Democratic Socialists Are Winning Big. Now They Want Action.

The New York Times ^ | July 26, 2026 | Emma Goldberg and Sally Goldenberg

[MinorityRepublican]

On a sticky evening in July, leaders of the surging democratic socialist movement in New York City jumped onto Zoom to begin crafting the next phase of their campaign.

Democratic socialist candidates had just toppled five incumbents, capturing two House primaries in the city and a handful more in state legislative races. But with an off-cycle election year ahead, leaders in the city’s chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America were shifting their focus from winning votes to changing policy.

The group’s next order of business, its members agreed in the nearly hourlong Zoom, is to pressure Gov. Kathy Hochul, a centrist Democrat, to raise income taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers when the state Legislature convenes in Albany in January.

The group had failed to persuade Ms. Hochul to do so earlier this year, settling instead for a much more limited tax on multimillion-dollar second homes in New York City. But with its influence on the rise, the group believes that a broader tax-the-rich campaign may succeed next year, despite Ms. Hochul’s continued resistance.

“We brought the fight to Hochul to tax the rich last session when we had only nine socialists in the State Legislature,” Gustavo Gordillo, the co-leader of New York City’s D.S.A. chapter, said in an interview. “This cycle, our forces will be almost doubled, and there’s a whole new crew of progressive legislators who are going to demand what New Yorkers want, which is for Hochul to tax the rich.”

Since Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral primary win last year, the New York City D.S.A. chapter, active since the 1980s, said it has added more than 7,000 members. Its current membership of roughly 15,000 is spread across the city, often concentrated in gentrified pockets of Brooklyn and Queens (the so-called Commie Corridor), along with Upper Manhattan.

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TOPICS: Politics
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[july4thfreedomfoundation]

Didn’t the DSA commie in Arizona lose by 30 points last Tuesday?

[bigbob]

Maybe socialism will take America so fa down that people will wake up and start taking elections seriously and get off their asses and vote for MAGA candidates in every election.

[allendale]

At the core of this latest incarnation of socialism is chaos and poverty. It is not sustainable. Socialism collapses wherever it is implemented. China has been transformed from socialism into a fascist like state. Very capitalist to generate wealth, but tightly controlled by elites calling themselves “communists”. One grave mistake from political collapse.

[Kriggerel]

If the DSA keeps gaining traction, how long until “Anti-Zionist” pogroms start in earnest, I wonder?

[muir_redwoods]

Here’s a thought to entertain. The various little European nations that trotted out socialism after WWII made a pretty good go at it at first largely because Uncle Sugar was picking up the tab for defense. Once the debt and tax rate began to be unsupportable those nations encouraged more and more capitalism in order to have something to pay the bills.

Socialism in the US will fail because there is no Uncle Sugar to pick up the bills for us. The devastation that will go one during the slow crash will be painful.

[Danie_2023]

“”The devastation that will go one during the slow crash will be painful.””

***

It has already been “painful” every time the damn leftist Democrats have been in power. Remember the era of gas lines with Carter? The eight years of stagflation with Obama? And the open borders disaster of OBiden? The only reason the economy was not destroyed during the Clintonista era is because the GOP managed to get control of Congress in 1994 making Bubba a lame duck president, essentially.

The “pain” of Democrat control over the nation has already been well established. And that “pain” is still glaringly apparent in blue states like California, Washington and Massachusetts... as it is in Democrat run and ruined cities with high crime like New York, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Chicago and Atlanta.

How ANYONE could vote for these cretins, the Democrats, considering their well-documented and consistent history of failure and destruction, deliberate or otherwise, is beyond my ability to comprehend. It just makes no sense at all other than the election fraud factor where enemies of America are allowed to vote ‘against’ the interests of legal and patriotic Americans.

[bigfootbob]

You do recall the old saying right? You can vote your way into socialism but you have to shoot your way out.

[bigfootbob]

You’re seeing exactly that now in New York and Seattle/Washington State.

[x]

The last time “democratic socialism” was in the news back in the 70s, there was much talk about the “Yugoslav model.” That did not end up well for “Yugoslavia.”

[Hildy]

There were a few, and I believe they all lost.

[Williams]

This results from low involvement and low voter turnout so activists can take over.

But the mask is beginning to come off the communist hell the media has been pushing all along.

[Brian Griffin]

I was thinking that a constitutional amendment that would require members of legislatures and federal judges to have had parents who only possessed US citizenship might be possible.

[rktman]

15% have a clue what’s going on. The rest....funny kitten tiktoks.

“Being a US citizen doesn’t make you an American!” Rktman 2026

[meyer]

I think people are already voting that way. But the powers that be and hold sway over elections are producing votes in the opposite direction.

It’s not who votes that counts; it’s who counts the votes.

[Brian Griffin]

Perhaps the primary system should be done away with for federal offices and ranked choice voting used.

I haven’t thought that out, but you can.

[Brian Griffin]

“Since Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral primary win last year, the New York City D.S.A. chapter, active since the 1980s, said it has added more than 7,000 members. Its current membership of roughly 15,000 is spread across the city, often concentrated in gentrified pockets of Brooklyn and Queens (the so-called Commie Corridor), along with Upper Manhattan.”

**********************************************

“At 40 percent of the AMI, there is one studio with a monthly rent of $978 for incomes ranging from $38,400 to $51,840, and eight one-bedrooms with a monthly rent of $1,040 for incomes ranging from $41,280 to $58,320.

“At 60 percent of the AMI, there is one studio with a monthly rent of $1,521 for incomes ranging from $57,018 to $77,760; two one-bedrooms with a monthly rent of $1,622 for incomes ranging from $61,235 to $87,480; and six two-bedrooms with a monthly rent of $1,930 for incomes ranging from $73,715 to $105,000.

“At 130 percent of the AMI, there is one studio with a monthly rent of $3,423 for incomes ranging from $122,229 to $168,480; one one-bedroom with a monthly rent of $3,661 for incomes ranging from $131,143 to $189,540; and three two-bedrooms with a monthly rent of $4,376 for incomes ranging from $157,578 to $227,500.

https://newyorkyimby.com/2025/09/housing-lottery-launches-for-the-carroll-at-33-4th-street-in-carroll-gardens-brooklyn.html

The new neighbors quite possibly would be paying $3,336 less for rent than the type of folks that most vigorously voted in the Democratic Socialists.

The type of folks that most vigorously voted in the Democratic Socialists need to vote more carefully and they should probably do so with their feet as the other end of their bodies isn’t working right.

[bankwalker]

not ranked choice ... runoffs are what is needed ...

[PGR88]

New York State needs to be broken up into two or three pieces

Its circling the toilet.

[cableguymn]

Ya it will

It’ll be to late to vote yourself out of it and they will have tried to take all our weapons away

But it will eventually