Don’t take it from me. Take it from Fox News. Socialists are winning everywhere! This week, three Congressional candidates backed by democratic socialist New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani won “stunning” victories in their primary elections. It is even being called the “Mamdani tsunami.” The successes of Claire Valdez, Darializa Avila Chevalier, and Brad Lander confirmed that Mamdani’s own election was not a fluke for the city’s left, in what even the Bezos Post acknowledged was “a signal of strength for Mamdani’s political brand and the democratic socialist movement that powered his rise to City Hall.”

The elections also showed the limits of the power of pro-Israel lobbying groups in Democratic politics. In recent years, critics of Israel like Jamaal Bowman, Andy Levin, and Cori Bush have successfully been ousted from Congress after massive spending by AIPAC and affiliated groups. But Valdez, Chevalier, and Lander were all serious critics of the Gaza genocide. Lander ran on the promise to be “one of the Jewish members of Congress most willing to stand up for Palestinian human rights.” Lander’s opponent, Dan Goldman, rejected the consensus of human rights groups that Israel has carried out genocide. He lost by 30 points. Valdez won by over 20.

The results were not a foregone conclusion. The New York Times warned that Mamdani was alienating powerful allies by endorsing a slate of upstart challengers. Valdez was running against a candidate who had been hand-picked as a successor by the congresswoman vacating the seat, while Chevalier was running against Adriano Espaillat, the powerful chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Chevalier, a 32-year-old graduate student with a history of uncompromising social media posts (including “Fuck Kamala Harris,” which made its way onto a pretty cool opposition flyer), was considered a long shot. But she, too, made it through, and now one of the leaders of Columbia’s pro-Palestine demonstrations is almost certain to become a member of the U.S. Congress.

This is an important moment, and not just because it establishes Mamdani himself as a “kingmaker” who can get his chosen candidates into office. (“The Mamdani name was magic across the city,” the Times concluded.) It also demonstrates, as the Guardian’s analysis says, “some wider trends in US politics: socialism is no longer a dirty word, criticism of Israel is no longer taboo, and dissatisfaction with Democratic leaders in the Donald Trump era runs deep. Voters are thirsty for energy, fight and fresh ideas.” Speaking on CNN, Van Jones said “the roof is collapsing on the Democratic Party establishment tonight,” and “this is a new era in Democratic Party politics.”

I feel like I’ve been waiting for this moment for ten years. Back in 2016, it was frustratingly obvious that Sanders-style leftism, which centered the material needs of working people, was the best way to fight back against the Trumpian right. But Sanders could not defeat the party establishment in 2016 or 2020, and during the Biden years, DSA membership declined. Mamdani’s victory was an exciting moment, and he’s showing how democratic socialist politicians can both win and govern effectively. But I’m almost more excited by the congressional victories, because they show that the movement is growing beyond Mamdani, albeit with his help.

There is a predictable freakout on the right, of course, which is encouraging. Stephen Miller says the Democratic Party is embracing a “violent ideology that wants to tear America down and destroy everything that we know and love, from top to bottom.” (Uh, Stephen, they want free childcare and affordable rent. Chevalier’s victory speech, for instance, said: “I see a New York that we can all afford. I see a New York that truly invests in babies, not bombs.” So violent!) House Speaker Mike Johnson warned: "There are MINI MAMDANIs popping up all around the country. It is a dangerous thing — this is NOT a joke. We are in a fight RIGHT NOW to save the Republic and EVERY AMERICAN needs to take this seriously." Disgrace to Pennsylvania John Fetterman has called these “the dancing days of the dirtbag left,” and it's certainly true that DSA has much to dance about today. The New York Post, admitting that “the Zo-mentum is real” called them the “hateful slate”:

But it almost feels like their heart isn’t in this. Donald Trump himself is perceptive enough to understand that Mamdani has genuine appeal, and he’s even praised him at some points. Reihan Salam, the president of the Manhattan Institute, has said that the DSA is a “fascinating organization. You’re seeing an actual political party. There’s a universe of door knockers… the Mamdani campaign, so much of it was people coming together and making friends.” The usual conservative attack on DSA, that it is full of hate and violence, simply rings false when you go to any of their actual events. It becomes clear immediately to any observer with their eyes open that this is about making people’s lives better: giving them more affordable housing, addressing the climate catastrophe, ending US support for Israel’s crimes against humanity, stopping wage theft, providing free pre-K education. It’s always funny to me when Fox News tries to expose the Radical Agenda of democratic socialists and ends up putting a bunch of extremely popular and compelling policies on the screen:

It’s not just in New York, either. Seattle is now governed by a socialist mayor, Katie Wilson. Democratic socialist Janeese Lewis George just won the Democratic primary to become mayor of the nation’s capital. “D.C.’s socialist era is coming,” Axios reports. Los Angeles might be next. And Chris Rabb is heading to Congress.

One thing that’s exciting about this new, diverse, young generation of socialist candidates is that they are highly savvy about politics. They’ve learned a lot from studying historical examples like the “sewer socialists” or Bernie Sanders’ tenure as mayor of Vermont. When I briefly spoke with Mamdani last October, I reminded him that in our first conversation he had vowed he would win the election. Now, I asked, would he similarly vow not to disappoint everyone who had put their faith in him? “It doesn’t mean anything if you don’t deliver,” he replied. My impression is that today’s socialists know that if you don’t deliver, your victories won’t last long. The New York Post and Fox News are ready to pounce. If socialist-governed cities see spikes in violence, if the trash isn’t picked up or the snow isn’t being plowed, they will instantly cite it as proof that socialism doesn’t work.

There is little room for error here. Socialists in power must be hyper-competent, so that voters can immediately see a clear contrast between the feckless Democratic establishment, which does not care about them, and the movement that prioritizes their most urgent needs and embodies their aspirations for a livable country. These candidates get that. They know that winning elections is actually the easy part, even though it is very hard. The most difficult work comes after, when you have to demonstrate that socialism is not a bunch of impossible “pie in the sky” promises, but a set of workable ideas that will achieve results. We are facing a once-in-a-generation opportunity to test our politics in practice. At last, the left has a real shot at taking power in places around the country. It is an exciting, unprecedented, and uncertain moment. Hopefully this new generation of socialists is up for the challenge. But the signs, so far, are encouraging.