deliberate checks against concentrated power. A Wall Street Journal opinion piece noted dryly that “James Madison might want to take note of these developments”. Handing Congress the power to pick judges and erasing an entire legislative chamber would remove the guardrails that protect states, minority viewpoints, and the rule of law from majority overreach. That is not incremental reform. That is a different system of government.

Voters deserve to know which candidates and elected officials associate with an organization pushing to dismantle the Senate, the presidency, the Supreme Court, and the prison system in one document. As DSA-aligned candidates keep winning local and state races, this platform is no longer just an academic manifesto. It is a stated roadmap some elected Democrats now have to answer for at the ballot box.