Candidates affiliated with Democratic Socialists of America, an organization well to the left of the Democratic Party, have scored wins in several of the party’s competitive primaries. It’s very likely that they will win House seats in the November 2026 elections since the candidates reside in progressive strongholds.

Although those candidates have drawn much attention, this is hardly a new trend. Bernie Sanders, the nation’s most prominent identified democratic socialist, has represented Vermont in the House or the Senate since 1990. U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, the movement’s rising star in Congress, has served in the House since 2019. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani successfully campaigned as a DSA member in 2025.

Despite the historical precedents, some prominent Democrats are cautious about leftist victories. Meanwhile, many Republicans and President Donald Trump have responded by claiming there’s a new wave of socialist and communist extremism that they say is threatening the American way of life.

There’s no one agreed-upon definition of socialism, even among avowed socialists themselves. But what if the word “socialism” can actually describe some of the most popular and important institutions in the United States?

I’m a social work professor who studies how people manage their money and their well-being. From both my research and informal conversations, I’ve learned that as much as Americans like to think we are, or should try to be, independent, we actually rely on one another and the government a great deal. I call this arrangement “interdependence.”

And even in a conservative state like North Dakota, where I live, socialist, or interdependent, arrangements are seen as pillars of the community. It’s where helping each other gets a little more formal structure.

What words mean can change.

To “slay,” for example, means to kill. For younger Americans, it has come to also mean to do something impressively. The way words are perceived can change too, with connotations morphing from negative to positive.

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