Democratic socialists win a record number of US mayoralties

DSA congressional ranks quadruple to eight come January

A record number of democratic socialists will take office as US mayors after last week’s elections, according to The Guardian, with members of the Democratic Socialists of America winning mayoral races in Los Angeles, Washington DC, Providence and Ann Arbor. DSA members Nithya Raman and Janeese Lewis George were elected to lead Los Angeles, the second-largest US city, and Washington, the nation’s capital. Two other DSA members, David Morales and Yousef Rabhi, were elected mayors of Providence, Rhode Island, and Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The incoming mayors will join a handful of socialists already governing smaller cities, including Burlington, Vermont, and Irvine, California, as well as Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist mayor of New York, the largest US city. The Guardian reported that a historic number of socialists swept into power across Congress, state legislatures and city halls in last week’s progressive wins.

Mamdani, who grew up politically within New York City’s DSA chapter and has become the group’s best-known representative, was considered a long-shot candidate before his rapid rise and is now one of the most popular politicians in the country, according to The Guardian. His election is widely credited with inspiring the historic numbers of democratic socialists who surged into office across the country and up and down the ballot.

Come January, the number of DSA members in Congress will have quadrupled to eight, and more than 100 DSA-endorsed candidates will sit in local, state and national office.

DSA mayors hold authority over the more prosaic elements of governance, from garbage pickup to snow days, and the offices present what The Guardian described as a unique opportunity to prove to the public that the group’s ideals of affordability and inclusivity can improve the lives of working people, the central tenet of DSA’s vision. “It’s the executive office, so the stakes are actually higher there,” said Eric Blanc, an assistant professor of labor studies at Rutgers University and a DSA member.

Mamdani struck a similar theme when he addressed a gathering of mayors from around the world on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly earlier this fall. “If politics cannot deliver on the block where you live, why would you trust it to deliver anywhere?” he told the gathering, according to The Guardian. “If you are making a New Yorker’s life a little smoother, so too you are making their journey to believe in government’s ability to deliver for them.” The New York Times, which covered the gathering, reported that Mamdani made the remarks to explain his fixation with potholes; his office says he has repaired more than 200,000 since taking office.

Like Mamdani, the incoming DSA mayors ran campaigns focused on affordability and practical improvements to people’s lives. Raman, an urban planner, has promised more housing and public transit improvements. Lewis George has campaigned on universal childcare, public housing and better protections for tenants. Morales has pitched affordable housing and called for corporations to contribute a larger share toward public education and city services. Rabhi has pledged to fight data centers and keep utilities affordable.

In New York, Mamdani has focused on delivering campaign promises such as a rent freeze, universal childcare and taxing the rich, the Guardian reported, while his critics have generally focused on debates with little to do with municipal government.

Blanc said Mamdani had “already demonstrated proof of concept, contrary to all of the predictions of imminent collapse” of the city. “He has already demonstrated what democratic socialist governance can look like,” he said. “If others can follow this model, which is to take big fights against the rich and powerful, be out there proving to people that you can make their lives better, I think that is going to be what will help avoid some of the real difficulties of governing,” he added.

Katie Wilson, the mayor of Seattle and a self-identified democratic socialist who is not a DSA member, agreed. She called the mayor’s job “the best in the world” and noted that the office requires a mix of “the high and the low”. “There’s big vision and ambitions and values, and then on the other hand a lot of the job is the real nitty-gritty of keeping the lights on,” she said. “It’s really important as socialists and progressives coming into office that we’re able to get those nitty-gritty details right, do the basics well.”

Progressives have increasingly called on Democrats to “deliver” after last week’s wins, which The Guardian characterized as a landslide, and mayors will be the first required to show results. Wilson said the new executives should deliver on what is within their reach and maintain close working relationships with the grassroots organizers who helped elect them. “What people are affirming in voting for progressives and socialists in this moment, is that we believe in the power of government to improve people’s lives,” she said. Even where delivery falls beyond municipal authority, a mayor should show people “that you’re fighting for them,” she added.

Wilson framed the task in longer terms: “You’re not going to build socialism in one city ultimately, but how do you embody those values, and that vision, and take real, tangible steps toward socialistic policies, in a way that improves the daily lives of the residents of your city?”