Democratic socialists have grand plans built on the foundation of winning multiple congressional primaries in New York City.
Tuesday’s Democratic primaries became a giddy sweep of three New York City races as former city Comptroller Brad Lander and state Assembly member Claire Valdez easily disposed of their opponents, according to the New York Post.
Darializa Avila Chevalier also narrowly defeated Rep. Adriano Espaillat. In deep-blue New York City, winning the Democratic primary is usually tantamount to winning the general election.
All ran with the strong support of far-left New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Avila Chevalier and Valdez are members of the Democratic Socialists of America.
The victories led to heady plans to put the DSA imprint on the Democratic Party and all of American politics.
“What DSA represents is a real contrast to Democrats who have run the last couple of elections on fear,” DSA national co-chair Megan Romer said, according to Politico.
“You can’t run on that. You have to offer an alternative. And it’s really important that we be involved in that conversation in 2028. It’s important that we have somebody saying sensible things,” she said.
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The DSA is asking all 250 chapters to propose candidates it should back for president in 2028.
“We’re going to be talking about millions of hours knocking doors for 2028 — so when we decide to really run somebody, people have to feel like they had a say,” Romer said.
Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York is a potential presidential candidate, but has kept her options open about seeking re-election in her safe district, challenging Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, or making a bid for the White House.
Mamdani has national visibility but could not serve as president because the Constitution does not allow people born outside of the U.S. to run for the office.
“Some people are like, let’s just run him — let’s just cause a constitutional crisis,” Romer said, adding that while to some the concept is laced with humor, she said she was “not sure everybody’s fully joking.”
“The sheer scale of what just happened in New York is historic,” Bhaskar Sunkara, former DSA vice-chair and president of The Nation, said.
“Nationally, this is a massive boon for the democratic socialist movement. The old institutional left is hollowed out — DSA has proven to be the only real mobilizational force left on the ground,” Sunkara said.
“A national map includes deep-red and rural districts where the left still has to figure out how to speak to working-class voters and compete,” Sunkara said. “Having national platforms through multiple members of Congress is a start there too.”
Leftist streamer Hasan Piker said the DSA should take its conquest one step at a time.
“The best possible thing that could happen is having a string of victories in the midterms and forcibly reshaping the way the national Democratic Party approaches some of these issues and having a much larger presence in the Democratic primary, and hopefully the presidential candidacy,” he said.
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