Socialist firebrands Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are bringing energy to the Democratic Party in 2025 – and tugging the party further left.
The party is moving dangerously close to an agenda that is both radical and outlandish.
The clearest evidence yet is the victory by socialist Zohran Mamdani, a 33- year-old state Assemblyman, in the June 24 Democratic primary for New York City mayor. With endorsements from Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez, Mamdani defeated 67-year-old scandal-tarnished former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Minnesota progressives wanted to send Mamdani some socialist backup. At the July 19 Minneapolis Democratic (DFL) Party convention, delegates snubbed two-term Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey who is up for re-election to endorse socialist Omar Fateh, a 35-year-old state Senator.
Both Mamdani and Fateh were endorsed by and are proud members of the far-left Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).
The DSA’s official platform is revealing.
It seeks to “defund the police” by cutting “budgets annually towards zero,” to “disarm law enforcement officers,” to “close local jails,” and to “free all people from involuntary confinement.”
It calls for “social ownership of all major industry and infrastructure” and “the nationalization of businesses like railroads, utilities and critical manufacturing and technology companies” as well as “institutions of monetary policy, insurance, real estate, and finance.”
There’s more. The DSA would “dramatically slash US military spending,” “close all US foreign military bases,” and “immediately withdraw from NATO.” It would “end all deportations,” “demilitarize the border and end all immigration detention and abolish ICE.”
It would allow noncitizens to vote and “abolish the Senate.”
Buoyed by the Mamdani and Fateh successes, the DSA is planning a slew of challenges against incumbent House Democrats in 2026, including Nevada’s Rep. Dina Titus.
Mamdani was born in Uganda into an Indian family. His father, Mahmood Mamdani, is a professor at Columbia University and left-wing intellectual. His mother, Mira Nair, is a
filmmaker. They immigrated to South Africa in 1996 and then to New York City in 1998. Both parents have long histories of hostility toward Israel.
Mamdani acknowledges having a “privileged upbringing.”
A Shiite Muslim, Mamdani attended Bowdoin College with a degree in Africana studies.
Mamdani joined the DSA in 2017. In 2020, he was endorsed by the DSA for state Assembly, defeating a four-term incumbent Democrat.
In 2020, he approvingly quoted Karl Marx. In 2021, he identified his “end goal” as “seizing the means of production.”
His mayoral platform calls for free city buses and a rent freeze. He wants city government to operate five grocery stores and to provide universal childcare.
He’s called for defunding the police, a $30 minimum wage, and an additional 2% income tax on New Yorkers making over $1 million a year.
Mamdani is an unrelenting critic of Israel, whose right to exist he denies. If mayor, he promises to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu when he visits New York City.
Fateh, son of Somali immigrants, was born in Washington, D.C. and only relocated from Northern Virginia—where he once ran for school board, winning 2% of the vote—to Minneapolis because relatives told him it was “fertile ground for politicians,” given its large Somali population.
Once there, activist Fateh immediately began running for office, losing a local race in 2018 and with DSA endorsement defeating a state Senate incumbent Democrat in 2020. He became Minnesota’s first Somali-American and first Muslim state Senator.
Fateh promises to raise the minimum wage to $20, lobby for a city income tax, pass a moratorium on new charter schools and impose rent control. He supported the failed 2021 city ballot initiative to abolish the Minneapolis Police Department.
Democratic leaders seem unable or unwilling to combat the far-left fringe. In the aftermath of 2024, Democrats need to understand they lost power because they were too liberal, not because they weren’t liberal enough.
