After a resounding defeat in the 2024 presidential election, members of the Democratic Party — from high-level strategists to registered voters — have had nearly a year to lick their wounds and regroup ahead of the next series of elections. But I fear that such reflection and reckoning among the Democratic electorate has produced the wrong conclusions.
This summer’s political news has been dominated by Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani’s stunning win in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary on an openly socialist platform fueled largely by young voters and a wide-reaching social media campaign. Yet embracing socialism and shifting even further left is not what the Democratic Party needs. Though support for socialism has grown over recent decades, particularly among younger Americans, a decisive majority of the electorate continues to view it unfavorably. I worry that through rising political stars like Mamdani, the socialist left has given Republicans exactly what they want: a dummy target they can attack to push moderate voters to the right.
Recall that when Democrat-endorsed Susan Crawford decisively won the 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court election over Republican-endorsed Brad Schimel in April, the Democratic Party often tied her opponent directly to Elon Musk, signaling that a vote for Schimel was a vote for Musk’s influence. It is too easy to imagine Republicans employing this same strategy: They will claim that a vote for any Democrat nationwide is a vote for Mamdani’s socialism, and by electing him to such a prominent role, Democrats only encourage this narrative.
The Democratic Socialists of America also passed a series of resolutions last month that prohibit members from supporting law enforcement agencies and advocate for the abolition of criminal penalties for misdemeanors. While it’s still unclear how closely Mamdani intends to follow these resolutions, these positions can hardly be considered a stable foundation for a winning national platform when a plurality of Americans worry a “great deal” about crime.
This is not a question of whether or not we approve of democratic socialism itself. Rather, we must consider how even a local election can affect the chances of our democratic movement nationwide. In the face of a president willing to push the limits of constitutionality, we have no choice but to abandon idealism in favor of electability. Frankly, I see Mamdani’s popularity as evidence that many in the left-wing movement have still not fully understood the gravity of the situation at hand. Why does it matter that New York City may get the policies of its dreams if such a development further estranges the moderate voters necessary for a national Democratic victory? We cannot afford to push any more potential supporters into the hands of the MAGA right.
I understand the deep frustration many feel with the rightward shift of this country, and the hope that politicians like Mamdani might provide. But pushing even further left in the expectation that Americans will come to embrace socialism is not the answer. Instead, we must meet voters where they are, and if that means abandoning some of our values, so be it. It was a failure of the left-wing movement that not enough people turned out to vote against President Trump in November, and only by making concessions and broadening our coalition can we elect an administration that is willing to consider enacting policies we believe in. That involves advocating for policies capable of winning votes not just in Brooklyn and Queens but also in suburban Atlanta and rural Minnesota.
When it comes time for the next election, we must not allow ourselves to dissolve into internal bickering and instead focus on our shared opponent. American elections have unfortunately become a choice between the lesser of two evils for many citizens across the political spectrum. But we must remember to clearly differentiate which of the two is the greater evil and vote against it accordingly, for if we do not act with full force against tyranny, we are only complicit in fueling it.
Lucas Guan ’27 can be reached at lucas_guan@brown.edu. Please send responses to this column to letters@browndailyherald.com and other opinions to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
