Francesca Hong’s stunning defeat in Wisconsin’s Democratic gubernatorial primary has triggered a bitter debate on the Left, with some prominent Democrats and activists arguing that the socialist candidate’s loss may ultimately be good for their movement.
Hong, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, entered Tuesday’s primary as the heavy favorite after surging to the top of the field. But Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, who reentered the race just weeks before the election with the backing of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/david-crowley-stuns-socialist-frontrunner-in-wisconsin-dem-governor-primary?author=Daily+Wire+News&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Socialist+Frontrunner%E2%80%99s+Stunning+Collapse+Hands+Wisconsin+Dems+A+November+Lifeline">pulled off the upset</a> by roughly 3,000 votes.
The razor-thin loss has exposed a divide within the Left over whether Hong’s campaign represented a missed opportunity for the burgeoning socialist movement or a warning about the limits of its appeal in a battleground state. 
“There’s a reason the institutional left mostly stayed away,” one Democratic operative who works with left-wing campaigns told <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2026/08/12/dsa-progressive-francesca-hong-wisconsin-01035101">Politico</a>. “The people who made those calls are relieved.”
A donor adviser who works with left-wing candidates similarly described Hong’s loss as “a good thing for the movement,” arguing that the results showed voters may be receptive to left-wing policies, but that candidate quality still matters. 
“This is a far better outcome,” the adviser said, arguing that a candidate who avoided some of Hong’s more controversial statements could have won.
The reluctance of the Democratic Party’s most prominent socialist figures to back Hong has become a major source of anger among her supporters. 
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dsas-anti-thanksgiving-governor-candidate-is-even-too-far-for-bernie?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=DSA%E2%80%99s+Anti-Thanksgiving+Governor+Candidate+Is+Even+Too+Far+For+Bernie">declined</a> to endorse Hong despite her commanding poll position, while Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) also declined to get involved.
Their absence stood in sharp contrast to the national support given to other left-wing candidates this year, including Sanders-backed Minnesota Senate candidate <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/candidate-known-for-pro-trans-knife-shirt-defeats-dem-establishment-pick-in-senate-race">Peggy Flanagan</a> and Michigan Senate candidate <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/abdul-el-sayed-secures-far-lefts-biggest-victory-yet-over-dem-establishment">Abdul El-Sayed</a>— both won their primaries.
“This movement will fail if we see more letdowns at the critical moment, like we saw in this race,” said Nathan J. Robinson, editor of the leftist magazine Current Affairs. “Especially if AOC wants to be taken seriously as a national leader of the left movement, she needs to actually support the candidates out there who have a chance to notch victories.”
DSA political operative Deep Singh Badhesha similarly argued that the race could have ended differently if Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez had intervened. 
“Wisconsin being this close is very frustrating because folks like AOC and Bernie Sanders stayed out,” Badhesha said. “If they just did one rally in Wisconsin for Hong, that would have probably wrapped it up for her.”
But Hong’s defeat was not merely a consequence of a lack of national support. Her campaign was dogged by a series of controversial past statements that gave Democrats concerned about the November general election ample reason to keep their distance.
Hong previously called for Thanksgiving to be canceled, wrote that police “exist to uphold white supremacy” and should be “defund[ed] then abolish[ed],” and made controversial comments about race and American culture. The controversy became particularly damaging in the final weeks of the campaign, as Crowley successfully framed himself as the more electable Democrat in a state where Republicans are eager to reclaim the governor’s mansion.
Even Evers, who ultimately backed Crowley, warned that Hong was putting too much emphasis on controversies surrounding her social media posts. 
“I think she’s in a tough place,” Evers <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/from-piker-to-bernie-nobody-wants-to-be-seen-with-francesca-hong?author=Jacob+Wheeler&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=From+Piker+To+Bernie%2C+Nobody+Wants+To+Be+Seen+With+Francesca+Hong">said</a> before the election. “She has spent her entire campaign dealing not with the issues, but what’s on the Twitter.”
Hong’s loss also comes amid a broader debate over whether a string of recent Democratic primary victories represents a genuine socialist insurgency or simply a series of candidate-specific successes. 
Still, not everyone on the Left views the result as a setback. Hasan Piker, the left-wing streamer who campaigned heavily for Hong, <a href="https://x.com/DSA_Watch/status/2087610635026886950">argued</a> Wednesday that the campaign’s ability to generate significant turnout without support from Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez or major establishment Democrats was itself an accomplishment. 
“The fact that she was able to, alongside the local DSA chapters, the fact that this campaign was able to bring this much turnout is incredible,” Piker said. “Do not let anybody discourage you.”
For Hong’s most committed supporters, however, the frustration is increasingly directed toward the national leaders who they believe abandoned a candidate who had a genuine chance to win.
For other Democrats on the Left, the lesson is almost the opposite: Hong’s defeat may have prevented a potentially damaging general election campaign and demonstrated that the party’s most radical candidates still face significant limits when they move beyond deep-blue districts and into statewide battlegrounds.
Crowley will now face Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany in November, with both parties fighting for control of Wisconsin’s governor’s mansion after Evers announced he would not seek another term.

Gubernatorial Candidate Francesca Hong Holds A Campaign Rally In Milwaukee

Hong’s Stunning Loss Has The Left Breathing A Sigh Of Relief

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Democrat civil war

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Democratic Socialists Of America

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Wisconsin

David Crowley, the Milwaukee County executive who pulled off a stunning upset over the summer’s socialist surge, has blamed systemic racism for police shootings, opposed legislation to protect law enforcement, and declared Wisconsin the worst place in America to raise a black child.
In August 2020, Crowley went all-in on the Black Lives Matter narrative surrounding the domestic disturbance call that ended with the officer-involved shooting of Jacob Blake. The then-29-year-old, who had a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sex-assault-charge-against-jacob-blake-dropped-in-plea-deal-feminists-silent?author=Ashe+Schow&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Sex+Assault+Charge+Against+Jacob+Blake+Dropped+In+Plea+Deal%2C+Feminists+Silent">felony warrant out for his arrest</a>, was armed with a knife and was attempting to get into the driver’s seat of an SUV when he was shot seven times, triggering widespread unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and setting the stage for the later acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse.
“Make no mistake, Blake’s wounds are the result of systemic racism, the policies and practices that entangle our institutions and produce racially disparate outcomes, regardless of the intentions of the people who work within them,” Crowley <a href="https://urbanmilwaukee.com/pressrelease/milwaukee-county-executive-david-crowley-statement-on-kenosha-shooting/">said</a>. “It’s the reason why Wisconsin is ranked as the worst place to raise a black child, why child poverty in the Black community is markedly higher compared to their white counterparts, and why Milwaukee County ranks as 71st healthiest county out of 72 counties in the state.”
Crowley also connected the death of George Floyd to a public health emergency. 
“In the midst of a pandemic that has already taken such a toll on people of color, the death of George Floyd is another untenable example of how racism is the real public health crisis our community is facing,” he <a href="https://county.milwaukee.gov/EN/County-Executive/News/Press-Releases/Milwaukee-County-Executive-David-Crowley-Responds-to-Death-of-George-Floyd">said</a>. &#8220;These injustices will not go away until we acknowledge and address the hundreds of years of racism that brought us here.” 
In the summer of 2020, Crowley celebrated former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protest, suggesting professional sports should grind to a halt until the country achieved racial justice.
“4 years ago,<a href="https://x.com/Kaepernick7"> @Kaepernick7</a> took a stand against systemic racism &amp; police brutality. Make no mistake, it&#8217;s because of his sacrifice that we are witnessing this unprecedented response from our nation&#8217;s sports. Thank you to all who sacrifice in the name of equality. <a href="https://x.com/hashtag/NoJusticeNoGames?src=hashtag_click">#NoJusticeNoGames</a>,” <a href="https://x.com/DavidCrowleyWI/status/1298981799561895945?s=20">he wrote on X.</a> 
Before the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/they-burned-cities-for-george-floyd-they-buried-henry-nowak">so-called &#8220;summer of love</a>&#8221; in 2020, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee also opposed &#8220;<a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/opinion/contributors/2017/04/20/crowley-why-blue-lives-matter-wrong-our-communities/100708258/?gnt-cfr=1&amp;gca-cat=p&amp;gca-uir=true&amp;gca-epti=z116547e1170xxv116547d--72--b--72--&amp;gca-ft=182&amp;gca-ds=sophi">Blue Lives Matter</a>&#8220; legislation that would’ve added law enforcement officers to the state&#8217;s hate crime protected categories, <a href="https://x.com/DavidCrowleyWI/status/855435824179097602?s=20">saying</a> the proposal “only furthers the divide between the urban communities and police that serve them.”
Decision Desk HQ called the race early Wednesday morning for Crowley, who re-entered the contest only weeks before the primary and earned the backing of outgoing Democratic Governor Tony Evers. With nearly all votes in, Crowley leads his socialist rival, who called to cancel Thanksgiving and abolish the U.S. Senate, by a little over 3,000 votes. 
Hong, a dues-paying member of the Democratic Socialists of America, significantly underperformed in white working-class parts of the state and failed to generate the margins she needed in deep-blue college towns like Madison. The leftist made waves by repeatedly trashing American holidays and questioning her connection to “whiteness” through her white ex-husband and their biracial son. 
“My proximity to whiteness continues, right. … My son is biracial. He’s half white, half Korean, and I think navigating what his identity is and how people perceive him is always at the back of my mind,” Hong previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/francesca-hong-is-the-wisconsin-commie-candidate-drinking-all-the-resentment-kool-aid">said</a>. 
Tuesday’s results mark a major victory for the Democratic establishment, which mounted an 11th-hour effort to slam the brakes on the party’s rebellious socialist surge. Now, Crowley faces a more difficult task: shedding the establishment label that turns off the party’s left flank while holding onto enough independents to take down Republican nominee Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI).
In the final stretch of the campaign, Crowley <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/david-crowley-stuns-socialist-frontrunner-in-wisconsin-dem-governor-primary?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Daily+Wire+News&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=David+Crowley+Stuns+Socialist+Frontrunner+In+Wisconsin+Dem+Governor+Primary">rejected the establishment</a> attack as a racial slur.
“I’m trying to figure out who the establishment is, right? I think that when we talk about the establishment, I don’t know who that is. I’m a kid that grew up in 53206 zip code. My parents was drug addicts and suffered from mental health,” he <a href="about:blank">told</a> reporters. “So when people try to call me the establishment, I look at that as a slur, particularly as an African American candidate.” 
“That’s my foundation. That’s what I’m going to continue to do as a county executive, and what I’m going to do as the governor of Wisconsin,” he added.

Wisconsin Gubernatorial Candidate David Crowley Holds Campaign Rally On Eve Of Primary Election

Democrats’ ‘Moderate’ Wisconsin Nominee Has His Own Woke Skeletons In The Closet

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The Democratic Party has a socialism problem, or rather, a disaffected young voter problem. Several self-avowed socialist candidates have won contentious Democratic primary races in the past few months, many of them backed by the Democratic Socialists of America.
The DSA surpassed <a href="https://democraticleft.dsausa.org/2026/04/27/how-high-is-the-sky/">100,000 members</a> in January, up from just 6,000 in 2015. The group&#8217;s <a href="https://program.dsausa.org/">radical policy wishlist</a> includes socialized healthcare, nationwide rent control, nationalizing industry, and dismantling the presidency, Senate, and Supreme Court. Candidates <a href="https://democraticleft.dsausa.org/2026/07/17/dsa-launches-new-program/">must agree</a> to this platform before receiving DSA endorsement.
This summer, DSA-endorsed congressional candidate <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/23/darializa-avila-chevalier-wins-new-york-congress-primary-00972370">Darializa Avila Chevalier</a> advanced in New York. DSA member <a href="https://www.dsausa.org/news/hot-dsa-electoral-wins-may-2026/">Christopher Rabb</a> secured a congressional seat in Pennsylvania, and in Michigan, DSA ally Abdul El-Sayed beat out Rep. Haley Stevens in the Senate primary.
The DSA&#8217;s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/12/nyregion/dsa-young-voters-primary-ny.html">supporters</a> are young, fun, and socialist. They <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jan/03/zohran-mamdani-new-york-mayor-block-party-more-politics">party</a> with the candidates and fangirl over the far-left <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/el-sayed-pals-around-far-left-streamer-hasan-piker-day-before-crucial-michigan-senate-election">e-celebrities</a> who swoop in to campaign. They lean into <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/18/hot-girls-zohran-new-york-city-mayor">sex appeal</a> and discourse that would horrify their elders. They’re on a mission to normalize the ideas of socialism throughout the U.S., and it’s working.
Sixty-two percent of young people now view socialism favorably, according to a <a href="https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/2025-04/Tax%20Policy%20Survey_2025_2.pdf">Cato Institute survey</a>, which also <a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/young-americans-socialism-too-much-thats-problem-libertarians-must-fix">found</a> that a third of young people hold similarly favorable views of communism.
Earlier generations may be confused by these statistics. Has the American education system failed to impart the horrors of 20th-century socialism? Are America’s youth ignorant of the Venezuelan and Cuban refugees who fled to our shores?
There are three theories to explain why young people are drawn to socialism. Each has merits, and together they create a more complete picture. 
<div id="attachment_1155125" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1155125" class="size-medium wp-image-1155125" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-633888852-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-633888852-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-633888852-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-633888852-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-633888852.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Photo by Ronen Tivony/NurPhoto</div>
Young Americans are poor (or feel poor).
Gen Z’s nihilistic view of their economic future is going unaddressed by Republicans or mainstream Democrats, and Democratic socialists are filling the void. They give young people a convenient enemy — the rich —  and prey upon generational inequalities to bolster their argument.
From the hotly debated <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/isabel-brown-show-ep-191">$20 burrito</a> to <a href="https://educationdata.org/student-loan-debt-statistics">skyrocketing</a> student loan debt, young Americans are feeling the post-COVID economic burn. Some quickly write off Gen Z’s economic woes as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/money/ng-interactive/2025/nov/17/gen-z-workplace-criticism">entitlement</a>, but there is a more sympathetic story.
American voters and politicians have long pursued a policy of &#8220;soft socialism&#8221; — the subsidization of demand, restriction of supply, and ever-encroaching power of government into American economic life – all done with the expressed aim of easing financial burdens.
In 2023, Mark Perry at the American Enterprise Institute released the <a href="https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/chart-of-the-day-or-century-8/">Chart of the Century</a>. It revealed the disorienting financial world Gen Z has inherited.
While consumer technology (TVs, phones, laptops) has become more affordable, healthcare, college, and housing have skyrocketed in cost relative to inflation and wages. Between 2000 and 2022, the <a href="https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/chart-of-the-day-or-century-8/">price</a> of hospital services climbed 220%, college tuition jumped 178%, and the cost of housing grew 80%. These stress points are reflected in the DSA platform, which urges Americans to imagine a day where “you have no debt. You don’t need health insurance. You don’t pay a mortgage or have a landlord, because comfortable housing is a human right.”
Education, health, and home are core tenets of the American dream, which promised that you could achieve all of this through hard work. Republicans, and even some mainstream Democrats, still come back to this message. 
Socialists have one thing right: In a way, something has been stolen from Gen Z. But instead of business owners and landlords stealing from workers, the past stole from the present. COVID-era monetary policy, for example, saw <a href="https://www.usaspending.gov/disaster/covid-19">$4.7 trillion</a> allocated to relief spending and <a href="https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/money-printing-and-inflation%3A-covid-cryptocurrencies-and-more">$13 trillion dollars</a> printed to ease our momentary woes. In layman&#8217;s terms, our money is worth significantly less than before the pandemic. Gen Z is working hard but seeing a lot less return.
<div id="attachment_1155071" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1155071" class="size-medium wp-image-1155071" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2244770348-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2244770348-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2244770348-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2244770348-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2244770348.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Photo by Zack Zhang/Xinhua via Getty Images</div>
Gen Z has been sold a false image of socialism.
Young DSA members are not strict readers of Karl Marx. They just want healthcare, they’ll tell you. They think it’s wrong for poor people to suffer. They want equality, comfort, and community.
They’ll point to <a href="https://americancompass.org/economic-inequality-guide/?gad_source=1&amp;gad_campaignid=11199510140&amp;gbraid=0AAAAACR4Dsm23zTfoxb0iTcDz3zVSZSw6&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjwhNbTBhB4EiwAsFSg-sihZe2n22RZRLU5OHFp0gqskz3m4aofiyPuZMjFRubZ_iYVGMWXVBoC-qIQAvD_BwE">studies</a> showing how the rich accumulate wealth more quickly than other Americans, ignoring growth in other income brackets. They’ll bemoan the “hollowing out of the American middle class,” not realizing the middle class has shrunk because the <a href="https://www.aei.org/research-products/report/the-middle-class-is-shrinking-because-of-a-booming-upper-middle-class/">upper middle class</a> has grown.
Capitalist wealth creation is the tide that lifts all boats. But for young socialists, capitalism is the root of all our social and economic woes, including the loneliness epidemic. They argue that individualism begets isolation and the financial pressures of capitalism lead to less time for leisure, even though we spend <a href="https://www.stlouisfed.org/publications/regional-economist/january-2007/working-hard-or-hardly-working-the-evolution-of-leisure-in-the-united-states">far less time</a> working than we did over a century ago.
When asked to give the elevator pitch for socialism, a DSA activist <a href="https://x.com/NateFriedman97/status/2078878926953238886">said</a>, “Are you tired of sitting alone and being by yourself and having no one to talk to? Be a socialist. It’s all about community.” 
This pitch feels more like a cult recruitment tactic than a thoughtful introduction to political philosophy. Ending capitalism will not cure Gen Z’s personal or financial woes, but the DSA offers a sense of community that makes its platform feel palatable.
<div id="attachment_1155097" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1155097" class="size-medium wp-image-1155097" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2241305912-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2241305912-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2241305912-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2241305912-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2241305912.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Photo by Amy Sussman/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images</div>
Socialism is sexy.
Democratic socialist candidates are young, stylish, and charismatic. Zohran Mamdani energetically floats around New York City, always greeting constituents with a suit, tie, and wide smile. His underemployed wife wears <a href="https://www.azafashions.com/blog/rama-duwaji-fashion-inspiration/?srsltid=AfmBOoqBBP-EFc30k6O_XgXeg-_gvGpWKxG074AiMj2l_UavUM_2cQ1R">cool-girl designers</a> and outfits that confuse the rest of the country. He treats New Yorkers with respect, releases viral videos every week, and even ended his campaign by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/28/nyregion/whats-the-hottest-spot-in-new-york-for-campaigning-the-club.html">club hopping</a> throughout the city.
Other socialist candidates are similarly tapped into millennial and Gen Z culture. Abdul El-Sayed is a <a href="https://crooked.com/podcast-series/america-dissected/">podcast</a> bro. Claire Valdez also hit <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/28/nyregion/whats-the-hottest-spot-in-new-york-for-campaigning-the-club.html">clubs</a> on campaign stops. And Darializa Avila Chevalier is being prematurely <a href="https://x.com/EmmaVigeland/status/2068905654538895382?s=20">crowned</a> as one of the most stylish members of Congress.
Meanwhile, the socialist masses don <a href="https://www.instagram.com/reels/DLSHcLUsPnX/">Hot Girls for Zohran t-shirts</a>, <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/04/30/us-news/liberals-are-drooling-over-very-handsome-leftist-hasan-piker-after-ny-times-profile/">fawn</a> over e-celebs like Hasan Piker, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beauty_trends_among_American_conservatives">mock</a> Republican women for having MAGA makeup and “Mar-a-Lago face.” They’re like a socialist Regina George.
In a way, socialism has become a fashion trend in itself, with the implicit message to outsiders being: You are an ugly loser if you don’t get on board. This is a compelling, albeit subconscious, selling point for young people searching for belonging.
Whether or not socialism is a flash-in-the-pan trend or a lasting ideology depends on how quickly its loudest defenders can shift the Overton window while they still have the microphone. If we want any chance to defeat this destructive movement, we have to update our understanding of the political, social, and economic landscape in which Gen Z finds itself.
***
Maggie Anders is a video journalist and political commentator. Her work explores international political movements, history, pop culture, economics, the cost-of-living crisis, and Gen Z social issues. 
This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/upstream">Upstream</a>, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.

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Why Socialism Is Winning With America’s Youth

Gen Z

Upstream

Democratic Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs is hoping to secure another four years in the governor’s mansion by adding a former “Republican” mayor to her ticket who backed Kamala Harris for president and was censured by a local conservative group.
In a <a href="https://x.com/katiehobbs/status/2087162216672027007?s=20">joint video statement</a> on Tuesday, Hobbs touted her running mate, former Mesa Mayor John Giles, as a card-carrying conservative without mentioning his more recent Democratic voting record.
“The first thing I looked for in a running mate was someone who shares that value of putting Arizonans ahead of partisan politics. That&#8217;s why I&#8217;m proud to introduce my running mate, former Mesa Mayor John Giles.” 
For the first time, voters in the Grand Canyon State will elect a lieutenant governor as part of the gubernatorial ticket after approving a ballot measure that created the position in 2022 — setting up a major test for Hobbs as she battles Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) in a closely watched reelection fight.
“I was a lifelong Republican before becoming an independent because extremists shouldn&#8217;t stand in the way of getting things done,” Giles said. “I&#8217;m proud to join Katie Hobbs as her candidate for lieutenant governor, because Katie will continue to put Arizona first.”
During the 2024 election, Giles, who served as Mesa’s mayor from 2014 to 2025, made national headlines after endorsing Harris for president in an op-ed that accused the Trump-led GOP of becoming consumed by extremism. Before that, Giles endorsed Democratic Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly over Republican Blake Masters and Hobbs over MAGA firebrand Kari Lake — moves that infuriated Republicans and prompted at least one Republican group to censure him formally.
“Since Donald Trump refused to accept the outcome of the 2020 election, Republicans have yet to course correct,” he <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4797963-republican-arizona-harris-trump-mccain/">said</a> at the time. “The Republican Party with Trump at its helm continues down the path of political extremism, away from focusing on our fundamental freedoms.”
Hobbs is the latest swing-state Democrat to tout crossover Republican support for political clout as the national party struggles to stop a surging socialist takeover that threatens to alienate key swing voters.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/republicans-for-talarico-exposed-as-complete-scam?author=Jacob+Wheeler&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=%E2%80%98Republicans+For+Talarico%E2%80%99+Exposed+As+Complete+Scam">The Daily Wire</a> previously uncovered how leftist outlet MS NOW aired a segment featuring three Texas women who identified themselves as Republicans and vowed to cross over for James Talarico – but records show at least some of them have voted in Democratic primaries and donated to liberal candidates and causes.
During the segment, former school board candidate Mindy McClure described herself as a “moderate Republican.” <a href="https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00931741/?cycle=2026&amp;tab=about-committee">Federal Election Commission filings, however,</a> show McClure repeatedly gave money through ActBlue to Democratic candidates and anti-Trump groups dating back to 2018, including the Lincoln Project and Kamala Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign.
“Republicans for Talarico is as real as the six genders that Talarico claims exist, but has yet to explain what they are. This lame rebrand of White Dudes for Kamala is full of lifelong Democrat donors, activists, and other losers,” RNC spokesman Zach Kraft said in a statement to The Daily Wire.

Running For Re-Election AZ Governor Katie Hobbs Campaigns With Rep-Elect Adelita Grijalva And Gabby Giffords In Tucson

Swing-State Democrat Taps ‘Republican’ Running Mate

2026 elections

Arizona

Elections

John Giles

Katie Hobbs

Politics

Republicans

Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong dished out a stomach-churning &#8220;Feast of the Feminine&#8221; in 2019, explicitly inspired by menstruation, featuring booze, Korean blood sausage, and anatomical graphics.
&#8220;I&#8217;m doin a 6course dinner inspired by menstruation alongside my friends Autumn and Kel,&#8221; Hong posted at the time. &#8220;There will be booze too. Come hang.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
I&#39;m doin a 6course dinner inspired by menstruation alongside my friends Autumn and Kel. There will be booze too. Come hang. <a href="https://t.co/PttgObCWWV">https://t.co/PttgObCWWV</a> <a href="https://t.co/qvxOsqvQ2N">pic.twitter.com/qvxOsqvQ2N</a>
&mdash; Francesca Hong For Governor (@FrancescaHongWI) <a href="https://x.com/FrancescaHongWI/status/1179610529687576576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 3, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The 37-year-old socialist state representative and former Madison ramen chef, who leads the polls ahead of Tuesday’s Democratic primary, has left voters with a bad taste in their mouths. Just a year after her 2019 banquet, Hong sparked outrage by tweeting a call to &#8220;Cancel Thanksgiving.&#8221; She wrote, &#8220;Cancel Thanksgiving. Should have done this in 1621. If it takes a worldwide pandemic for us to realize we should stop celebrating colonialism and the original superspreader event that killed Indegenous [sic] folx [sic] and women so be it.&#8221;
Pressed on CNN about her past anti-Thanksgiving tirades, Hong offered up a word salad, saying:
<blockquote>
I&#8217;m a chef, and one of the first meals that I made, that was for the community when I was 16, was a Thanksgiving meal. You know, I always think my hospitality background and owning a restaurant for seven, eight years that bringing folks around the table, to share conversation and build community, is always a good thing. But Thanksgiving is also a time that&#8217;s incredibly painful for many people in our communities. And so, I think there I wanted to make sure that people understood that there are multiple views. But views can evolve, and the position that I&#8217;m running for right now, and I think my background as a chef, will actually help me become a better governor that&#8217;s able to bring more people to the table.
</blockquote>
Establishment Democrats are terrified Hong&#8217;s radical track record will cost them the general election against Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI). Even Democratic Governor Tony Evers publicly doubted her ability to win, adding, “She spends a lot of time, from what I understand, talking on Twitter and all these other extraneous issues. &#8230; People in this room … have seen tornadoes destroy the city, and we&#8217;re going to spend time on that bullsh*t that others are talking about on Twitter? Please.&#8221;
Hong, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America who boasts of being an &#8220;anti-capitalist&#8221; business owner, has also unleashed foul-mouthed rants at local industry groups like the Tavern League, publicly branding them with vulgar epithets, the Washington Free Beacon <a href="https://freebeacon.com/democrats/move-over-thanksgiving-francesca-hong-hosted-feast-of-the-feminine-a-6-course-dinner-inspired-by-menstruation/">reported</a>. In another post, she <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dem-says-culvers-trip-gave-her-anxiety-attack-over-white-people">complained</a> about being surrounded by &#8220;too many old white people&#8221; at a local fast-food spot.

Wisconsin Democrats 2026 Convention – June 14

Socialist Francesca Hong Gleefully Hosted ‘Feast’ Inspired By Menstruation

Menstruation

Socialist Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) announced Saturday that she is freezing her eggs and filmed herself injecting hormones into her stomach, describing the decision as a “privileged” opportunity to gain more control over how she balances her personal and political life.
&#8220;Normally, I keep my private life quite private. But I have made the decision to freeze my eggs. And I want to share this because I was weighing it for a very long time, and there isn&#8217;t a ton out there, and it can feel very daunting,&#8221; the <a href="https://x.com/ABCPolitics/status/2086456076501938580?s=20">potential 2028 presidential contender</a> said. &#8220;I am aware there is, very strangely, a political &#8216;risk&#8217; or &#8216;tax&#8217; that could come with sharing this information.” 
In a <a href="https://www.instagram.com/stories/aoc/">series of Instagram posts</a>, the 36-year-old, who is childless, described to her millions of followers the “reflective mood” she has been in recently and the pressures that ultimately led to her decision.
“There&#8217;s also this flip side where you have to then grow up in the public eye, in a time that most people usually get to grow more privately,” she lamented. “And when you get elected later in life, you&#8217;ve made all of your mistakes in private. You&#8217;ve learned. You&#8217;ve grown in private. But when you get elected in public, and when you&#8217;re young, you have to do all of that in public.”
In one video, the self-described Democratic socialist is seen unboxing the medication, lifting her shirt, and injecting herself in the stomach as she begins the egg retrieval process. “Don’t be weird about this, even though I know all of you will be,” she told the camera before administering the shot. 
AOC, who was first elected to Congress at age 29, said she is documenting her fertility journey to help educate women about what she described as a lack of awareness surrounding women’s health, including puberty, pregnancy, and menopause.
On the fertility front, it’s a notable shift in tone for the Bronx leftist, who has long championed feminist causes, including abortion-on-demand, while previously telling young people to reconsider having children because of climate change.
“Our planet is going to hit disaster if we don’t turn this ship around, and so it’s basically like, there’s a scientific consensus that the lives of children are going to be very difficult,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ocasio-cortez-people-maybe-shouldnt-reproduce-due-ryan-saavedra">February 2019 Instagram live video</a>. “And it does lead, I think, young people to have a legitimate question, you know, ‘Is it okay to still have children?&#8217;”
A woman’s fertility is closely tied to the number and quality of eggs in her ovaries, with age playing a major role in egg quality. Research has found that fertility declines significantly with age, with women in their mid-30s generally having lower chances of conceiving than women in their 20s, according to <a href="https://www.trianglen.dk/en/about-fertility/female-infertility/egg-quality-and-female-age">Trianglen Fertility Clinic</a>. By the late 30s, fertility declines further, and after 41 years, the egg quality declines rapidly.
For AOC, the biological clock is ticking — and she knows it.
“I feel empowered to make this choice. I think it&#8217;s a very privileged position that I&#8217;ve been able to make, and it&#8217;s also a result of, I think, changes in technology that have also made it more financially accessible,” she said. “This is a choice that I am making to feel more in control of my life.”

Bicameral Democrats Call For Civilian Climate Corps To Be Included In Reconciliation Process

AOC Freezes Her Eggs After Telling Others To Question Having Kids

Climate Change

Fertility

freezing eggs

Socialists

Women

Last month, Karen and I welcomed our sixth grandchild — a beautiful baby girl — into our family and into the world. Looking into her big blue eyes, we are filled with an inexpressible joy for another precious gift from God.
But holding her in my arms also makes me think about the country she and all our grandchildren will inherit.
I remain profoundly optimistic about our nation’s future. America is still the freest and most prosperous nation in the history of the world. Yet I am deeply concerned by one troubling development: ideas that history once discredited are finding new life among young Americans and an increasingly influential place within today’s Democratic Party.
I was born in 1959, two years after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik into orbit and the Cold War entered one of its most dangerous chapters. My generation grew up practicing duck-and-cover drills in case of nuclear attack while half of Europe lived behind the Iron Curtain. We understood that freedom was neither inevitable nor free.
I watched America meet the Soviet threat with courage and confidence. From President John F. Kennedy’s declaration that we would “<a href="https://www.jfklibrary.org/archives/other-resources/john-f-kennedy-speeches/inaugural-address-19610120">pay any price</a>” for liberty to President Ronald Reagan’s <a href="https://civicsforlife.org/ronald-reagan-berlin-wall-speech/?civicsforlife.org/community&amp;utm_term=&amp;utm_campaign=CFL+App+2026&amp;utm_source=adwords&amp;utm_medium=ppc&amp;hsa_acc=2833943392&amp;hsa_cam=23485849150&amp;hsa_grp=&amp;hsa_ad=&amp;hsa_src=x&amp;hsa_tgt=&amp;hsa_kw=&amp;hsa_mt=&amp;hsa_net=adwords&amp;hsa_ver=3&amp;gad_source=1&amp;gad_campaignid=23481209192&amp;gbraid=0AAAAACWbQCiWlYU7J2wI0OGnAg5IWxAla&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQjwguLSBhDLARIsAH-yPrF-SchgJYu1G7KOXM_T9Q1mkmTWinVUTcTOnarEk2gOqXzV71FAsIwaAp4zEALw_wcB">command</a> that Mikhail Gorbachev “tear down this wall,” presidents of both parties understood the moral stakes of confronting communism.
Communism ultimately collapsed because it denied the most essential of truths: our rights come not from government, but from God. When government claims ultimate authority over the individual, freedom inevitably gives way to coercion.
Communism’s record of death and destruction is carved into human history.
Josef Stalin’s forced collectivization starved millions, while millions more met death in the Soviet gulags. Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward produced the deadliest famine in recorded history, killing some 50 million people.
Castro imprisoned dissidents while generations of Cubans fled in search of freedom.
Hugo Chávez transformed one of Latin America’s wealthiest countries into an unmitigated economic and humanitarian disaster. Today, Nicaragua’s Marxist dictator Daniel Ortega openly declares there will be “no more elections.”
This is the inevitable outcome of socialism. Yet, despite the clear lessons of history, socialism is finding an audience among the American Left.
Far-Left candidates are gaining ground, winning elections, and shaping the direction of the Democratic Party. Politicians who once would have been dismissed as ideological outliers are increasingly treated as the party’s rising stars. In New York City, Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) standard-bearer and Mayor Zohran Mamdani has publicly endorsed “<a href="https://www.hoover.org/research/look-mamdanis-economic-ideas">seizing the means of production</a>.” In Michigan, Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed — backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — has the Democratic establishment on the ropes. Across the country, progressive candidates are aggressively challenging longtime Democratic incumbents, while many of the party’s traditional moderates have retreated, accommodated, or simply lost influence.
The success of these candidates has come from selling government as the cure for every hardship to a generation that never learned the truth about communism and socialism.
DSA’s <a href="https://program.dsausa.org/">national program</a>, which declares capitalism a failure and states that “complete victory will require building a new society from the ground up,” promises a utopian socialist future without bills for “food, education, energy, medicine, and transportation.”
Of course, they conveniently omit that bills do not disappear. Government can pay them only by seizing the payment from someone else.
As government acquires the power to provide everything, it acquires the power to decide everything.
Conservatism begins with a different understanding. We believe every man, woman, and child is endowed by our Creator with rights that no government gave and no government may rightfully take away. Government exists to protect those rights, and to preserve the conditions for families, churches, communities, and free citizens to flourish.
That conviction has produced results no central planner could match. Free enterprise has lifted billions from poverty, unleashed innovation that has improved countless lives, and made America a beacon of hope for generations.
There is a bitter irony in socialism’s renewed appeal. America has been so successful that many young people can scarcely imagine the misery that would result from its absence. They never waited in a bread line, feared a knock on their door in the middle of the night, or wondered whether speaking their minds might cost them their freedom. They inherited liberty without having witnessed the price that previous generations paid to preserve it.
When I think about my newest grandchild, I pray she inherits an America where faith remains free, where honest work is rewarded, and where government remembers that it serves the American people — not the other way around.
My generation watched communism lose its claim on the world because free people stood firm against it. This generation must now show the same confidence in the enduring truths that made America exceptional.
If we do, our grandchildren will inherit not merely a more prosperous nation, but a freer one.
That is the inheritance they deserve. And it is our responsibility to preserve it.
***
Mike Pence served as the 48th Vice President of the United States. He is founder of Advancing American Freedom and author of “What Conservatives Believe: Rediscovering the Conservative Conscience.”

U.S. Präsident Ronald Reagan in Berlin

Mike Pence: The Failed Creed Our Grandchildren Should Never Inherit

Communism

DW Opinion

Fidel Castro

John F. Kennedy (JFK)

Ronald Reagan

Zohran Mamdani

Many people have begun to worry about the state of American politics. They feel President Trump’s approval ratings have now dropped to 37% of the number of people in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, while the Democrat Party is being taken over by communists so that the country is careening helplessly into a fatal catastrophe that will leave us eating our pets for breakfast before we wage a Civil War that reduces the continent to a pool of blood and ashes. And, of course, all that’s true. But it’s no reason to panic. Well, it’s kind of a reason to panic. But if you just take a breath and then zoom in for a really close look at the situation, I think you’ll see a reason to panic really close, which hopefully will make it look like something else.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/andrew-klavan-show-ep-1290?elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-974735 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-1024x171.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-1024x171.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-300x50.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-768x128.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-1536x256.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now.jpg 1800w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
On the Republican side, the problem is the unpopular war in Iran. President Trump says he is holding off on hurling deadly missiles at Iran because he has managed to negotiate a peace deal with Iran’s supreme leader even though the leader is a Jew-hating Islamist whose slogan is &#8220;Death to America.&#8221; Iran’s supreme leader, however, says he hasn’t been negotiating with anyone, and the confused Trump is actually negotiating with a Democrat candidate for Congress, who is also a Jew-hating Islamist whose slogan is &#8220;Death to America,&#8221; so the mistake is understandable. Overall, the Iranians have sworn to continue to resist Trump’s attacks until the arrival of the apocalyptic Twelfth Imam, who is also a Democrat candidate for Congress. This means that Trump will have to continue hurling deadly missiles, except that we’re running out of deadly missiles so he may have to hurl something else deadly like Kamala Harris’s memoir or lettuce.
But while our munitions are running low, our military is trying to reform. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth was administering testosterone tests to the warriors until one of them lost his temper, beat the tester senseless, opened fire on his fellow soldiers with a machine gun, then sexually assaulted a female lieutenant while singing &#8220;God Bless the USA&#8221; at the top of his lungs, which fortunately, turned out to be the correct answer on the testosterone test.
With Trump distracted by the war, he hasn’t had a lot of free time in which to pressure Senate Majority Leader John Thune to, like, make a law or something, so Thune has been forced to find other ways to pass the time. To entertain himself, Thune has invented a new version of Charades in which the answer is always “A potted plant.” The way the game is played, Senate Majority Leader John Thune just stands there like a potted plant, and the other senators keep guessing that he’s Senate Majority Leader John Thune, until Thune reveals that, no, he’s actually a potted plant, whereupon everyone has a good laugh and goes on summer break.
With the Republicans in disarray, the Democrats have felt free to nominate congressional candidates who believe in socialism. The candidates are careful to explain that socialism is not the same as communism because in communism, millions of people starve to death while a leader with a bushy mustache shoots all his colleagues in the back of the head, whereas in socialism, there’s generally no bushy mustache.
The new Democrat candidates say their real platform is economic equality and hating Jews, and they’re all out of economic equality.
The new Democrats have found some common cause with former Right-wing figures like Tucker Carlson. Carlson has been subtly supporting the communists by interviewing such popular pro-communist celebrities as Satan. Tucker says that many Americans don’t realize that Satan actually loves Christians, especially with a little mustard and a smattering of relish, and he says Satan should not be silenced just because certain Zionist influencers are calling him Prince of Darkness, or because Prince of Darkness happens to be his official title. Tucker then let out that creepy high-pitched laugh of his, burst into flames and fell through the floor in a cloud of sulfurous smoke, increasing his audience by several million.
So I think it&#8217;s clear we can all avoid panicking about the state of American politics, if we just zoom in too close to see it properly, and then take heroin.

Michigan Senate Candidate Abdul El-Sayed Holds Rally In Detroit With Sen. Bernie Sanders And Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Hammer, Sickle, And Jihad: The Future Of The Democrat Party

Andrew Klavan

Donald Trump

Iran

John Thune

Pete Hegseth

satanic

Tucker Carlson

Conservatives love to talk about what’s wrong with my generation: why college kids are marching in support of terrorists, why they have so many genders, and why so many of them are impossibly woke. I’m sure there are plenty of reasons. But as a 13-year-old myself, I’m here to tell you that social media is the problem.
Social media platforms have always had some sway over what adults think politically, but now that kids are getting on them at younger and younger ages, kids are getting radicalized sooner.
We can spend hours arguing about whether kids should be on social media, but the reality is that most of them already are — and have been for some time. The result is that most people in my middle school can’t tell you anything about President Donald Trump or Republicans other than the fact that they’re supposedly evil.
Of course, my classmates have never read articles about this; they just watch short videos on various social media platforms and assume everything they hear is true. These videos twist words, tell lies, and change the narrative because it’s progressives telling the stories, and conservative videos aren&#8217;t on the algorithm.
The day after Charlie Kirk was shot, almost all of my grade had watched his murder on video multiple times. It was all anyone was talking about. But instead of making everyone feel sick, like it should have, it simply turned into a meme. Kids kept singing the viral Charlie Kirk song, not because they were honoring him but because they saw it online and thought it was funny. I asked some of my friends if they knew what Charlie stood for, and I wasn’t surprised that they had no idea. They probably still don’t know today.
Social media had not given them Charlie&#8217;s whole story, only the end. Watching social media turn his death into a meme shows how addictive social media is, and how thoroughly it brainwashes young minds.
It also shows that conservatives aren’t trying to reach kids my age. The internet is full of left-wing ideas, so it is not surprising that so many kids are growing up to have extreme views. Conservative adults worry that college kids are being brainwashed, but by the time these kids reach college, it may already be too late. When they get on social media at younger ages, they also get brainwashed earlier.
Middle schoolers today are already being propagandized from every angle: We go to school, where hyper-partisan teachers tell us we live on stolen land, and then we come home and watch videos about how terrible and evil conservatives are. Right now it’s college kids who are marching in the streets, but in the years to come, it will be my generation, and then the kids behind me who are barely in middle school.
We see a rainbow and think of Pride, and we see coed bathrooms and think it&#8217;s normal because conservatives aren’t making online content aimed at kids. People my age don’t see the other side, and they don’t have conservative voices to inspire them. Conservatives like to talk about the future, but it’s time they started reaching out to the kids who will be that future before it is too late. I wish I could say that rational thinking as we get older is enough to win over my generation, but the reality is the battle is already being fought, one swipe at a time. And right now, conservatives are losing.
But all hope is not lost. I have a front-row seat to what social media is doing to your kids, and it&#8217;s time for you to take a stand and keep them off social media platforms. They may push back, but I’m proof that they can live a completely normal and happy middle school life without it — or even a phone!
We should be learning our values from our family, our history, and our pastors, not letting influencers tell us how to live our lives and view our country. If your kids don&#8217;t have social media, keep it that way. If they’re already doomscrolling, get them to stop before it’s too late. And if you’re my age and happen to be reading this: I hope you put down your phone, go touch grass, and realize that America’s grass will always be greener.
***
A.H. Bell is a middle school student living a perfectly normal, happy life despite not having a cell phone.
This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/upstream" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream</a>, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.

Midsection of friends sharing smart phone in hallway at high school

I’m A Middle Schooler. Here’s The Biggest Threat To My Generation.

Bias

Cellphone bans

Charlie Kirk

Children

College

Leftism

Middle School

Social Media

New York City&#8217;s Democratic socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani has dismissed the entire advisory board of the Mayor’s Fund, removing a roster of business executives who helped raise private money for city projects.
The Mayor&#8217;s Fund to Advance New York City is a nonprofit that pulls in private-sector donations to support city initiatives. Mamdani became the first mayor in at least three administrations to dissolve the board of advisers in its entirety, saying that he planned to rebuild from the ground up.
&#8220;I commend you for your dedication and the benefit you have brought to our City as you conclude your tenure on the Mayor’s Fund Board of Advisors,&#8221; Mamdani&#8217;s letter, obtained by <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-03/mamdani-dismisses-business-leaders-advising-nyc-s-mayor-s-fund?taid=6a7119f2fbc22200010262af&amp;utm_campaign=trueanthem&amp;utm_content=business&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter">Bloomberg News</a>, read in part.
The list of prominent business leaders ousted from their roles, as <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/08/04/us-news/socialist-mamdani-launches-new-war-on-nyc-business-leaders-kicking-them-off-mayors-fund-that-backs-city-programs/">reported</a> by The New York Post, includes Richard Born, owner of BD Hotels; Jeffrey Gural, chairman of GFP Real Estate; Alex Katz, senior managing director at Blackstone Inc.; Edward Skyler, Citigroup Inc.’s head of enterprise services and public affairs; and James Whelan, president of the Real Estate Board of New York.
Economics professor Isabella Weber praised the move, saying it reduced the influence of business interests over city government.
&#8220;One of the beautiful things about Mamdani’s renewal of NYC government is that it shows how deeply business interests are usually baked into state capacity,&#8221; Weber wrote. &#8220;Why should private equity, banks and real estate interests advise a mayor on what to spend?&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
One of the beautiful things about Mamdani’s renewal of NYC government is that it shows how deeply business interests are usually baked into state capacity. 
Why should private equity, banks and real estate interests advise a mayor on what to spend? <a href="https://t.co/Mnr75JlglY">pic.twitter.com/Mnr75JlglY</a>
— Isabella M Weber (@IsabellaMWeber) <a href="https://x.com/IsabellaMWeber/status/2084575037240054001?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 4, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
But Bloomberg Philanthropies head James Anderson countered that the advisory board&#8217;s role was to drum up charitable donations, not to decide how those donations were spent.
&#8220;This is a mischaracterization,&#8221; Anderson wrote. &#8220;The Mayor&#8217;s Fund is designed to bring philanthropic resources to public priorities. Its advisory board has historically helped mobilize those resources — not determine public spending. Remaking the board is the mayor&#8217;s prerogative.&#8221;
&#8220;Treating public-private collaboration as evidence of capture may be red meat for the base, but it&#8217;s a poor theory of urban governance,&#8221; he added.
Mamdani is expected to fill the positions for his new board later this year. Mamdani senior advisor Dora Pekec told The New York Post that the administration is &#8220;reimagining how philanthropy can augment, but not replace, public dollars and public goods, and we are eager to share more about our new board of advisors later this year.&#8221;

Mayor Mamdani Commemorates America’s 250th Anniversary

Mamdani’s Latest Shake-Up Sends Business Leaders Packing

Business

New York

New York City

Democratic voters head to the polls Tuesday with an opportunity to deal a deathblow to their party establishment — or halt the socialist takeover of the party in its tracks.
Far-left firebrand Abdul El-Sayed and establishment favorite Haley Stevens are competing for the chance to take on Trump-endorsed Republican Mike Rogers. Stevens, a sitting Congresswoman, has the backing of major Democratic figures like Gretchen Whitmer and Chuck Schumer, but El-Sayed has seen an infusion of energy from Bernie Sanders and &#8220;the squad.&#8221;
The contentious election has become a microcosm of the ideological and racial divisions reshaping and causing headaches for the Democratic Party nationwide. Socialist supporters view El-Sayed as their best chance to prove the movement can win in a battleground state.
Since President Donald Trump’s reelection, the Democratic establishment has watched a radical insurgency storm the country, racking up one victory after another. Socialist Zohran Mamdani&#8217;s upset in New York City&#8217;s mayoral primary became the movement&#8217;s biggest breakthrough, while <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mamdanis-socialists-upset-incumbent-dems-in-house-primary-sweep">three DSA-backed leftists</a> in June upset longtime Democratic representatives. The socialist-aligned left also steamrolled its way through <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-trashes-the-socialist-poised-to-be-next-mayor-of-d-c">Washington, D.C.,</a> and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/socialist-hot-streak-continues-as-radical-leftist-unseats-15-term-democrat?author=Brecca+Stoll&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Socialist+Hot+Streak+Continues+As+Radical+Leftist+Unseats+15-Term+Democrat">Denver</a>, then succeeded in nominating Bernie Sanders-backed Graham Platner for the U.S. Senate in Maine, before an intense pressure campaign forced him out of the race.
With control of the Senate at stake, mainstream Democrats fear nominating El-Sayed could give Republicans a pickup opportunity in an otherwise wave year. Going into Election Day, El-Sayed holds a commanding lead in the primary, but could fare worse against Rogers according to the most recent polls. 
Streamer Hasan Piker, who believes America deserved the September 11 terrorist attacks, has emerged as one of the movement&#8217;s most influential cheerleaders, using his enormous online following to rally support for DSA-aligned candidates. He&#8217;s campaigned with El-Sayed down the home stretch of the primary after making it his mission to oust as many establishment Democrats as possible. Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, and other socialists have joined him. 
In many of those races, party leaders ultimately chose accommodation over confrontation, reluctantly uniting behind nominees they had once viewed as too extreme for the national brand.
Michigan marked the first exception. With control of the Senate at stake, party heavyweights lined up behind Stevens, a four-term congresswoman from the Detroit suburbs, in an all-out effort to stop former Detroit public health director El-Sayed. If they fail, it will be the greatest sign yet that the Democratic establishment’s old guard is losing its grip as the socialist-aligned left gains ground nationwide. 
High-profile establishment Democrats, including Michigan Governor Whitmer and South Carolina Congressman Jim Clyburn, have endorsed Stevens.
“Just like me, Haley will do whatever it takes to get things done for the people of Michigan, and we need her now more than ever,” Whitmer said in a video posted to X.
The congresswoman, who recently went viral for her quirky “stick it to them” slogan, celebrated the endorsement, calling Whitmer “a champion for our state” who understands “the stakes of this race.”
Meanwhile, Clyburn brought a racial component to the race. The South Carolina kingmaker who helped drag Joe Biden to his 2020 presidential nomination remarked that <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/james-clyburn-rips-el-sayed-205034507.html">there aren&#8217;t many black folks</a> at El-Sayed&#8217;s rallies.
In July, a black school board member supporting Stevens told El-Sayed to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/black-democrat-tells-muslim-senate-candidate-to-stop-speaking-arabic?author=Jacob+Wheeler&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Black+Democrat+Tells+Muslim+Senate+Candidate+To+Stop+Speaking+Arabic">stop speaking and playing Arabic music</a>, a viral moment that inflamed racial tensions. 
“The other candidate seems to be … doesn’t work a room. You have to know how to work the room. Don’t come out speaking only Arabic. Don’t come out with your Arabic music on,” Angie Smith said. “Represent everyone.”
That line of criticism against El-Sayed — who is backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) — infuriated leftists.
“This is insanely racist,” left-wing commentator Mehdi Hasan wrote on X. “Not only should this Angie Smith be asked to apologize, but @HaleyforMI should be asked to disown and condemn these racist remarks about @AbdulElSayed and Arab-Americans.”
If elected, El-Sayed would become America’s first Muslim senator. His parents are both Egyptian immigrants, and his father <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-islamist-marxist-takeover-of-middle-america">was a part-time imam.</a> His father-in-law is a founding committee member of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), which has close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, according to the federal government.
His background and hard-left platform — which includes Medicare for all, abolishing ICE, defunding the police, restructuring the U.S. Supreme Court, and raising taxes on billionaires — has galvanized the Democratic Party&#8217;s far-left base.
In the mold of other progressive primaries, Israel has emerged as the race&#8217;s defining issue. Stevens has embraced her identity as a &#8220;proud pro-Israel Democrat&#8221; and benefited from roughly $25 million in support from AIPAC and its allies, <a href="https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/forms/C00799031/2001984/se">according to FEC filings,</a> while El-Sayed has called Israel&#8217;s war in Gaza a &#8220;genocide&#8221; and opposes U.S. military aid to the country. 
At a recent debate, El-Sayed turned his ire on Stevens over a recent vote for U.S. military aid to Israel. “Just last week, our friend here voted to send $3.3 billion of your tax dollars to a foreign government. That is the pro quo that comes with a quid of $30 million spent by AIPAC,” El-Sayed said. 
Stevens fired back, saying El-Sayed “attacked me by name for purporting that the people of Palestine and the people of Israel deserve to live side by side, peacefully,” she said. “The goal is always long-term peace, and also, the prime minister of Israel has attacked me by name. Let me just say this: that the only thing that ever motivates my work is the people of Michigan, the people who I hear from.” 
No matter the winner, Republicans see the internal Democratic divisions as prime real estate come November. 
“The socialist takeover has its sights set on Michigan. That much is clear. They just have one major problem: we won’t let them get away with it.” Rogers said in a statement. He reportedly believes his campaign is in &#8220;good shape&#8221; to win if El-Sayed captures Tuesday&#8217;s Democratic nomination.

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