2026-06-20T16:16:36.563Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/20/politics/democratic-socialist-mayors-washington-dc-seattle-new-york
- 民主社会主义者珍妮丝·刘易斯·乔治赢得华盛顿特区民主党市长初选，这是与美国民主社会主义者组织（DSA）结盟的候选人最近一次选举胜利。
- 胜利范围不止华盛顿特区，民主社会主义者还在纽约市和西雅图的市长选举中获胜，并在洛杉矶的竞选中晋级。
- 温和派民主党人警告称，极左翼的胜利仅局限于美国最蓝的选区，并不反映民主党整体的立场。
本文由AI生成摘要，并经CNN编辑审核。
在华盛顿特区下任市长民主党初选之夜，珍妮丝·刘易斯·乔治驳斥了那些质疑她背后支持者运动的人。
尽管有人猜测她的支持者主要来自富裕的白人居民和华盛顿特区的新移民，但选举结果显示，身为黑人的刘易斯·乔治在整个特区获得了广泛支持。
“过去一年，我们组建了这座城市历史上最多元化的联盟，”刘易斯·乔治说道，她将基础支持者描述为组织者、环保主义者、护士、交通和联邦政府雇员以及清洁工。
“我们是民主党人，无党派人士，”她说，“还有民主社会主义者。”
华盛顿特区此前由更注重商业友好型政策的民主党市长穆丽尔·鲍泽执政12年，刘易斯·乔治的胜利是与美国民主社会主义者组织和极左翼结盟的候选人的最新选举胜利，这些候选人的竞选纲领广泛涉及住房和儿童保育等民生负担问题。
去年11月，纽约市的佐赫兰·曼达尼和西雅图的凯蒂·威尔逊在各自城市的市长选举中获胜。本月早些时候，洛杉矶市议员妮提亚·拉曼——同样是美国民主社会主义者组织成员——在该市市长选举中晋级决选，尽管现任市长凯伦·巴思努力推举共和党对手、前真人秀明星斯宾塞·普拉特。
曼达尼正试图通过在周二的两场美国国会众议院初选中支持民主社会主义者，来扩大自己在纽约市的影响力，其中一场备受关注的对决是众议员阿德里亚诺·埃斯帕利亚与市长背书的候选人达丽莉扎·阿维拉·谢瓦利埃之间的竞争。
周四，曼达尼与他支持的初选候选人集会，抨击民主党陷入“陈旧的思维模式”，这将导致未来选举失利。
“坦率地说，这会在南卡罗来纳州和新罕布什尔州失利，”他提到传统的总统初选早期州时说，“民主党将无法获得270张选举人票，因为代表过去的政党无法引领我们走向未来。”
目前正在华盛顿特区西北部竞选市议员席位的民主社会主义者阿帕尔娜·拉杰认为，民主党必须提出前瞻性的政见。
“如果我们要提供积极的愿景和替代方案，与特朗普和威权主义抗衡，我们就必须真正为民众提供值得投票支持的积极事物，”她说，“那就是让民众看到当选官员关心劳动人民。”
但温和派民主党人警告不要过度解读美国民主社会主义者组织的胜利，他们认为极左翼的成功仅局限于美国最蓝的选区，他们的政策在倾向共和党或摇摆的选区没有共鸣。
“他们确实在这些非常、非常蓝的地区取得了一些成功，但这并不代表民主党在全国其他地区的立场，”第三路智库负责公共事务的执行副总裁马特·贝内特说，“对民主党来说，危险在于该党过度解读这些选举中发生的情况。”
民主社会主义者影响力的增长之际，民主党正在纠结什么样的领导人更具选举竞争力，以及除了誓言反对总统唐纳德·特朗普之外，还有哪些信息最能打动选民。其他民主党占优的城市采取了不同的做法。
在旧金山，2024年选民否决了温和派 incumbent伦敦·布里德和该竞选活动的知名进步派旗手亚伦·佩斯克金，转而选择了李维斯继承人、慈善高管丹尼尔·卢里，他以政治局外人的身份参选。卢里因关注街道状况、公共安全和政府效率而获得两党赞誉。
但在芝加哥，2023年当选的市长布兰登·约翰逊——虽非民主社会主义者，但当选时得到了组织者的赞扬——面临着旷日持久的预算之争，以及与市议会在房产税问题上的激烈斗争。芝加哥学区的诉讼和人员混乱，加上教师与服务雇员工会之间的 simmering 争端，削弱了他的核心支持基础。
在纽约，民主社会主义者试图反驳“他们的成功仅限于特定地区”的说法。
“美国民主社会主义者组织的选举变革理论，其实是从最低级别公职开始培养人才梯队，”该组织全国政治委员会联合主席阿西克·西迪基告诉CNN。
西迪基提到了刘易斯·乔治等领导人的崛起，刘易斯·乔治2020年首次当选华盛顿特区市议员，曼达尼则在同年首次当选纽约州议会议员。
在纽约州第7选区，众议员妮迪亚·贝拉斯克斯宣布不再寻求连任，曼达尼支持州议员、民主社会主义者克莱尔·巴尔德斯，对抗现任市长背书的布鲁克林区长安东尼奥·雷诺索。
在第10选区，他还支持前市主计长布拉德·兰德——一名进步派人士，曾是对手后来转为盟友——挑战现任众议员丹尼尔·戈德曼。
纽约市美国民主社会主义者组织联合主席古斯塔沃·戈尔迪略表示，6月23日初选的结果将为那些不确定曼达尼的胜利是否是偶然的政治建制派成员提供佐证。
“他们都在密切关注，‘我们必须多认真地对待这些人？’”他说，“我们认为，本次选举周期的表现将有助于解答这些问题。”
已有证据表明，曼达尼的崛起推动了当地政党的发展。戈尔迪略说，纽约市美国民主社会主义者组织的成员从支持曼达尼时的5900人增长到了如今的1.4万人。
雷诺索表示，尽管华盛顿特区民主党市长初选是进步左翼与更温和派候选人、前 at-large 市议员肯扬·麦克达菲之间的较量，但纽约第7和第13选区的选举是“左翼和更左翼之间的竞争”。
他和贝拉斯克斯都是曼达尼的早期支持者。雷诺索的政治基础包括进步派的工作家庭党，这是去年支持曼达尼的运动的一部分。
“当选他的联盟非常广泛和庞大，要击败建制派，必须如此，我们都参与其中，”雷诺索告诉CNN，“我们在这里是一家人，所以我们只是为社区而战的兄弟姐妹。”
对于当选公职的民主社会主义者来说，他们的政府在试图兑现竞选承诺时，必须应对执政的现实。
自称民主社会主义者的威尔逊在2025年11月击败了温和派 incumbent西雅图市长布鲁斯·哈雷尔。威尔逊将自己定位为反对哈雷尔对公共安全和营地清理的更严厉态度，这让人联想到曼达尼的竞选策略。
然而，自上任以来，威尔逊发现自己不得不在对宽大政策的反对声中，对一个位于西雅图知名十字路口的露天毒品市场实施打击。
“加强警力是新举措的一部分，但我们知道，我们无法通过逮捕解决所有这些问题，”威尔逊在本周的一份声明中写道。
在纽约市，曼达尼在其议程上取得了一些进展，包括为幼儿教育争取到12亿美元的州级投资，而其他竞选承诺，如取消公共巴士车费，则陷入停滞。今年4月，在庆祝上任百日之际，曼达尼重申了自己的民主社会主义立场。
“我知道很多人把‘社会主义’当作脏话，一件值得羞耻的事，”曼达尼说，“他们可以想尽一切办法，但我们不会为利用政府为多数人而非少数人奋斗而感到羞耻。”
预计刘易斯·乔治在11月的决选中几乎没有对手，她誓言要降低水电账单、建造数万套新的经济适用房，并推行全民负担得起的儿童保育政策。
她还表示，与现任政府相比，她将采取更具对抗性的方式对抗特朗普政府，以保护华盛顿特区的自治权。但这也需要一种平衡策略，只有在执政后才能显现出来。在周二选举前，总统威胁称，如果刘易斯·乔治获胜，将接管该特区的联邦政府。
“最终，我们无法仅仅通过预先顺从，就能捍卫我们的自治权并为华盛顿特区的建州权而战，”刘易斯·乔治在周四的新闻发布会上说，“我也明确表示，我将与包括总统在内的任何人合作，以维护华盛顿特区居民的最佳利益。”
From New York to Seattle to DC, more cities are picking democratic socialist leaders
2026-06-20T16:16:36.563Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/20/politics/democratic-socialist-mayors-washington-dc-seattle-new-york
- Democratic socialist Janeese Lewis George won the Democratic primary for mayor of Washington, DC, marking the latest electoral success for candidates aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America.
- The victories extend beyond DC, with democratic socialists winning mayoral races in New York City and Seattle and advancing in Los Angeles.
- Moderate Democrats caution that the far left’s successes are limited to the bluest parts of the country and don’t reflect where the broader party stands.
AI-generated summary was reviewed by a CNN editor.
On the night of the Democratic primary to be the next mayor of Washington, DC, Janeese Lewis George pushed back on those who doubted the movement that had formed behind her.
Despite speculation that she was primarily drawing support from wealthier, White residents and DC transplants, election results showed that Lewis George, who is Black, won wide support across the district.
“Over the past year, we assembled the most diverse coalition in this city’s history,” Lewis George said, describing a base that included organizers, environmentalists, nurses, transit and federal workers and janitors.
“We are Democrats, independents,” she said. “And democratic socialists.”
Lewis George’s victory in the nation’s capital — after 12 years of the more business-friendly administration of Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser — marks the latest electoral success for candidates aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America and the far left, running broadly on addressing affordability issues like housing and childcare.
Last November, Zohran Mamdani of New York City and Katie Wilson of Seattle won mayoral elections in their cities. Earlier this month, Los Angeles city councilmember Nithya Raman, also a DSA member, advanced to the general election in her city’s mayoral race, despite efforts by incumbent Mayor Karen Bass to elevate a Republican rival, former reality show star Spencer Pratt.
Mamdani is trying to extend his influence in New York City by backing democratic socialists in two US House primaries on Tuesday, including a high-profile test between Rep. Adriano Espaillat and the mayor’s endorsed candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier.
Rallying with his slate of primary candidates on Thursday, Mamdani ripped the Democratic Party as stuck in an “old way of thinking” that would lose future elections.
“Frankly, it will lose in South Carolina and New Hampshire,” he said, referencing traditional early presidential primary states. “It will fall short of 270 electoral votes, because the party of the past will not be what leads us into the future.”
Aparna Raj, a democratic socialist who is currently leading her primary for a council seat in Northwest Washington, argued Democrats must offer a forward-looking message.
“If we are going to provide a positive vision, and a positive alternative, in comparison to Trump and authoritarianism, we have to actually provide a positive thing for people to vote for,” she said. “And that is people seeing that elected officials care about working people.”
But moderate Democrats caution against reading too much into the DSA’s wins, arguing that the far left’s successes are limited to the bluest parts of the country and their policies don’t resonate in Republican-leaning or swing districts.
“It is certainly true that they’ve had some success in these very, very blue areas, but that is not indicative of where the broader party is in the rest of the country,” said Matt Bennett, the executive vice president for public affairs at Third Way, a center-left think tank. “The danger for Democrats is that the party massively over-interprets what is happening in these races.”
The growth in democratic socialists’ influence comes as Democrats are grappling with what kind of leaders are more electable and what messages will resonate most with voters beyond vowing to oppose President Donald Trump. Other heavily Democratic cities have taken different approaches.
In San Francisco, voters rejected both the moderate incumbent, London Breed, and the race’s prominent progressive standard-bearer, Aaron Peskin, in 2024, pivoting instead to Daniel Lurie, a Levi Strauss heir and philanthropic executive who ran as a political outsider. Lurie has drawn bipartisan praise amid his focus on street conditions, public safety and government efficiency.
But in Chicago, Mayor Brandon Johnson, who isn’t a democratic socialist but was celebrated by organizers when he was elected in 2023, has faced a protracted budget battle and bitter fights with the city council over property taxes. Lawsuits and staffing chaos at the Chicago school board, paired with simmering disputes between the teachers and service employees’ unions, have eroded key bases of support.
In New York, democratic socialists are seeking to push back on the idea that their success is limited.
“DSA’s electoral theory of change is really about starting from building the bench at the lowest levels of office,” Ashik Siddique, the DSA’s national political committee co-chair, told CNN.
Siddique pointed to the rise of leaders like Lewis George, who was first elected to DC’s council in 2020, and Mamdani, who was first elected to the New York state assembly the same year.
In the 7th District, where Rep. Nydia Velázquez announced she won’t seek re-election, Mamdani is backing state assemblymember and democratic socialist Claire Valdez against Brooklyn borough president Antonio Reynoso, who was endorsed by the incumbent.
And in the 10th District, he’s also backing former city comptroller Brad Lander, a progressive and primary rival-turned-ally, against incumbent Rep. Daniel Goldman.
Gustavo Gordillo, the co-chair of the New York City DSA, said the results of the June 23 primaries will serve as a proof point for members of the political establishment who aren’t sure if Mamdani’s win was a fluke.
“They’re paying attention closely to see, ‘How seriously do we have to take these people?’” he said. “We think that our performance this election cycle will help decide those questions.”
There’s already evidence that Mamdani’s rise has built up the party locally. The New York City DSA chapter grew from 5,900 members when it endorsed Mamdani to 14,000 members today, Gordillo said.
While the DC Democratic primary for mayor was a contest between the progressive-left and a more centrist candidate, former at-large councilmember Kenyan McDuffie, the elections in New York’s 7th and 13th Districts are between the “left and further left,” said Reynoso.
He and Velázquez were early supporters of Mamdani. Reynoso’s political base, which includes the progressive Working Families Party, was part of the movement that backed Mamdani last year.
“The coalition to get him elected was very broad and expansive. It had to be to take down the establishment, and we were all a part of that,” Reynoso told CNN. “We’re family in here, so we’re just a brother and a sister fighting for community.”
For the democratic socialists who’ve been elected to office, their administrations have had to navigate the realities of governing as they try to implement their campaign promises.
Wilson, a self-described democratic socialist, ousted moderate incumbent Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell in November 2025. Encouraging Mamdani comparisons, Wilson positioned herself against Harrell’s more punitive approach to public safety and encampment sweeps.
Since taking office, however, Wilson now finds herself directing a crackdown on an open-air drug market in a high-profile Seattle intersection, amid pushback to leniency policies.
“While increased police presence is one part of this new approach, we know we can’t arrest our way out of these problems,” Wilson wrote in a statement this week.
In New York City, Mamdani has made some progress on his agenda, including a $1.2 billion state investment in early childhood education, while other campaign promises like making public buses free have stalled. As he marked his first 100 days in office in April, Mamdani doubled down on his democratic socialist politics.
“I know there are many who use ‘socialist’ as a dirty word, something to be ashamed of,” Mamdani said. “They can try all they want, but we will not be ashamed of using government to fight for the many, not simply the few.”
Lewis George, who is expected to face minimal opposition in the November general election, has vowed to lower utility bills, build tens of thousands of new affordable housing units and implement universal affordable childcare.
And she has said she would take on a more combative approach against the Trump administration than the current mayoral administration to protect DC’s autonomy. But that, too, will require a balancing act that will only become apparent in office. Ahead of Tuesday’s election, the president threatened a federal takeover of the district if Lewis George won.
“We are not going to be able to stand up for our autonomy and fight for DC statehood, ultimately, by just complying in advance,” Lewis George said during a press conference Thursday. “I’ve also been very clear that I will work with anyone, including the president, for the best interests of DC residents.”