Socialists Won City Elections Across the Country This Week
It’s not just Zohran Mamdani — socialist candidates won municipal elections across the US last week. Like the New York mayor-elect, many of them focused their campaigns on affordability and relied on impressive grassroots volunteer operations.
From Atlanta to Minneapolis to Upstate New York, socialists across the country won municipal elections this week. (Andrew Lichtenstein / Corbis via Getty Images)
The biggest left-wing political story of the week is democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani becoming mayor of New York City. But Mamdani’s was not the only socialist victory on Tuesday.
Just like with almost every election year that’s come before in the Trump era, this week saw a series of lesser-known wins for socialists downballot around the country as well as defeats. From the Midwest to the East Coast, socialists grew their ranks in elected office on the back of a grassroots-powered, affordability-first strategy that suggests Mamdani’s run isn’t just a potential model for future socialist campaigns — it’s already directly inspired successful disciples.
Victory and Defeat in Minneapolis
This past Tuesday saw twenty-two races where candidates endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America’s (DSA) National Election Commission (NEC) were on the ballot, eleven of whom have won their races so far. Two of those are on the Minneapolis City Council: socialist Robin Wonsley, who won reelection to her third term on the back of efforts like expanding antidiscrimination protection and banning the use of algorithms to raise rents, and Soren Stevenson, best known before this for winning a $2.4 million settlement from the city after Minneapolis police shot a “less than lethal” round at him during 2020’s George Floyd protests, costing him his eye.
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.