The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) talk a good game about opposing politicians, the politically-connected, and corporations who donate to political campaigns and hire high-priced lobbyists from profiting off the system.
But if Democrats win back either or both chambers of Congress in next month's election, a collection of DSA confidants will be poised to cash in.
Meet the lobbyists set to make bank if and when the DSA-dominated Democratic Party takes the reins in Washington, DC.
First up is Dan Riffle. A former AOC staffer, he has previously served as federal lobbyist for the Marijuana Policy Project. Most recently, he worked as a Congressional Affairs Specialist for the Biden Department of Justice. He's also worked in behavioral health– a booming sector of the health care economy that has been the focus of intense investment by private equity firms, as well as cutbacks aimed at stopping waste, fraud and abuse, including in the case of Somali-American-run fake providers in places like Minnesota.
It's not clear what Riffle has been up to since the change of administration, but having worked for AOC, he'd clearly command big fees and attract top tier clients if he re-entered the lobbying fray.
There's nothing to indicate Riffle would agree to work with just any old client offering big fees. But it's worth remembering that marijuana is big business now, with Trulieve dropping $762,500 on lobbying in 2025, and the US Cannabis Roundtable spending nearly that much– $685,000– the same year. And that's setting aside the behavioral health angle.
Also in high demand could be Michaeleen Earle Crowell, former Chief of Staff to Bernie Sanders himself.
Crowell is a Principal with top DC lobbying shop S-3 Group.
In 2025, S-3 banked total fees of over $13 million, per Open Secrets.
The firm's top clients that year included Google, which paid it $530,000, T-Mobile, which paid it $440,000, Katahdin Impact– a mysterious entity with an address in a 49-story Manhattan skyscraper– which forked over $400,000, the oft-DSA bemoaned McKinsey, who paid S-3 $360,000, and the Pet Food Institute (who knew pet food was big business?) who paid the firm $320,000.
Another former Sanders staffer potentially in high demand– but already employed by the NASDAQ-listed EV charging company EVgo– is Alex Beaton.
Also sought after, but potentially unavailable, is former Ayanna Pressley Legislative Director and Deputy Chief of Staff Aissa Canchola Bañez, who has worked for progressive banking-focused outfit Protect Borrowers for about four years now.
Rounding out the top five is Renuka Nagaraj, a former Jan Schakowsky and Jack Reed staffer who currently works for defense contractor CACI– albeit as a writer, not a lobbyist.
Another more wild card option might be Steve Elmendorf, a partner at heavy hitter Avoq. Elmendorf is a veteran of the Dick Gephardt operation from all the way back in the 1990's, when Gephardt was feuding with the more centrist, free-trade friendly Clintonite iteration of the party. He went on to work for John Kerry– who was admittedly perceived as a more centrist figure.
But Elmendorf could still thrive, as a trusted voice on LGBTQ+ issues, and a guy who takes a traditional realist not idealist approach to the job. As he told Politico, “You figure out the individual members, you figure out their politics, you figure out what they care about in their districts... You figure out what the economic factors that impact them are, the jobs in their district, the companies in their district, and you come up with a strategy.”
Politico has reported on the risks and opportunities for major players, quoting one lobbyist as saying of the DSA core, “If you have a relationship with them and you’re downtown, great for you,” the lobbyist said. “If you don’t, you’re kind of screwed.”
So in sum, sort of like the rest of us, then.
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