Why urban Democrats love socialists now

Democratic socialists are winning in New York — and in other cities. Can they win elsewhere?

Democratic socialists won big in New York’s primaries Tuesday, as two members of the Democratic Socialists of America defeated the Democratic establishment choices in congressional primaries, and several more triumphed in state legislative primaries.

The victories suggested that DSA member Zohran Mamdani’s election as mayor of New York City last year wasn’t a fluke. Democratic socialism has become a real force to be reckoned with not just in New York — but in several cities around the country.

In Washington, DC, DSA member Janeese Lewis George won a blowout victory in Democrats’ mayoral primary last week, making her all but certain to be the district’s next mayor.

In Seattle, Mayor Katie Wilson, who defeated incumbent mayor Bruce Harrell last year, is a self-identified democratic socialist. And in Los Angeles, city council member Nithya Raman, a DSA member, advanced to this November’s runoff against Mayor Karen Bass.

The DSA has also elected several members of the city councils of New York, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Chicago, Portland (Oregon), San Antonio, and more. And they’ve elected a handful of state legislators in many states — mostly from urban districts.

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But winning beyond deep-blue urban areas — in suburbs, in rural areas, and in statewide contests — is a tougher challenge.

That’s even true in New York, where on Tuesday, establishment-backed Democrats turned back left challengers easily in the state comptroller race and in the state’s most competitive GOP-held House district. (The DSA did not endorse in either race — likely in part because they thought they had little chance of winning.) Mamdani’s favorability ratings statewide are not especially impressive either, considering New York is a blue state.

So what are the main reasons the DSA has been catching on in big cities — and what do those reasons tell us about whether it might eventually catch on elsewhere, too?

A discredited establishment, an energized opposition, and a base moving left

Cities have, of course, long voted overwhelmingly for Democrats. But the rise of the democratic socialists is a more recent........

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