Democratic Socialists of America membership has spiked in Louisville. Here's why
Democratic Socialists of America membership has spiked in Louisville. Here's why
Bree Latimer has followed the Democratic Socialists of America for years, but her impetus to joining the organization's Louisville chapter was Donald Trump's win in the 2024 presidential election.
It was an inflection point for many others in Louisville and around the country. Interest in the local organization surged after the election, with membership rising 15% from 369 to 426 since the start of November and most of that growth occurring in the month after election day, said Tyler Lamon, a co-chair of the Louisville Democratic Socialists of America. Nationally, more than 5,000 people have joined since the election, the organization said in a newsletter.
During that span, the Louisville chapter's events have attracted a spate of new faces. While not all have become formal members, long-time members say the meetings — many of which are open to the public — have become noticeably larger.
Lamon attributes the interest to people feeling unnerved with the reality of a second Trump administration and uninspired by the Democratic Party's presidential campaign. Rather than lamenting the outcome, Lamon thinks new members are hungry for change.
"People are joining because they aren't ready to give up on the world," Lamon said.
Why has Louisville Democratic Socialists of America membership spiked?
Democratic socialism is an economic and political system focused on achieving wealth and class equality through democratic mechanisms. Proponents of the ideology view capitalism as a "system designed by the owning class to exploit" the working class, which can be remedied, they argue, by giving ordinary people a say in how their workplaces and communities are run.
In practice, collective ownership of economic and household lifelines like energy production and transportation figure largely into the ideology's vision.
Both the organization's national body and the Louisville chapter tend to see membership spikes "every time the world gets noticeably worse," Lamon said. When the war between Hamas and Israel broke out in October 2023, for example, membership increased, he said.
Lamon thinks the recent spike signifies a growing "class consciousness," referring to the Marxist concept of being aware of one's social and economic class relative to others.
University of Kentucky political science professor Stephen Voss agrees that economics is likely a driving factor.
The Kamala Harris campaign's lacking focus on the economy, which exit poll data indicates was one of the most important issues in the election, is one reason people may be reconsidering their political loyalties, Voss said. Meanwhile, much of Trump's messaging during his campaign centered on economic populism and reining in inflation, he noted.
Kentucky voting data shows Trump won about 1% more votes across the commonwealth in 2024 than he did in 2020. Meanwhile, Harris lost roughly 9% compared to former-President Joe Biden's 2020 totals. In Jefferson County alone, Harris drew 11% fewer votes than Biden in the previous presidential election.
Harris also lost ground nationwide. According to CNN, Harris received fewer votes than Biden did in 2020 in 45 states. Crucially, she lost 1.9 million votes in places that delivered big victories for Biden in 2020, according to a New York Times analysis of voter data, indicating many Biden voters either stayed home or flipped to Trump.
For voters simultaneously opposed to Trump and disenchanted with the Democratic Party, those political sentiments may be manifesting through new forms of political expression and engagement, Lamon said.
The pattern of left-leaning voters shifting further toward the margin isn't unheard of, Voss said, particularly in a reliably red state like Kentucky, though multiple theories might explain this pattern.
Some moderate voters who are comfortable with the ideological mainstreams of both parties may flip toward the dominant party in an effort to optimize their influence, leaving the minority party's fringes isolated and "radicalized," Voss said. Others, sensing futility in voting for a moderate Democrat in a Republican state, may naturally embrace more liberal stances and candidates, he said.
Young people in particular may be inclined to embrace democratic socialism, as the stigma it carried among older generations is lost on younger generations who tend to be more liberal, Voss said.
In the recent election, many younger voters aged 18-29 flipped to Trump or stayed home. According to the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts, young voter turnout was down 10% nationwide compared to 2020, with Harris being less popular among young men and women than Biden was in 2020 and Trump's share of the young vote jumping 10%.
Will membership continue rising?
Latimer, 24, anxiously watched as results trickled in late into election night. As the outcome became clear, she felt she could no longer stay "idle."
Days later, she attended the Louisville Democratic Socialists of America's post-election town hall, where dozens of people packed into the organization's headquarters in the Smoketown neighborhood to share a meal and discuss how to move forward.
"It was really surprising to see how many people were there. How many people were in the same boat as I was," Latimer said. "It was also to kind of hold space for people's emotions after the election, and to kind of tell people the fight is far from over, and we are here to fight with you."
Since that first meeting, she's continued to attend various events and has become a formal member. She plans to stay engaged by joining the communications committee and helping the group further its advocacy and impact in areas concerning workers' rights and wealth disparities in Louisville.
Whether others will stay involved remains to be seen. Voss said when a mainstream party sees an exodus of support, it tends to rethink its strategy to win back voters. A likely course of action for the Democratic Party could be to reframe its messaging to focus more on economic issues, Voss said.
"More often what happens is the mainstream party closer to those voters figures out what it needs to do to bring them back," Voss said. "What the Bernie Sanders-style Democrats are saying is, 'let's win them back, not by being moderate, but by stressing economic populism, by saying we will work aggressively, you know, not to regulate your bathroom usage, but instead to improve your family finances and tackle rising healthcare costs.'"
Lamon said the organization's membership engagement committee is hard at work to keep the newcomers around, though he admits that the group is largely at the "mercy of macro trends." But regardless of who comes and goes, the organization will continue on its path.
"The scale of the problem is huge," Lamon said. "It's the job of DSA to be the vehicle for that change."
Contact reporter Killian Baarlaer at kbaarlaer@gannett.com or @bkillian72 on X.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

USA Today
26 minutes ago
- USA Today
Will Trump invoke the Insurrection Act? 'We'll see,' he says
Will Trump invoke the Insurrection Act? 'We'll see,' he says Show Caption Hide Caption Anti-ICE raid demonstrators protest into fourth night Anti-immigration raid protests are continuing into the fourth night as the Pentagon deployed active-duty U.S. Marines. President Donald Trump mulled invoking the Insurrection Act, which would give him more leeway to use the military for domestic purposes, as he deploys troops to Los Angeles in response to protests prompted by ICE raids in the region. "If there's an insurrection, I would certainly invoke it,' Trump said June 10 during an event in the White House. 'We'll see. But I can tell you, last night was terrible. The night before that was terrible." Trump deployed the California National Guard to Los Angeles over the objection of Gov. Gavin Newsom, sparking a lawsuit from the state. Marines were also sent to help the guard after protests erupted over his immigration enforcement efforts. The troops are limited to protecting federal property and law enforcement officers. The Insurrection Act would give Trump authority to use them more broadly. More: 'High-stakes game': Trump-Newsom clash pits two political heavyweights Trump said there were parts of Los Angeles on June 9 where "you could have called it an insurrection. It was terrible." Newsom described Trump's actions as "the acts of a dictator" and accused the president of 'inciting and provoking violence,' 'creating mass chaos,' and 'militarizing cities.' Legal experts say invoking the Insurrection Act is an extreme step. It has been done 30 times in U.S. history. "The invocation of it would be viewed as a pretty dramatic act," said Duke Law Professor H. Jefferson Powell. Powell said the law is "dangerously broad." The last time the Insurrection Act was invoked was in May 1992, by President George H.W. Bush at the request of California's governor, to quell rioting in Los Angeles after four White police officers were acquitted for beating Black motorist Rodney King.
Yahoo
27 minutes ago
- Yahoo
What the 'Big, Beautiful' tax bill means for municipal bonds
JPMorgan raised its forecast for municipal bond sales in 2025 to $560 billion as US lawmakers deliberate over President Trump's "big, beautiful" tax and spending bill in the Senate. Goldman Sachs Asset Management co-head of municipal fixed income Sylvia Yeh weighs in on what policy changes to the US tax code could mean for municipal bond investors, as well as valuation catalysts in comparison to Treasury yields (^TYX, ^TNX, ^FVX). Goldman Sachs manages several municipal bond ETFs (GMUB, GCAL, GMNY, GUMI). To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Catalysts here. Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Yahoo
31 minutes ago
- Yahoo
LA protests far different from '92 Rodney King riots
The images of cars set ablaze, protesters tossing rocks at police and officers firing nonlethal rounds and tear gas at protesters hearkens back to the last time a president sent the National Guard to respond to violence on Los Angeles streets. But the unrest during several days of protests over immigration enforcement is far different in scale from the 1992 riots that followed the acquittal of white police officers who were videotaped beating Black motorist Rodney King. President George H.W. Bush used the Insurrection Act to call in the National Guard after requests from Mayor Tom Bradley and Gov. Pete Wilson. After the current protests began Friday over Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, President Donald Trump ordered the deployment of 4,100 National Guard troops and 700 Marines despite strident opposition from Mayor Karen Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom. Trump cited a legal provision to mobilize federal service members when there is 'a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.' California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit Monday saying Trump had overstepped his authority. Outrage over the verdicts on April 29, 1992 led to nearly a week of widespread violence that was one of the deadliest riots in American history. Hundreds of businesses were looted. Entire blocks of homes and stores were torched. More than 60 people died in shootings and other violence, mostly in South Los Angeles, an area with a heavily Black population at the time. Unlike the 1992 riots, protests have mainly been peaceful and been confined to a roughly five-block stretch of downtown LA, a tiny patch in the sprawling city of nearly 4 million people. No one has died. There's been vandalism and some cars set on fire but no homes or buildings have burned. At least 50 people have been arrested for everything from failing to follow orders to leave to looting, assault on a police officer and attempted murder for tossing a Molotov cocktail. Several officers have had minor injuries and protesters and some journalists have been struck by some of the more than 600 rubber bullets and other 'less-lethal' munitions fired by police. The 1992 uprising took many by surprise, including the Los Angeles Police Department, but the King verdict was a catalyst for racial tensions that had been building in the city for years. In addition to frustration with their treatment by police, some directed their anger at Korean merchants who owned many of the local stores. Black residents felt the owners treated them more like shoplifters than shoppers. As looting and fires spread toward Koreatown, some merchants protected their stores with shotguns and rifles.