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Fact check: How many members of Congress are affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America in 2025?
Executive Summary
As of the analyses presented, there is no single uncontested count of how many members of Congress are affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America in 2025; cited tallies range from four to nine, depending on definitions and which lists are used [1] [2]. The divergence stems from differing methodologies — some sources list only confirmed DSA members, others include broader “squad” or self-described socialists, and some reflect election results and losses through 2024–2025, producing conflicting snapshots [1].
1. A Torn Ledger: Why one list says seven while another says four
The apparent disagreement begins with two contemporary lists that produce very different totals. One account explicitly names seven DSA-affiliated members — Greg Casar, Summer Lee, Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley, and Delia Ramirez — and presents that as the current roster of DSA-affiliated members [1]. Another analysis, relying on a September 2024 snapshot and noting electoral outcomes from 2024, reports at least four confirmed DSA members — Casar, Lee, Ocasio-Cortez, and Tlaib — and explains that other previously affiliated members such as Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman lost reelection bids [1]. The gap between seven and four arises from which persons are classified as DSA-affiliated and whether post-2024 election changes are incorporated [1].
2. The Squad expansion vs. formal DSA membership — numbers that don’t mean the same thing
Another source frames the question through the growth of the “Squad,” a broader progressive House cohort, noting it has grown to nine members: AOC, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib, Jamaal Bowman, Cori Bush, Greg Casar, Summer Lee, and Delia Ramirez [2]. Labeling the Squad as a proxy for DSA membership conflates two different affiliations: the Squad is a political identity and voting bloc, while DSA is an organized membership with its own endorsement and membership rolls. Counting the Squad inflates the DSA tally unless each Squad member is independently confirmed as a DSA member [2]. The analyses provided do not resolve whether all Squad members are formal DSA members, which explains part of the numerical inconsistencies [2] [1].
3. Historical context: why prior counts matter but can mislead current totals
Historical tallies show that the 117th Congress once had multiple members who identified as democratic socialists, including AOC, Tlaib, Cori Bush, and Jamaal Bowman — a high-water mark for self-described socialists in Congress [3]. But historical high-water marks are not the same as the 2025 roster; losses in primary or general elections between 2022 and 2024 altered membership. One analysis explicitly notes that Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman lost re-election, which directly reduces any 2025 DSA count if those individuals are excluded [1]. Thus, comparing a past maximum to a present membership list without accounting for electoral turnover produces misleading conclusions [3] [1].
4. Source disagreement explained: methodology, self-identification, and endorsements
Three mechanisms drive disagreement across the supplied analyses: [4] methodological differences — some sources list only formally declared DSA members, others compile broader “socialist” or “Squad” rosters [1] [2]; [5] self-identification versus organization membership — some members have called themselves socialist but may not be current DSA card-carrying members, and the sources do not uniformly apply the same standard [1]; and [6] timing and electoral updates — snapshots from September 2024 versus broader 2025 summaries reflect different moments in time, including post-election attrition [1]. These three factors — definition, self-identification, and timing — fully account for the variation in reported counts [1].
5. What can be reliably concluded and what remains unresolved
From the supplied analyses, the only reliable conclusions are that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib appear on multiple lists as DSA-affiliated, and Greg Casar and Summer Lee are also frequently named as DSA affiliates in recent summaries [1]. Beyond those overlaps, counts diverge: one source lists seven, another at least four, and another frames nine by expanding to the Squad [1] [2]. What remains unresolved is a definitive 2025 roster tied to formal DSA membership records and a precise date-stamped accounting that reconciles post-2024 election changes; the supplied materials do not include a single, authoritative DSA membership roster for Congress in 2025 [1].
6. Bottom line and the missing follow-up needed for certainty
The bottom line from the provided analyses is clear: reported DSA membership in Congress for 2025 ranges from four to nine, depending on the list and criteria used, and no single supplied source provides a definitive, dated membership roster [1] [2]. To resolve this definitively requires either a current DSA membership disclosure tied to federal officeholders or a transparent methodology that reconciles self-identification, formal DSA membership, and post-2024 election results; that authoritative follow-up is absent from the materials provided [1].