3:05New York City hopeful for mayor Zohran Mamdani, Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez share a moment during a “New York is Not For Sale” gathering at Forest Hills Stadium, situated in the Queens area of New York, on Oct. 26, 2025. Eduardo Munoz/Reuters
Zohran Mamdani’s triumph in the New York City mayoral race was a groundbreaking event that sparked disapproval from conservatives, as the 34-year-old became the second member of the Democratic Socialists of America to preside over the city.
Mamdani has openly championed the political cause and utilized it to promote his campaign agendas, which focus on supplying New Yorkers with aid for childcare, accommodations, and other amenities, as well as boosting levies on the richest, top 1% of inhabitants.
New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is present at a news briefing at the Unisphere in New York City, November 5, 2025.Kylie Cooper/Reuters
Ever since he garnered nationwide awareness following his unexpected primary victory in June over former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Mamdani has encountered disapproval from Republicans and even a few centrist Democrats concerning his DSA affiliations, with President Donald Trump going so far as to brand Mamdani as a "communist."
"Now we’ll observe how a communist fares in New York. We’re going to witness how that unfolds," Trump conveyed to journalists earlier in the month.
However, specialists assert that the DSA’s ideology is significantly distinct from the socialism that was evident in the Soviet Union or Cuba, and they actually argue that it endeavors to expand upon America’s Democratic tenets.
"Communists aspire to abolish capitalism entirely. They oppose any private business. They disapprove of any private means of production. And they envision an entire world administered by individuals of that nature," Michael Kazin, a history professor at Georgetown University, informed ABC News. "Democratic socialists are prepared to be voted out of office. They operate under the belief that once a democratic socialist society is in place, people will embrace it, but if they choose to discontinue it, they possess the option to revert to a more capitalist society."
The DC sections of Democratic Socialists of America and Party for Socialism and Liberation coordinate a demonstration for International Workers Day at Freedom Plaza, located in Washington, D.C., May 1, 2025.Allison Bailey/NurPhoto via AP, FILE
Kazin and others indicated that Mamdani’s triumph has arisen from a mounting discontent among Americans who have endured financial hardship, resulting in increased endorsement of DSA principles. They proposed that the mayor-elect’s tenure could revolutionize the political sphere.
While socialism has been a worldwide political movement for centuries, Democratic socialism commenced its emergence in the early 20th century as a response to the violent Bolshevik revolution in Russia, according to Carlo Invernizzi Accetti, a professor of political science at the City University of New York.
In this archival photo from Nov. 4, 2020, AJ Acosta and Will Shattuc converse behind the East Bay Democratic Socialists of America stand during the Defend Our Democracy: Count Every Vote gathering hosted at Frank Ogawa Plaza in Oakland, Calif.Gabrielle Lurie/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images, FILE
Invernizzi Accetti articulated that Democratic socialism "represents a bid to instigate a separation within the left-wing movement against the experiences of Soviet-style communism, and to conceive a distinct manner of practicing socialism that doesn’t invariably entail authoritarianism."
"In America, socialism invariably had to function within a democratic framework, commencing at the dawn of the 20th century," he expressed. "A substantial labor union movement is present, culminating in a fairly sizable Socialist Party that, notably, conducts a presidential campaign behind Eugene Debs in 1912, garnering 6% and 1 million votes."
Kazin remarked that across the decades, Democratic socialism acquired momentum among the populace, and numerous public servants ran and triumphed while upholding its principles. Certain historians suggest that President Franklyn D. Roosevelt’s New Deal was rooted in Democratic socialist ideals, despite the president never self-identifying as a socialist.
David Dinkins, the Mayor of New York City and a Democrat, was a DSA participant.
Affairs genuinely escalated following the Great Recession in the late 2000s, according to Kazin.
"Numerous individuals, particularly the youth, discerned that capitalism was faltering, or rather, failing them. It was during this period that discussions about socialism commenced," he conveyed.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential bid similarly bolstered the DSA’s popularity as he advocated for taxing higher earners to benefit lower-income Americans, as per Kazin.
"That epoch unveiled that socialism wasn’t merely a fringe concept, that an individual who could nearly secure the nomination of a prominent political faction identified as a socialist," Kazin stated.
New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez share a moment on stage during a “New York is Not For Sale” event at Forest Hills Stadium, situated in the Queens section of New York, on Oct. 26, 2025.Eduardo Munoz/Reuters
Mamdani has acknowledged Sanders as one of his motivators, and the senator has advocated and endorsed the mayor-elect’s strategies.
Invernizzi Accetti indicated that Mamdani formulated his campaign and policies as a contrasting option to the neo-liberalism that held sway over the Democratic Party from the 80s to the 2000s. Their fundamental principle was "that the market represents the optimal means of establishing equitable, impartial, or just outcomes for social allocation," according to Invernizzi Accetti.
"The recurrent keyword that [Mamdani] employs whenever queried about the essence of democratic socialism is the notion of dignity," Invernizzi Accetti articulated. "Our objective is to institute a system that safeguards human dignity."
The professor asserted that conservatives’ endeavors to associate Mamdani and the DSA’s concepts with communism, however, lack substantial validity.
"It epitomizes the time-honored Cold War argument: any action undertaken to aid the workers invariably culminates in communism, which signifies authoritarianism and anti-American sentiment," he explicated. "[It’s] a misconception that the core of democratic socialism fundamentally aims to distinguish itself from communism and to institute and endeavor to harmonize the values of freedom, equality, and fraternity with democracy."
Kazin conveyed that Mamdani’s mayoral term will serve as a genuine trial for the movement and could generate cascading effects across the nation.
Brandon Straka, the founder of WalkAway, delivers a speech during a demonstration opposing Democratic Socialism, specifically targeting Democratic Party mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, who identifies as a Democratic Socialist, at Union Square on July 27, 2025, in New York.Ron Adar/Sopa Images/Sipa USA via AP, FILE
"Irrespective of whether he identifies as a socialist, should he govern effectively, maintain popularity … [and] the populace perceives him as enhancing the welfare of individuals in New York City, it will empower Democratic socialists to pursue analogous endeavors in other cities and potentially other states," he expressed.
"As perpetually occurs, political and social dynamics either thrive or diminish based on the circumstances unfolding within the broader society and the global landscape. They don’t achieve success or encounter failure in isolation. Their trajectory is contingent upon a context that either favors or hinders their progression," Kazin appended.
Sourse: abcnews.go.com
