National Political Committee

The National Political Committee (NPC) is the principal governing body of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) between meetings of the organization's national convention. The body is elected every two years by delegates to the national convention. It is made up of 27 members, of which 25 are elected by DSA chapter delegates, whom themselves are elected by their chapters' members using the single transferable vote. Fourteen of the committee seats are reserved for members who are not men, and 8 are reserved for members of color. The co-chairs of the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) serve as NPC members, and are elected at YDSA convention held annually, which can result in shifts in political makeup of the NPC in the middle of the committee's two-year term.

The NPC elects its own steering committee, consisting of the National Co-Chairs and seven members elected at-large by the National Political Committee, two of whom are selected to serve as the treasurer and as the secretary.

History

DSA's 2023 National Convention re-instated the office of National Co-Chairs to be directly elected by DSA's National Convention as public-facing national figureheads who would also take up two seats on the NPC. This replaced the previous office of National Political Committee Co-Chairs which had little public-facing role and were elected by the NPC from among themselves.

Following a failed attempt by Socialist Majority Caucus to expand the number of seats of the NPC in 2023, the 2025 DSA National Convention passed an omnibus of structural reforms proposed by DSA's Democracy Commission which included expanding the National Political Committee. The 2025–2027 NPC thus expanded from 17 seats, one of which was split by the Co-Chairs of the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA), to 27 seats, the YDSA Co-Chairs now each having one full vote. The reforms passed with wide approval across DSA's political spectrum despite opposition and attempts to remove NPC expansion from the Democracy Commission Omnibus by Red Star and Libertarian Socialist Caucus.

At the 2023 DSA National Convention, elections for the National Political Committee resulted in what some DSA members called a "leftward shift" in leadership. A coalition of caucuses which position themselves as the organization's revolutionary left, including Red Star, Marxist Unity Group, Bread and Roses, and the Anti-Zionist Slate (renamed Springs of Revolution in 2025) won a majority of seats, displacing the previous governing coalition led by Socialist Majority and Groundwork caucuses. The NPC has been described as having matured into a "multi-caucus parliament", where building majority blocs requires negotiation and persuasion among the different tendencies. The 2025 convention saw a similar result, the "left-wing" caucuses retained a majority, joined by representatives from Reform and Revolution and Libertarian Socialist Caucus. Despite the DSA caucuses which make up this majority claiming the 2023 and 2025 convention results as a clear victory for DSA's internal left-wing the actual reality of NPC governance has been more complex, on individual issues majorities frequently shift and are as likely to include "right-wing" caucuses such as Groundwork and Socialist Majority Caucus as they are to include "left-wing" groupings such as Springs of Revolution and Red Star.

On June 23, 2024 the NPC narrowly voted to endorse Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez conditioned on Ocasio-Cortez's commitment to oppose funding for Israel's Iron Dome and support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. Following this vote New York City DSA, who had already endorsed Ocasio-Cortez, rescinded Ocasio-Cortez's application for national endorsement over concerns that a conditional endorsement constituted an illegal quid pro quo. The NPC responded on July 10 by issuing a statement acknowledging NYC DSA's withdrawal, both criticizing and praising Ocasio-Cortez, and re-asserting the commitments required to receive National DSA endorsement.

Caucuses

Electoral strategies

Caucuses in the DSA are divided over electoral strategies, and each caucus often adopts one or more particular strategies as a "Point of Unity" that defines the caucus's goals.

• The party surrogate strategy prioritizes expanding the DSA's power and institutions independent of the Democratic Party, while continuing to use the advantages of the Democratic Party ballot line when those advantages exist.
• The dirty break strategy is similar to the "party surrogate" strategy of using the Democratic Party ballot line while building up DSA independently. However, it places a greater emphasis on the necessity and inevitability of a future "break" with the Democratic Party.
• The realignment strategy involves working explicitly as a faction within the Democratic Party, with the long-term goal of shifting the party to adopt more social democratic or socialist principles. This was the DSA's historical position before it reshaped after Bernie Sanders' 2016 campaign and was advocated by DSA's founder, Michael Harrington. None of the caucuses currently represented on the NPC advocate for realignment.
• The clean break strategy calls for immediately ending all use of the Democratic ballot line and only running candidates independently or third-party. Some clean break advocates also demand the immediate expulsion of all DSA elected officials from the organization. None of the caucuses represented on the NPC support a clean break.

Caucuses currently represented on the NPC

Caucuses previously represented on the NPC

Historical composition

The table below shows caucused members of the National Political Committee from 2015 to present:

Current members

Past members

2025–2027 National Political Committee

2023–2025 National Political Committee

Notes