After their stunning success in helping elect Zohran Mamdani mayor of New York last fall, the city’s democratic socialists are gearing up for a string of races up and down the ballot this year. In addition to defending its incumbents at the city, state, and federal levels, the New York City chapter of Democratic Socialists of America (NYC-DSA) is fielding seven candidates for the state assembly and two for Congress in this election cycle.

David Orkin, an immigrant workers’ rights attorney and union organizer, is NYC-DSA’s challenger taking on New York State Assembly member Jenifer Rajkumar in District Thirty-Eight in Queens. Rajkumar was a close political ally of Mayor Eric Adams and has repeatedly drawn criticism from the political left, but she faced no primary challenge in either 2022 or 2024.

Jacobin sat down with Orkin to discuss his campaign, the connection between alienation and support for fascism, and what Zohran Mamdani’s election taught him.