The Democrats' Socialist Moment

Ever since Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump crashed through the gates of American politics in 2015, the professional moderates of both major political parties have twisted their ears toward the dreaded sound of oncoming hooves.

For Republicans, the stampede is an ever-present threat, awaiting irritated instruction from the Oval Office. Even in his waning final-midterm season, Trump in 2026 managed to oust in primaries two sitting United States senators, further cementing his decadelong teardown and reconstruction of the GOP.

For Democrats, the mob has been more sporadic and unpredictable, as in the bolt-out-of-the-blue 2018 New York primary defeat of House Democratic Caucus Chair Joe Crowley by the then-unknown Sanders organizer Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. AOC is one of just two sitting members of Congress to hail from the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), a fringe caucus that few paid much heed back then. No longer.

When DSA heartthrob Zohran Mamdani topped a desultory field for New York City mayor in November 2025, it was still possible to shrug off the over-the-top reaction—NYC politics gadfly and Sex and the City veteran Cynthia Nixon calling him a "miracle of nature," Jon Stewart comparing the son of a movie producer and academic to Jackie Robinson—as a localized virus in a deep-blue city with too much media on its hands. But Mamdani this spring took things national, successfully endorsing in House of Representatives primaries three challengers (two DSA and one former DSA), including one inexperienced, nonsense-spewing candidate who toppled the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. … [Subscribe to continue reading]