New York City mayoral primary boosts hopes of Minneapolis democratic socialists

A group of democratic socialists gathered in a corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Park in south Minneapolis on Tuesday with glossies for their preferred mayoral, City Council and Park Board candidates stacked on a picnic table.

As they readied themselves for a rush-hour door-knocking session in the city’s Eighth Ward, the stunning victory of a democratic socialist more than a thousand miles away was top of mind.

Hours earlier in New York City’s mayoral Democratic primary, state legislator Zohran Mamdani, who promised to tax the rich and has been a vocal critic of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, beat former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Despite reputational damage from a sexual harassment scandal, Cuomo had the support of the largest-ever super PAC in a city election.

The takeaway for the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) activists gathered in Minneapolis was that ”organized people beat organized money," said Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board candidate Michael Wilson, who launched his campaign following the first labor strike in the 140-year history of Minneapolis’ park and recreation agency last summer.

“A lot of us are really excited about Zohran,” DSA-endorsed City Council candidate Soren Stevenson said to the volunteers. “He was laser-focused on how New York is unaffordable, and that’s wrong. New York wasn’t always unaffordable, and Minneapolis wasn’t always expensive. And so we have a vision of a city where everyone belongs and where there’s room for everybody.”

Political scientists are also studying what happened in New York City, and advising caution in extrapolating lessons for the Twin Cities.

“New York’s distinctive in terms of the dynamics of the city itself and the election,” said Andrew Karch, chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Minnesota. “But I do think it might be reflective of dissatisfaction with the current leadership of the Democratic Party. ... Some of it is a conflict over substance, some of it is a conflict over style, some of it is generational.”

The Twin Cities DSA, with its 1,500 members, is one of several growing chapters of America’s largest socialist organization. Additional chapters are established in Duluth, St. Cloud and Brainerd Lakes, and an organizing committee has sprung up in Rochester.

It’s not a recognized Minnesota political party, but has endorsed an expanding list of Minneapolis and St. Paul politicians who ascribe to its principles of grassroots organizing “for socialism, against capitalism, racism and all other forms of oppression,” said chapter co-chair Brooke Bartholomew.

Its Twin Cities DSA agenda includes supporting local labor unions, regulating landlords, redeveloping a disputed warehouse in the East Phillips neighborhood into an urban farm, closing the garbage incinerator in north Minneapolis and converting a section of I-94 into a greener, lower-speed thoroughfare.

In Minneapolis, the DSA has endorsed mayoral candidate Omar Fateh, who advocated for a minimum wage for Lyft and Uber drivers as a state senator and — like Mamdani — has been outspoken against Israel’s actions in Gaza.

Four candidates for the 13-seat Minneapolis City Council are DSA-endorsed this year, including three seeking re-election in November. DSA-backed council members form the backbone of a progressive majority that has often clashed with Mayor Jacob Frey.

In St. Paul, DSA-backed candidate Cole Hanson is competing in a special election in the Fourth Ward, the city’s only contested race at this point. Two out of seven current St. Paul council members are DSA-endorsed.

While it’s not yet clear what effect the New York City primary has had on Twin Cities DSA membership, the national organization enrolled 2,393 new members this week, comparable to 2,613 new members who joined the week Trump was re-elected in 2024.

National DSA spokesperson Priscilla Yeverino said the organization’s numbers tend to grow “during both great wins and moments of struggle.”

“What has been missing within the Democratic Party, especially the last several cycles, has been a message around addressing the basic needs of residents ... and I think that’s one of the reasons we’ve been seeing such hard swings to the right,” said Fateh, noting that President Donald Trump talks about many of the same populist ideas as Mamdani. “People tend to vote and support ideas that they believe will address issues that affect their everyday lives.”

Minneapolis’ Second Ward had a Green Party council member for 16 years before electing DSA member Robin Wonsley. University of Minnesota student Joe Kyle, a former Fateh intern, said he believes there’s more appetite for progressive candidates in student quarters because young Americans have become frustrated with the options available through the existing political structure.

Young people flocked to the 2016 presidential campaign of Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders — the nation’s most prominent democratic socialist — and its spiritual successors, including Mamdani’s mayoral bid, he said.

Kyle had been cautiously optimistic about Mamdani’s chances, but was pleasantly surprised to see him win the primary.

“I would like to think that that’s what DSA candidates are promising to voters, this idea of we’re going to improve quality of life, we’re going to make cost of living go down, and you’re going to see that in meaningful and directly observable ways in your life,” he said. “There’s absolutely the potential for a very well-run, very well-organized left-wing campaign, running on left-wing policies, to win these races, including when you’re up against a lot of money and very powerful interests.”

Howard Lavine, a political psychologist at the University of Minnesota who has lectured on populism, is skeptical about whether it’s the economic message of any populist candidate that manages to inspire voters who otherwise might not participate.

Rather, it’s what politicians telegraph about their cultural values that appeals to voters emotionally, he said — including the ideas of transgender rights and support for Palestinians that resonate with young, college-educated voters.

“That’s what Mamdani did, among other things, and this is how he brought out disengaged voters, and that’s exactly what Donald Trump did,” Lavine said. “So you have this on the right and you have it on the left, and that’s the populist aspect. And so he was bringing out people, and you don’t bring them out through economics. You bring them out through culture.”