New York continues to add to its socialist bench in the state legislature. This primary season, all six of the incumbents (four in the assembly and two in the senate) endorsed by New York City Democratic Socialists of America (NYC-DSA) kept their seats and added a new state senator, Kristen Gonzalez, in a district that included parts of Queens, Manhattan, and Brooklyn. Mid-Hudson Valley DSA also secured a victory for an assemblywoman, Sarahana Shrestha. (Neither will face a significant Republican challenger in November).

The victories are significant for the obvious reason that now, a couple more lawmakers in Albany have socialist values and priorities. By itself, that may not sound like such a big deal. Many progressive organizations endorse candidates who support good things, and those candidates sometimes win. What distinguishes NYC-DSA and other DSA chapters in the state is a commitment to a disciplined “inside-outside” strategy of formal coordination between its grassroots organizing and its elected officials.

In 2019, following a wave of progressive victories that ousted many conservative Democrats, and NYC-DSA’s first state senate victory (Julia Salazar, in North Brooklyn), the socialists joined a broad coalition of housing groups and were able to pass the biggest expansion of tenants’ rights in decades. In 2020, the organization got more socialists elected to state government (a second state senator and three assembly members, plus a fourth socialist assemblymember who worked closely with the NYC-DSA slate once in office and has since been endorsed by the group).