“There’s nothing ‘healthy’ about the Democratic Party flirting with socialism,” Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) posted on X Friday. 

“Experiments have subjects, and in this one it’s the American people,” Paul continued. “Socialism has been tried on every continent, and it produced shortages, censorship, and people risking their lives to leave. Young Americans deserve solutions, not a test run of failed policies the world already rejected.”

Socialists want the government to grow to cover “100%” of everything Americans have, Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) asserted on “Washington Watch” Thursday. “We’ve got to do a better job of educating people with [what] socialism is. People who don’t take time to really look at these things might prefer to be [a] socialist than a capitalist, but socialism really is the end of freedom.”

As the November midterm elections are fast approaching, more and more candidates are identifying as Democratic Socialists. Just this week, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) rejoined the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) organization after a seven-year hiatus, before a possible 2028 presidential run. 

Grothman added that he is troubled by the growing number of wins for Democratic Socialists in the Democratic Party. Over the last few months, America has seen many Democratic Socialist-aligned candidates win primary races ahead of the midterms. 

For instance, Florida state representative Angie Nixon, who recently joined the DSA, won her primary on August 17, advancing in the race for Florida’s U.S. Senate seat. Nixon is running on a platform that includes raising the federal minimum wage to $25 per hour and Medicare for all.

Similarly, Colorado’s Melat Kiros, another member of the DSA, won her primary in June 2026. Kiros is running for the U.S. House for Colorado’s first Congressional District seat, on a platform that includes universal childcare and an arms embargo. 

“You’re giving up freedom whenever you allow government to grow,” Grothman said. “And the socialists, of course, they want it to grow to cover 100% of all we have. It’ll be incremental and over time. As the socialists get elected, they will take more of your money to determine how to spend it, and they will use the power of government to punish you if you disagree with the major leader.”

Grothman explained that socialism comes with everyday lifestyle consequences. “If the government runs the grocery stores, the government decides what you’re able to buy in that grocery store. … [The government] determine[s] who gets employed. And pretty soon, the only way you get employed is if you agree with the government.”

Earlier this month, the Manhattan Institute reported that Ocasio-Cortez rejoined the Democratic Socialists after having not renewed her membership since 2019. The publication City & State New York reported that DSA allegedly did not know Ocasio-Cortez was not an active member during those seven years, believing the opposite to be true. In 2020, the group lauded the congresswoman with the caption “CONGRATULATIONS to DSA member @AOC on officially being re-elected to congress!”

The DSA said that it decided to look into Ocasio-Cortez’s membership status after she proclaimed to be a member of the New York City chapter, but not the national group in an ABC interview. City & State New York reported that this created confusion, since members must belong to the larger organization in order to be a part of a local chapter. 

“While it is atypical for DSA to address the membership status of individuals, ongoing discussions about the 2028 presidential campaign have prompted this release. … With chapters and members campaigning to draft Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as a potential Presidential Primary candidate, we believe that the status of her membership is essential information for members to have in their deliberations and discussions,” a statement from DCA read.