Jennifer Homendy has spent her career investigating plane crashes and train derailments, not political fights. But the chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, a rare Democrat still running a federal agency under President Trump, reportedly found herself the subject of criticism from Democratic Socialists of America organizers during a virtual meeting last week over her warm relationships with Republican lawmakers.
According to the New York Post, DSA electoral commission members gathered online on October 19 and focused much of their discussion on competitive Senate races in Alaska and Texas, with representatives criticizing Homendy at that meeting. The Post reported that DSA members were angered by Homendy's alleged closeness with Republican lawmakers, and that a DSA representative said the organization was looking into the matter. Homendy declined to comment, per the outlet's reporting.
Homendy's actual public role has centered on one of the deadliest aviation disasters in recent American history. A military helicopter and a commercial jet collided near Ronald Reagan National Airport, killing 67 people, and the NTSB was tasked with determining the official cause of the crash, according to The New York Times. The board wrapped up its investigation in about a year, the Times reported, and the collision prompted lawmakers and administration officials to propose changes to flight routes and rules governing advanced aircraft tracking technology.
A Career Built on Crash Investigations, Not Campaigns
The Times describes Homendy as having used her position to lend support to, or deliver scathing criticism of, government initiatives and legislation touching on aviation safety, regardless of which party was in power. She joined the NTSB in 2018 after working as a lobbyist and longtime congressional staff member, according to the Times. The White House has said it maintains the utmost confidence in Homendy, the paper reported, even as she now leads a safety board under a president from the opposing party.
That bipartisan footing has included public appearances alongside Republicans. Senator Ted Cruz and NTSB Chair Homendy held a joint news conference on airline safety, according to a record from C-SPAN. The Post's reporting adds further detail, describing Homendy as having a friendly rapport with the Texas senator, standing with Alaska Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan at an aviation safety summit, and having propped up MAGA members of the House including Wisconsin Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden, though those specific characterizations trace to the Post's own reporting rather than the Times piece.
DSA's Expanding Footprint in Democratic Politics
The scrutiny of Homendy comes as the Democratic Socialists of America flexes growing muscle inside the Democratic Party. DSA members are now some of the most prominent voices in the party, occupying roles from Congress to New York City's mayor's office, according to WSFA. Political expert Lincoln Mitchell told the station that while the organization's roots trace back to the 1960s, it only recently became a major player on the national stage, crediting Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Mayor Zohran Mamdani with bringing DSA into the mainstream by defeating established Democratic politicians.
The numbers back up that momentum. In the year after Mamdani was elected mayor, 123 DSA-backed candidates won primaries at every level, including 19 congressional nominees and five statewide nominees, according to The New Yorker. The magazine notes the organization now counts just under 130,000 members and that its influence has crept into city government in Los Angeles, where DSA members hold four of the 15 City Council seats.
Limits to the Movement's Reach
Yet that growth has clear boundaries. The Brookings Institution identified 282 DSA-endorsed candidates in the 2026 cycle, but only 29 carried an endorsement from the national DSA organization itself, according to Brookings. More than half of those candidates were seeking local or state legislative seats, and just 10 DSA-backed candidates won in districts with a Cook Partisan Voter Index of less than D+10 — a sign the movement's wins remain concentrated in already-safe Democratic turf.
Separately, a report from Canary Mission described a broader leftist political network involving DSA, Muslim nonprofits and aligned political action committees that has promoted candidates including Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, Mamdani in New York City, and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, according to the Daily Signal. That report identified American Priorities PAC as a major outside-spending vehicle in Democratic primaries and one of the network's most significant new players.
Homendy continues to run an agency whose independence from partisan politics has long been part of its institutional identity, even as the party scrutinizing her ties to Republicans grows more assertive about who gets to call themselves a Democrat in good standing.
