The socialists gaining ground in the US as Trump invokes the specter of communism

A video has been circulating on social media showing a young woman approaching Democratic Representative Diana DeGette, who was campaigning to retain the congressional seat she has held for nearly 30 years, which had seemed all but secure.

The exchange begins amicably, with the young woman telling DeGette that she appreciates her decades-long fight for women’s rights. But it grows heated when she asks why the congresswoman supports sending weapons to Israel to carry out what she calls a “genocide.” It ends badly when the veteran politician loses her temper and chases after the woman, telling her not to vote for her if Palestine is the only issue she cares about.

In last Tuesday’s primary election, DeGette was unexpectedly defeated. The winner was Melat Kiros, a little-known 29-year-old born in Ethiopia. And a socialist.

By winning in a solidly Democratic district, Kiros has effectively secured a seat in the House of Representatives that will emerge from the November 3 midterm elections. That means one more seat for the socialists, who already appear almost certain to hold six. They may even pick up another.

Meanwhile, Republicans are rubbing their hands with glee, convinced they have found a new campaign slogan: “The communists are coming.”

U.S. President Donald Trump has spent days invoking the specter of communism. He did so again this weekend in two major speeches marking the United States’ 250th anniversary. In Saturday’s address, he spoke of the “cancer” looming over the country — “communism is a loser, and it always will be.” The day before, at Mount Rushmore, he had described communism as the opposite of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness — the principles enshrined in the Declaration of Independence drafted by Thomas Jefferson in 1776. “It’s death, tyranny and the pursuit of evil.”

Recently, he has also claimed that communism is the greatest threat the country has faced since its founding, “including World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbor or even 9/11.” He said “godless communists” will attack all religions, particularly Christianity.

Seated with an iced coffee in a Brooklyn café, Gustavo Gordillo looks just like another one of the legions of young New Yorkers who come there to work on their laptops during one of the hottest summers the city can remember. Having come to the United States from Peru with his family as a child, Gordillo is one of the architects behind Zohran Mamdani’s equally surprising rise to the New York mayoralty.

He serves as co-chair of the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), an organization that has gone from being a political curiosity to boasting more than 100,000 members. Its ranks include influential and charismatic figures such as Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — better known as AOC — and Mamdani himself.

The AOC option

“We were always accused of not knowing how to govern. But in these six months, Zohran has proven otherwise. He is a huge example for us,” Gordillo says.

Gordillo says that his party has set itself the goal of putting forward one of its own candidates in the 2028 presidential election. Since Mamdani is ineligible to run because he was born outside the United States, the remaining option seems obvious: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

“The fact that she is considering it adds weight to her progressive wing. There will be people willing to offer her things so she won’t run. I think it’s a possibility that alarms party leaders,” says Ted Hamm, author of the Mamdani biography Run Zohran Run! and its sequel Meet Mayor Mamdani.

Although the Democratic Socialists of America is an independent organization, it does not field its own candidates in elections. Aware of the constraints imposed by the two-party system, it limits itself to supporting like-minded candidates in Democratic primaries. And it is clear that its growing influence is generating considerable unease among figures from the party establishment associated with former vice president Kamala Harris.

It was 10 years ago that people first began seriously talking about socialists in the United States. Senator Bernie Sanders’s challenge to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primaries showed that it was not far-fetched to believe that someone from the fringes could reach the White House.

Gordillo acknowledges that Trump’s subsequent victory reinforced that notion: “It served as a wake-up call. When he won, I thought there could be a base for a more radical ideology. After all, it had already happened on the right.”

Now, a decade after the Sanders experiment, socialists keep winning primaries. It happened in Denver. Shortly before in New York, where all three candidates backed by Mamdani won by landslides, two of them socialists. It has also happened in the race for Washington, D.C.’s city government, where Janeese Lewis George has secured the job. And in Los Angeles, where a progressive backed by socialists will face incumbent Democratic Mayor Karen Bass in a runoff.

Each case has its own local nuances, but they all share two common themes: the search for solutions to the cost-of-living crisis and criticism of their governments’ unwavering support for Israel — first under Democratic administrations and now under Republican ones.

Conservative media outlets have repeatedly highlighted figures such as Darializa Avila Chevalier, one of the victorious candidates backed by Mamdani, who has since walked back some of her past criticisms of Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and the police, saying they were “divisive” and no longer reflect her current views.

The question many are asking is what impact this socialist surge could have on the November elections. Will it help Democrats attract young voters and disaffected nonvoters excited by left-wing candidates? Or, conversely, will it prompt moderates to stay home or even vote Republican?

David Karol, a political scientist at the University of Maryland, thinks neither outcome is likely. “I don’t expect there to be a big difference from these results. The Denver district was a very safe Democratic seat; it doesn’t matter who runs, and the same is true for those in New York. Republicans will try to capitalize. But I don’t think the campaign will revolve around this issue. Midterm elections almost always go against the incumbent’s party,” he says in a phone interview.

In a sign of the times, Axios recently reported that Harris, the Democrats’ 2024 presidential nominee, called Mamdani — a move widely seen as an initial contact ahead of a possible 2028 presidential run.

Hans Noel, a political scientist at Georgetown University, says it is too early to conclude that New York’s mayor has become a so-called kingmaker: someone whose endorsement can propel virtually any candidate to victory. “He has had successes in progressive districts, but that is not the same as having influence over the party as a whole,” says Noel.

That is true. But it is also true that Mamdani has emerged stronger from the risky political gamble of backing socialist candidates — and that he will want to wield his growing influence.

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