Latest news with #DemocraticSocialistsOfAmerica
New York Times
17 hours ago
- Politics
- New York Times
Mamdani Victory Could Represent Expansion of the Left's Influence
When Zohran Mamdani catapulted to a stunning victory in New York City's Democratic mayoral primary, the triumph seemed a coming-of-age moment for the Democratic Socialists of America. The group formed the backbone of Mr. Mamdani's canvassing operation and played an essential role in pushing the nation's largest city to embrace an unwavering progressive campaign agenda. But for Mr. Mamdani to get elected in November, he may need to win over segments of the city's business class, or at least persuade them that he intends no harm. Some of that effort has already been on display, creating some discomfort among his core supporters on the left. Last week, Mr. Mamdani, a state assemblyman and a democratic socialist, met separately with skeptical members of the Partnership for New York City and with Black business executives, who grilled him over his socialist economic agenda and challenged him over some of his stances opposing the wealthy and supporting Palestinian causes. Billionaires shouldn't exist? Mr. Mamdani walked that back. A rent freeze for stabilized units? Yes, but it was a policy he might revisit after four years. His refusal to repudiate the term 'globalize the intifada?' That, too, came under some revision. For now, D.S.A. leaders and others on the left say that Mr. Mamdani has earned their trust and deserves a fair amount of latitude. They recognize that the best way to push their agenda is to have a powerful emissary like Mr. Mamdani leading the nation's largest city. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
The Guardian
a day ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
AOC's office vandalized after recent House vote involving US aid to Israel
A Bronx office of the US House member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was vandalized early on Monday, according to New York City police, who say they are investigating. The vandalism occurred as the progressive Democratic congresswoman grapples with 'threats on [her] life', as her campaign manager put it, after a recent US House of Representatives vote involving American aid to Israel. Officers called out to Ocasio-Cortez's campaign office in Westchester Square at about 12.45am found its front covered in red paint, police said. Images circulating online and on local news media outlets showed someone had left a sign which alleged that Ocasio-Cortez 'funds genocide in Gaza', though she has repeatedly criticized the Israeli military's strikes there. The vandalism occurred after Ocasio-Cortez on Friday voted against a defense spending bill amendment authored by the Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia that would have eliminated funding for the system protecting Israel from missiles. Ocasio-Cortez voted 'no' on the defense spending bill itself, which passed the House and included more than $600m in aid for Israel, as she alluded to on an X post hours after the office's vandalism. Her vote on Greene's amendment prompted the Democratic Socialists of America to issue a statement accusing Ocasio-Cortez of backing Israel's 'eliminationist campaign against the Palestinian people'. Ocasio-Cortez, who has maintained that Israel's military actions in Gaza amount to a 'genocide' and often draws political criticism from US conservatives, wrote on Monday on X: 'Google is free. If you're saying I voted for military funding, you are lying.' A separate X post from Ocasio-Cortez's campaign manager, Oliver Hidalgo-Wohlleben, said Monday's office vandalism coincided with her staff having recently received 'multiple threats on the congresswoman's life'. 'We are treating this seriously with our security partners to make sure she, our staff, and volunteers are safe,' Hidalgo Wohlleben's post said. A post on Monday on the social media platform Bluesky from Ocasio-Cortez added: 'The threat environment this morning is scary. 'Drag me for the position if you disagree but don't lie. It's out of control. Saying I voted for this funding is false.' Hidalgo-Wohlleben's X post said that the Bronx congresswoman's staff was in the process of cleaning up the vandalized office. 'Our office is a hub in the community, and we want it to be a safe space for all our neighbors,' Hidalgo-Wohlleben also wrote. Ocasio-Cortez has represented New York's 14th congressional district since early 2019. Her endorsement of the democratic socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani in New York City's mayoral race in June captured national headlines.
Forbes
a day ago
- Politics
- Forbes
Surveys On Socialism And Zohran Mamdani
In a statement after Zohran Mamdani's victory in the recent NYC Democratic mayoral primary, the Democratic Socialists of America, the nation's largest socialist organization, effused, 'In New York City, socialism has won.' A little premature perhaps, but Mamdani, the charismatic 33-year old who describes himself as a democratic socialist, has clearly joined the progressive pantheon of Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Fortunately, polls provide a good sense of how well his ideas resonate with Democrats and with other Americans as well. Since the Occupy Wall Street protest against capitalism began in 2011, pollsters have occasionally asked Americans about their views of socialism and capitalism, but the subject has much deeper roots in survey history. Some of the earliest questions in the Roper/Fortune and Gallup polls from the 1930s explored the fundaments of the idea. When people were asked in an open-ended Gallup question from 1949, 34% volunteered that socialism meant government ownership or control of utilities and other things, but 36% couldn't give a definition. In a 2010 CBS News/New York Times poll, 20% said it meant government control, while a quarter said they didn't know. Gallup's estimable Frank Newport wrote that for many people, and especially the young, the definition of socialism has broadened. 'While many still view socialism as government control of the economy, as modified communism and as embodying restrictions on freedoms in several ways, an increased percentage see it as representing equality and government provision of benefits.' Gallup began asking people in 2010 whether they had a positive or negative impression of socialism, and the findings have been remarkably stable in six questions asked since then, with slightly less than 40% giving a positive response. Around 60% have been positive about capitalism. Shortly before Mamdani's victory, Cato released the Cato Institute's 2025 Fiscal Policy National Survey providing fresh data. In three separate questions in the March poll, Cato asked about favorable or unfavorable views of capitalism, socialism, and communism. Fifty-nine percent had a favorable view of capitalism (41% unfavorable). Socialism was less popular at 43% favorable and 57% unfavorable. Finally, 14% had a favorable view of communism. In this poll, like earlier ones from other organizations, young people and Democrats had more favorable views of socialism and less favorable views of capitalism. There was a straight age progression in responses on the socialism question: 62% of 18-29 year olds had a favorable view, compared to 32% of those ages 65 and older. There was a huge partisan gap: 67% of Democrats had a favorable view compared to 17% of Republicans. Men were less sympathetic to socialism than women. As for capitalism, half of the youngest age group had a positive view but 73% of the oldest age group did. Half of Democrats were positive compared to 75% of Republicans. Are Mamdani's views in step with those of most Americans? When NBC's Kristen Welker asked Mamdani about billionaires in a recent interview, he said 'I don't think we should have billionaires.' In the Cato poll, however, only 29% of respondents said it 'immoral for society to allow people to become billionaires.' Once, people were more sympathetic to these ideas. In 1935, when the Roper/Fortune poll asked 'Do you believe that the government should allow a man who has investments worth over a million dollars to keep them, subject only to present taxes, 45% said yes, 46% no. In another question in the poll, a majority, 52%, said there should be no limit on what someone could inherit. The next highest response, given by 16%, said it should the limit should be between $100,000 to a million dollars, while 14% put the amount at $100,000 or less. The vast majority of Americans don't want to eliminate billionaires, but they are quite willing to tax them heavily. The socialist candidate has other ideas such as government-run grocery stores and rent control that are unlikely to have strong national support. It hardly needs to be said that New York City is not America, and the city has serious problems that don't significantly affect other parts of the county. A democratic socialist may be popular there, but it is unlikely that his brand will be met with the same positive reception in most other parts of the nation. Even Democrats are rightly skittish about some of his views.
The Guardian
a day ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
AOC's office vandalized after recent House vote involving US aid to Israel
A Bronx office of US House member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was vandalized early Monday, according to New York City police, who say they are investigating. The vandalism occurred as the progressive Democratic congresswoman grapples with 'threats on [her] life', as her campaign manager put it, after a recent US House vote involving American aid to Israel. Officers called out to Ocasio-Cortez's campaign office in Westchester Square at about 12.45am found its front covered in red paint, police said. Images circulating online and on local news media outlets showed someone had left a sign which alleged that Ocasio-Cortez 'funds genocide in Gaza', though she has repeatedly criticized the Israeli military's strikes there. The vandalism occurred after Ocasio-Cortez on Friday voted against a defense spending bill amendment authored by Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia that would have eliminated funding for the system protecting Israel from missiles. Ocasio-Cortez voted 'no' on the defense spending bill itself, which passed the House and included more than $600m in aid for Israel, as she alluded to on an X post hours after the office's vandalism. Her vote on Greene's amendment prompted the Democratic Socialists of America to issue a statement accusing Ocasio-Cortez of backing Israel's 'eliminationist campaign against the Palestinian people'. Ocasio-Cortez, who has maintained that Israel's military actions in Gaza amount to a 'genocide' and often draws political criticism from US conservatives, wrote Monday on X: 'Google is free. If you're saying I voted for military funding, you are lying.' A separate X post from Ocasio-Cortez's campaign manager, Oliver Hidalgo-Wohlleben, said Monday's office vandalism coincided with her staff having recently received 'multiple threats on the congresswoman's life'. 'We are treating this seriously with our security partners to make sure she, our staff, and volunteers are safe,' Hidalgo Wohlleben's post said. A post Monday on the social media platform Bluesky from Ocasio-Cortez added: 'The threat environment this morning is scary. 'Drag me for the position if you disagree but don't lie. It's out of control. Saying I voted for this funding is false.' Hidalgo-Wohlleben's X post said that the Bronx congresswoman's staff was in the process of cleaning up the vandalized office. 'Our office is a hub in the community, and we want it to be a safe space for all our neighbors,' Hidalgo-Wohlleben also wrote. Ocasio-Cortez has represented New York's 14th congressional district since early 2019. Her endorsement of democratic socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani in New York City's mayoral race in June captured national headlines.
The Independent
a day ago
- Politics
- The Independent
AOC gets death threats and has HQ vandalized by anti-Israel supporters
New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has received multiple death threats and her head office was vandalized by anti-Israel supporters over the weekend. Ocasio-Cortez 's Bronx office was smeared in red paint Sunday and activists placed a placard on the building that read: 'AOC FUNDS GENOCIDE IN GAZA,' her campaign office said. 'Last night, our campaign office in the Bronx was vandalized and we are in the process of cleaning it up,' said campaign manager Oliver Hidalgo-Wohlleben in a post on X. 'In the past few days, we also have received multiple threats on the Congresswoman's life and we are treating this seriously with our security partners to make sure she, our staff, and volunteers are safe.' The New York Police Department said the incident was under investigation and no arrests have been made. The vandalism came days after Ocasio-Cortez voted against an amendment put forward by Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Friday that would have stripped $500 million in funding for Israel's missile defense systems. Ocasio-Cortez has been a consistent voice against Israel's military offensive in Gaza and criticized Greene's amendment for doing 'nothing to cut off offensive aid to Israel nor end the flow of U.S. munitions' in the war-torn region. 'What it does do is cut off defensive Iron Dome capacities while allowing the actual bombs killing Palestinians to continue,' Ocasio-Cortez added. The Democratic Socialists of America condemned the congresswoman's vote in a statement released Friday. 'The fact that Representative Ocasio-Cortez acknowledges that Israel is carrying out this genocide makes her support for military aid all the more disappointing and incongruous,' the group said. 'We urge the representative to continue voting against the Iron Dome, whether it is part of a larger defense spending bill or as a stand-alone bill.' Democratic strategist Waleed Shahid was among those who came to Ocasio-Cortez's defense. 'She has one of the strongest pro-Palestinian voting records in Congress. It's fair to debate strategy and disagreement over specific choices–but vandalizing her office and saying @AOC 'funds genocide' isn't just wrong,' Shahid wrote in a post on X. 'It's reckless, dishonest, misleading, and deeply unserious.'
