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 reservedfor 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.
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.
↑Kimmerle, Stephan; Locker, Philip; Madsen, Brandon (2025). A User's Guide to DSA: 5 Debates That Define the Democratic Socialists. Seattle, WA: Labor Power Publications. ISBN979-8-9996239-2-8.
↑Wadlin, Laura (2025). "A Political History of DSA, 1982–2025". In Kimmerle, Stephan; Locker, Philip; Madsen, Brandon (eds.). A User's Guide to DSA: 5 Debates That Define the Democratic Socialists. Labor Power Publications. pp.45–54. ISBN979-8-9996239-2-8.
↑"Where We Stand". breadandrosesdsa.org. Retrieved July 26, 2026. We know that winning elections in a capitalist society is not the same as taking power. Without an organized working class, primarily organized in the workplace where workers have the most power, socialist electoral victories will mean little. The essential task of the democratic road to socialism is rebuilding the organized power of the working class.
12"Groundwork Thought Library". Groundwork. Retrieved July 26, 2026. Marxism and Politics is a defining piece of Groundwork thought... This points towards his third and most significant intervention, a theory of social transformation in the global north based around a "strong reformism" that welds together state, street, and strike power to effectuate a rapid and aggressive transformation towards Socialism once the popular masses have taken political power through the democratic road.
↑William Lawrence (February 13, 2024). "Envisioning A United Socialist Future, with DSA's National Political Committee's Co-Chairs Ashik Siddique and Megan Romer". Hegemonicon - An Investigation Into The Workings of Power (Podcast). Convergence. Event occurs at 59:52. [spoken by Ashik Siddique]...you know like I was initially affected by the writer Andre Gore's who talks about non reformist reforms or like transformative reforms or structural reforms, revolutionary reforms, whatever. The point is that whatever you're making demands of in government it, it has to be about organizing working class people as agents of change and then creating more room for demanding more and more and building the power to wield it.
123Andy Sernatinger & Emma Wilde Botta (June 5, 2021). "Strange alchemy". Tempest. Archived from the original on January 25, 2026. Retrieved August 8, 2026.
↑"Marxist Unity Group". Marxist Unity Group. Retrieved July 25, 2026. Marxist Unity Group calls for immediate steps towards political independence. We become a party by acting like one. For us, the 'break' with the Democratic Party is a continuous process that must begin in earnest right now.
↑"Principles of Party Building". Retrieved August 13, 2026. What matters most is bringing our independent organization and program to races whether on a Democratic, independent, or third-party ballot line.
↑"2026 Tasks & Perspectives". MUG's position can best be described as a unity between "party surrogate in form" and "clean break in content."
↑"Points of Unity". Red Star. February 25, 2025. Retrieved July 26, 2026.