Socialism is a contagious disease, and Zohran Mamdani's victory in the New York City mayoral primary is just the beginning. The politicians of Los Angeles are now buzzing with excitement over the prospect of passing socialist and increasingly progressive policies, according to the LA Times.
The LA City Council's most progressive members, backed by the organization Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), were by far the most delighted.
Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez called it the “biggest victory for a socialist candidate probably in America.”
Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez said Angelenos should take note.
“What it shows is that we can win. We can win in major cities,” she said.
Councilmember Ysabel Jurado was bursting with excitement about the results from a city 3,000 miles away.
“Having a DSA-backed mayor is freaking amazing,” she said about the prospect of Mamdani, who was backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, winning the general election in November.
These sitting members of the LA City Council are largely responsible for far more progressive policies in recent years, including a $30 minimum wage for workers in the LA tourism industry, and a budget resolution that slowed the hiring of police officers. Funnily enough, LA Mayor Karen Bass is beginning work to hire more officers to make the city safer.
While the LA mayoral race is still a year away, the co-chair of LA-DSA, Marc Krause, has said that they do not plan on running a DSA-backed mayoral candidate. Rather, their goal is to win a majority on the LA council. Krause discussed hopes to elect 8 DSA-backed city council members and build progressive-friendly coalitions within the council. The Democratic Socialists of America do not find even a city like LA progressive enough, citing rent stabilization measures, increased wages for city workers, and upgraded transit infrastructure among DSA-LA’s top legislative priorities.
Mamdani himself called his victory only the beginning of a greater movement. Americans are, by and large, unhappy with the status quo, and progressives are capitalizing on it. Radically.
Mamdani's victory has been a nationwide event, a call to socialists across the country that their policies are not only politically viable, but popular. DSA-LA says they gained 50 new members overnight following Momdani's victory, and that was only in LA. How many joined nationwide? How popular is socialism nationwide? How long until socialist policy is the new status quo? More victories by DSA-backed candidates could very well lead to a socialist candidate in the 2028 Presidential election, a risk Americans should be unwilling to take.
Conservatives should heed this warning from Mamdani's victory and plan to fight back.
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