Election 2026: ‘Take Me Back!’ sends message on Democratic Socialists of America

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(The Center Square) – Women who fled socialist regimes are pushing back on the Democratic Socialists of America, a group gaining momentum within the national Democratic Party.

The powerful two-minute, 39-second message known as “Take Me Back!” debuted two weeks ago and uses artificial intelligence in its generation of taking the audience to a future intended to show the implications of policies championed by Democratic Socialists of America candidates. Produced by Independent Women’s Voice, it ends with a woman’s scream to get back to the present day and a message, “Beware of the gap between promises and reality.”

The list of prominent elected officials and public figures associated with or aligned with the party include U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.; U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.; New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani; and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who says Mamdani’s views are what the Democratic Party as a whole should look like. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., isn't a member of the party but caucuses with Democrats and self-describes as a democratic socialist; he's a significant ideological leader.

“Socialism places faith in the state,” writes Yali Nunez in an op-ed published by Fox News. Nunez escaped socialism in Cuba.

“Capitalism places faith in the people,” Nunez continues. “Socialism assumes government planners can best direct society and allocate resources. Capitalism recognizes that millions of individuals making free choices create innovation, opportunity and prosperity in ways no bureaucracy can replicate.”

The spot plays off the award-winning 1985 sci-fi comedy film “Back to the Future” that starred Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd. A character in the spot transports the woman, Maya, in a vehicle resembling a modified DeLorean, has the white hair similar to Lloyd, and does the explaining of the differences.

He tells why everyone gets a home, although they are assigned; there is zero waste, so no lattes and only black coffee; the government-run grocery stores come with coupons for payments of groceries, though the prices are so high groceries are unaffordable, the woman says; and there’s no police when the grocery store gets robbed, he tells her. Even the public transit is a disaster, with none moving because “workers deserve more” so they don’t usually show up, he tells her.

And as for healthcare, it’s totally free, he tells her – with a desk clerk saying its 72 days for an appointment, two weeks if it’s an emergency.

On social media, Gabriella Hoffman writes, “As a daughter of socialism escapees, I’m aghast at my fellow Americans embracing socialism – including its new ‘hot’ iteration that pretends to be democratic. … The end result is destitution, misery, and death. Let’s not have a repeat of the system that nearly destroyed my family and millions of others, please!”

The Democratic Party, on a national scale, has tension in an ideological tussle for control. Democratic socialism is on the rise, replete with a desire not only for social reforms but also restructuring, including abolishing the U.S. Senate, having Congress pick the president and U.S. Supreme Court, defunding the Pentagon, and allowing all residents, regardless of citizenship, to vote.

What's commonly called the establishment Democrats, meaning mainstream members supportive of traditional institutional norms and pragmatic changes rather than complete overhauls, are being tested in their "big tent" slogan. Not all candidates connected to the rising tide agree with all tenets, and that's no different from either main party today or in yesteryear.

On its website “about us” section, the Democratic Socialists of America say, “Capitalism is a system designed by the owning class to exploit the rest of us for their own profit. We must replace it with a democratic socialism, a system where ordinary people have a real voice in our workplaces, neighborhoods, and society.

“We want to win ‘radical’ reforms like single-payer Medicare for All, defunding the police/refunding communities, the Green New Deal, and more as a transition to a freer, more just life.”

Judy Pino, writing for IW Features, said she was age 5 when the Cuban regime placed a rifle in her hands.

“Before we fled, I recall adults speaking in hushed tones; family members carefully discussing plans they did not want others to hear," she says. "Like thousands of Cuban families seeking freedom, we were considered traitors and branded ‘gusanos’ – worms – by supporters of the regime. I remember my mother and grandmother breaking glass bottles in the backyard so they could use the jagged edges to defend themselves if we were attacked on the way out. That is how terrifying those final days felt.”

The Democratic Socialists of America have 2026 primary wins either by national or local endorsement by incumbent Ocasio-Cortez in New York’s 14th Congressional District, Claire Valdez in New York’s 7th Congressional District and Darializa Avila Chevalier in New York’s 13th Congressional District; Christopher Rabb in Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District; Melat Kiros in Colorado’s 1st Congressional District; and Mai Vang in California’s 7th Congressional District.

The national chapter did not endorse Ocasio-Cortez, Valdez, Kiros or Vang, according to Ballotpedia. Kiros and Chevalier defeated incumbent members of the U.S. House of Representatives; Valdez and Rabb won open congressional races.

Patrice Onwuka is vice president for economic policy and director of Independent Women’s Center for Economic Opportunity. She was born in the Caribbean and immigrated with family to Boston.

Writing an op-ed for the Washington Post, Onwuka says, “I never get tired of only-in-America stories. My belief in the promise of the United States is endlessly renewed by the rich experiences of diverse people who moved to this nation for safety, freedom and opportunity. That’s what makes the socialist movement now surging through the Democratic Party so distressing: It challenges the very ethos that drew my family here.”