Hundreds of supporters of the Democratic Socialists of America marched from Times Square through Manhattan on Saturday in a “March for Our Democracy,” claiming credit for the Democrats’ midterm sweep on Tuesday and demanding new leaders at the top of the party instead of Hakeem Jeffries, who is set to become House Speaker, and Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader.
The marchers walked about a mile, from Times Square to Seventh Avenue and 14th Street. “We don’t want corporate Dems in there,” said Connie Cooper of Connecticut, who was among the marchers carrying a sign reading “New Majority Leader.” “We’re calling the shots. It’s not enough to just keep the status quo. That’s not what people want.”
DSA leaders have made no secret of their position: they say the movement’s organizing helped deliver Tuesday’s sweep, and that handing the top jobs straight back to Jeffries and Schumer would waste it. Signs in the crowd read “No Schumer, No Jeffries” and “We didn’t vote for status quo.”
The crowd also aimed at immigration enforcement, chanting “Jeffries, Schumer, let’s be clear — ICE is not wanted here,” and demanding that the incoming Democratic Congress keep Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers out of New York City.
The rally was sponsored by a slate of far-left groups, including the New York City chapter of the DSA and Make the Road New York, along with city unions including the United Federation of Teachers and the Professional Staff Congress-CUNY. The incoming Congress will include at least one DSA member from the city: Representative-elect Darializa Avila Chevalier of New York.
For ordinary Americans the fight matters because it is a fight over what Tuesday’s result gets used for. The marchers’ argument is that voters chose change — on prices, on immigration enforcement and on who holds power — not the same leadership with the same habits; whether Jeffries and Schumer keep their grip will shape what the new Congress actually does for working people in its first months. Neither Jeffries nor Schumer had commented on the march in the reporting so far.
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