{"id":280723,"date":"2026-06-28T22:46:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T22:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/280723\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T22:46:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T22:46:18","slug":"democratic-socialists-set-sights-beyond-new-york-after-big-apple-romp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/280723\/","title":{"rendered":"Democratic socialists set sights beyond New York after Big Apple romp"},"content":{"rendered":"

Democratic socialists are setting their sights on Colorado, Wisconsin and beyond after\u00a0a romp of victories<\/a>\u00a0in New York added fuel to the progressive movement.<\/p>\n

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) burst into the spotlight with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s election last year and expanded its influence with a pair of wins this past week in high-profile House primaries, including one that unseated a top House Democrat.<\/p>\n

But the weeks ahead could be a key test of just how much power\u00a0the so-called Mamdani effect<\/a>\u00a0has outside of New York City, where most of the DSA base is\u00a0concentrated<\/a>, as DSA candidates compete in upcoming primaries in Colorado, Michigan, Wisconsin and Florida.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew York City, we think, is really reflecting where the whole country is going at this point, so we\u2019re very excited, and we want to keep building from it,\u201d DSA co-Chair Ashik Siddique told The Hill. \u201cIncreasingly we\u2019re showing that candidates running on strong platforms like these can win in red or purple states, in the Midwest and the South.\u201d<\/p>\n

This past week\u2019s New York primaries saw democratic socialist candidates Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier win their Democratic primaries, backed by Mamdani and the New York City chapter of the DSA. Avila Chevalier notably defeated Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), a progressive Mamdani ally and chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.<\/p>\n

The DSA, which is a nonprofit activist group and not a political party, aims to transform American politics with progressive change and a rejection of capitalist structures. It\u2019s grown from around 5,000 members nearly a decade ago to more than 100,000 members in 200 chapters across the country, organizers said.<\/p>\n

In addition to the New York wins this past week, the DSA prevailed in the Washington, D.C., mayoral primary, while a democratic socialist candidate advanced to this fall\u2019s mayoral runoff in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

But experts cautioned against overinterpreting the wins in blue enclaves like the Big Apple and the nation\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n

\u201cRaces in some of the most liberal districts in the country don\u2019t tell us very much about the strength of the left in the competitive races Democrats have to win to seize back control of Congress,\u201d analysts at the nonpartisan election handicapper the Cook Political Report wrote in an\u00a0assessment<\/a>\u00a0of the New York City progressive wins.<\/p>\n

And it hasn\u2019t been a perfect winning streak for the DSA or progressives. Maryland\u2019s state Senate President Bill Ferguson (D)\u00a0defeated\u00a0progressive<\/a> challenger Bobby LaPin, who had positioned himself as DSA-aligned. And in New York, Assemblymember Jordan Wright also\u00a0beat a DSA challenger<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In Utah, former Rep. Ben McAdams (D)\u00a0won\u00a0a Tuesday primary<\/a> for the state\u2019s new blue-dot district, besting a slate of progressive challengers, including Nate Blouin, a\u00a0candidate\u00a0backed by<\/a> Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). After his loss, Blouin\u00a0posted on social platform X<\/a>\u00a0that he had joined the DSA.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we need a lot more races and a lot more data to determine whether this is anything more than a moment in time inspired by a generational political talent like Zohran Mamdani,\u201d said Wisconsin Democratic strategist Joe Zepecki, calling the excitement over the New York wins \u201cpretty overblown\u201d as he pointed to the handful of losses elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cCapturing lightning in a bottle is pretty tough, and I\u2019m not sure that any of these folks in New York City, or anywhere else across the country, are Mamdani-level communicators and Mamdani-level charisma.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next test for the DSA<\/a> will come this upcoming week in Colorado, where 29-year-old democratic socialist Melat Kiros is\u00a0challenging\u00a068-year-old Rep. Diana DeGette (D), a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the longest-serving lawmaker from her state.<\/p>\n

Backed\u00a0by Sanders<\/a> and the DSA, Kiros is\u00a0putting up a serious fight<\/a>\u00a0in the 1st Congressional District, which has seen an influx of young, college-educated residents in recent years.<\/p>\n

In August, the Detroit DSA branch is\u00a0supporting<\/a>\u00a0Donavan McKinney, a 34-year-old state lawmaker, in his\u00a0challenge<\/a>\u00a0against Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.), who at 71 is running for a third term in the 13th Congressional District. In the neighboring Michigan 12th Congressional District, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D), a member of the progressive House \u201csquad\u201d that includes fellow DSA member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), is vying for a fifth term.<\/p>\n

And in Wisconsin, 37-year-old state lawmaker Francesca Hong is\u00a0running\u00a0in a wide-open race<\/a> to become the next governor of the Badger State, replacing retiring Gov. Tony Evers (D).\u00a0Sparse polling\u00a0has signaled<\/a> a surge of momentum for the democratic socialist ahead of the August primary.\u00a0Backed\u00a0by the Madison and Milwaukee DSA branches<\/a>, she\u00a0placed second<\/a>\u00a0behind Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez (D) in a straw poll at the state\u2019s Democratic Party convention earlier this month.<\/p>\n

If Hong can pull off a primary win for the seat that\u2019s\u00a0considered a toss-up this cycle<\/a>, it would be \u201ca huge bellwether\u201d for the democratic socialist movement and a \u201cnext-level\u201d win after success in New York, putting Hong on a path to become the country\u2019s first socialist governor, Siddique said.<\/p>\n

But other political observers argue that the success of DSA candidates comes more from voters\u2019\u00a0appetite for change,<\/a>\u00a0rather than for the DSA platform specifically \u2014 which\u00a0includes\u00a0sweeping goals<\/a> to get rid of the two-party system via proportional representation, increase the amount of House seats and have the president be elected by the popular vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very easy to see the American public is not satisfied with what it is getting from its elected representatives,\u201d Zepecki said. \u201cAnd so if somebody emerges who is able to effectively communicate the role that government can play to make \u2026 a shot at the American dream just a little bit more within reach, of course that\u2019s going to resonate.\u201d<\/p>\n

DSA-backed\u00a0Oliver Larkin is also aiming for a win this year<\/a> in red Florida, where he\u2019s up against Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D) in an August primary for the 23rd Congressional District. It\u2019s\u00a0a toss-up district<\/a>\u00a0where, if Larkin were to win, some Democrats fear Republicans would gain the upper hand for the general election.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always important to kind of keep these things in context, that, by and large, normies are still winning most of these primaries around the country,\u201d said Florida Democratic strategist Steve Schale, pointing to this week\u2019s Utah result.<\/p>\n

Schale also raised concerns that democratic socialist wins in New York and elsewhere could become a liability for fellow Democrats. He referenced\u00a0controversial, now-deleted posts<\/a>\u00a0from New York\u2019s Avila Chevalier, which a CNN report found included posts expressing support for abolishing police and borders and calling into question Israel\u2019s right to exist, among other issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, normal Democrats who are trying to beat Republicans are going to answer for that s\u2011\u2011\u2011 over and over and over again,\u201d Schale said.<\/p>\n

President Trump, who has\u00a0called\u00a0Mamdani a \u201ccommunist,\u201d<\/a> weighed in Friday,\u00a0warning\u00a0that \u201cthe Democrat Party<\/a> is in big trouble because this isn\u2019t stopping with New York\u201d in a potential preview of midterm attacks tying the left-wing candidates\u00a0to the party at large<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The DSA, though, says it\u2019s not taking anything for granted in the wake of its New York City wins while projecting optimism about growing the movement across the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore the primary day on Tuesday, I think a lot of people in New York were assuming we were behind, and that that was motivating to work even harder,\u201d Siddique said. \u201cI think this politics really resonates anywhere where we organize seriously enough to talk to enough people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tara Suter contributed.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Democratic socialists are setting their sights on Colorado, Wisconsin and beyond after\u00a0a romp of victories\u00a0in New York added…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280724,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[107700,34697,35635,61510,2495,9,11,10,82],"class_list":["post-280723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-ashik-siddique","tag-congressional-district","tag-democratic-primaries","tag-democratic-socialists","tag-dsa","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}