We’ll Have a Socialist New York City Mayor — But Not This Year
This year’s race for New York City mayor is off to a disappointing start as Andrew Yang hoovers up media attention while the Left lacks any unifying favorite in the race. But NYC socialists are honing their electoral skills and deepening their bench of candidates for the long haul.
New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Yang speaks to the media in Times Square on March 17. (David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)
As the race to replace Bill de Blasio as New York City mayor heats up, the broad left wing of the Democratic Party has never been stronger. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman are in Congress. The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) has two members in the state senate and four in the state assembly.
Many Democrats in the state legislature not formally in DSA still support various policy goals of democratic socialists. In the most recent state budget, a scandal-scarred Andrew Cuomo was forced to make major concessions to the Left, including raising taxes on the ultrarich, restoring cuts to public hospitals and public schools, and setting up a multibillion-dollar fund to aid undocumented immigrants who couldn’t access unemployment benefits and stimulus checks.
Yet the Democratic primary for mayor, if public polling is any indication, is being led by two Democrats who are decidedly not of this ascendant left: Andrew Yang and Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president.
This article is for subscribers only. Please login or subscribe to access our full archives and beautiful print and digital magazine starting at just $3 a month.