WASHINGTON—Hakeem Jeffries is closing in on the Speaker’s gavel, but his path to power runs directly through an expanding group of Democratic Socialists who want major policy concessions in exchange for their support.

Emerging from primary victories in heavily Democratic districts, a slate of freshman candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America is organizing behind the scenes to extract commitments from party leadership to advance far-left priorities. With Democrats favored to win a thin House majority in November, an organized faction could hold the balance of power.

The candidates haven’t publicly backed Jeffries for speaker. In interviews, four of the seven candidates deflected the question or said they hadn’t committed and needed assurances first. Meanwhile, the DSA is planning an unprecedented amount of coordination with its endorsed candidates, most of whom are favored to win in the general election.

To win backing from the DSA’s national organization and some local chapters, the candidates had to agree to work closely with the group once in office and caucus with other endorsed members. The DSA and the candidates will decide together on what red lines to set with Jeffries, said DSA national co-chair Ashik Siddique.

Jeffries, currently the minority leader, has spoken with or met with all of the primary-winning DSA candidates in recent months, according to people familiar with the conversations. Michigan candidate Donavan McKinney said the two have talked on the phone and are planning a sit-down.

“This is about receiving assurances that we can push legislation that our communities need,” said McKinney, a state representative who won his Detroit-area primary in August. “I’ve had conversations with leader Jeffries, I told him, how long do you want to be speaker for?”The Wall Street Journal spoke with eight people—four candidates and four leaders from the DSA’s national organization and local chapters—who described their strategy. While plans aren’t completed, demands on the table for Jeffries included wealth taxes, advancing language and votes on Medicare for All, the pro-union PRO Act, an arms embargo on Israel, raising the minimum wage and abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Jeffries has said he doesn’t support the DSA agenda. He backs the PRO Act, but hasn’t co-sponsored the Medicare for All Act since becoming Democratic leader in 2023. Justin Chermol, a spokesman for Jeffries, said the minority leader is busy stumping for Democratic candidates and connecting with constituents, and is solely focused on flipping the House.

Midterm wins would give DSA its largest House presence in the group’s 44-year history. Fearing party leaders will sideline them, the candidates and the DSA are also weighing demands for committee seats that oversee progressive priorities. Favorable committee assignments are notoriously hard to come by for freshmen.

“If someone needs your votes to make something happen, they should give you something in return,” said Grace Mauser, co-chair of the New York City chapter. “We’ll need to figure out together, and then in the bargaining process with the speaker and his team, what is feasible.”New York Assemblywoman Claire Valdez said she had a “very cordial conversation” with Jeffries over coffee this summer. A union organizer, she might seek a labor committee assignment. Darializa Avila Chevalier, a New York candidate critical of Israel’s actions in Gaza, might seek a Foreign Affairs Committee seat, Mauser said.

DSA leaders have also discussed proposing a democratic socialist caucus, according to a person involved in the talks.

The bloc might prove harder to hold together than the DSA hopes. It is one of several progressive groups that back the candidates, and each one has different agendas.

“DSA will absolutely be one of those stakeholders, but not the only,” said Pennsylvania state Rep. Chris Rabb, who won his Philadelphia-area primary for the U.S. House in May.

Some within the DSA orbit doubt the organization, which has its own factions, can wield outsize power in Congress.

“Members of Congress are very independent, and they will make their own decisions…I don’t think the organization will be able to control the members,” said former DSA member Rep. Shri Thanedar (D., Mich.), who cut ties with the group in 2023.

Thanedar said he left DSA because he felt it glorified Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in southern Israel.

DSA communications chair Cara Tobe condemned “loss of any innocent life” and said Thanedar “was never an active organizer in DSA, so his opinions on DSA should be taken with a grain of salt.”She said he was ousted from the group by a vote of more than 91%.

Some national DSA leaders have also criticized their most prominent member, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.), for working with Democratic leaders. Ocasio-Cortez has said she would back Jeffries as speaker and, in an interview, criticized the democratic socialist movement’s “culture of exclusion.”

Asked if she would commit to working with national DSA next year, the lawmaker demurred, telling the Journal, “They have never reached out to me and so there’s been no contact.”Multiple DSA leaders said the group learned that members can stray once they get to Washington.

The Journal reviewed questionnaires candidates answered to receive an endorsement from the DSA’s national arm. New candidates answered whether they would meet regularly with the DSA, consider fellow members for staff jobs, share campaign data, identify publicly as a socialist and encourage people to join the DSA. Another question asked if they would use the group’s color scheme on the campaign trail.

Chapter leaders said the agreements are informal and collaborative. Pulling an endorsement from a member who strays would be a last resort.

Angela Gonzales-Torres, a DSA-endorsed candidate challenging Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D., Calif.) for his Los Angeles seat, said close coordination with the DSA keeps members from drifting away from their activist and socialist roots.

“I knew taking the pledge was a requirement. The pledge is really about accountability,” Gonzales-Torres said.

On the endorsement questionnaire, members also pledged to oppose military aid to Israel, decline money from for-profit entities and vote for the PRO Act.

DSA leaders hold up local chapter partnerships with state legislators as the model for Congress. State lawmakers often meet weekly or biweekly with their local chapter to update one another on the week’s decisions and strategy. If a lawmaker casts a vote the chapter dislikes, DSA will ask about it at meetings.

Some chapters help draft, give feedback on and ultimately vote on policy proposals before the lawmakers and their staff propose them in the legislature.

DSA chapters expect to receive information about internal congressional dynamics and plan to hold protests in targeted representatives’ districts ahead of votes, pressuring them to support positions backed by DSA-endorsed lawmakers.

The newcomer candidates have been traveling the country to campaign for each other and recently wrapped up a retreat in Washington, D.C. Candidates said deepening trust with one another will hold their group together after November. Talks on what this will mean for Jeffries and the Democratic caucus are continuing.

“It’s important not to give up any leverage before you get to the table,” said Valdez. “I want to make sure that we’re moving with as much leverage as possible.”