Socialist surge: On the rise of democratic socialism in the U.S.
The U.S. Democratic Party is experiencing a surge in democratic socialist candidates who are winning primaries on platforms of decommodification and progressive social policy. This movement, bolstered by figures like Bernie Sanders, is gaining electoral traction despite significant opposition from moderate and pro-Israel factions.
Why it matters
The rise of democratic socialism signals a significant ideological shift within the American political landscape, potentially reshaping the Democratic Party's future platform and foreign policy approach.
As the Trump administration persists with its blunderbuss reshaping of American foreign policy — a marriage of hyperimperialism, with wars in West Asia, a de facto capture of power in Venezuela and the strangling of Cuba’s fuel trade, and isolationism, seen in withdrawals from multilateral institutions and tariffs imposed on a whim — the world has been waiting for a political alternative to Trumpism to take shape. After 2024, when a vapid Democratic Party displayed little ideological gumption on foreign policy, welfare or taking on the plutocrats reshaping American democracy, the prospects looked slim. Then, in November 2025, Zohran Mamdani won New York City on a platform of decommodification — placing citizens’ needs above market shibboleths — while openly calling Israel’s war on Gaza a genocide . His victory did more than capture New York’s imagination. It set off an insurgency by democratic socialists within Democratic Party ranks.
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