Four Big Cities Go Hard Left

City Hall sign in front of a red-brick municipal building — Photo: The Brownfowl collection / Shutterstock

Socialists now run two more major American cities, pushing their takeover of big-city government to four coast-to-coast wins in a single election cycle.

Story Snapshot

Nithya Raman, a Democratic Socialists of America member, defeated incumbent Mayor Karen Bass in Los Angeles.
Janeese Lewis George won the Washington, D.C., mayor’s race by a landslide margin.
The wins add Los Angeles and D.C. to a list that already includes New York City and Seattle.
The Democratic Socialists of America focus heavily on local races, not just headline-grabbing big cities.

Los Angeles Flips to a Democratic Socialist

Nithya Raman, a Los Angeles city councilmember and member of the Democratic Socialists of America, defeated incumbent Mayor Karen Bass on November 3, 2026. NBC News reported Raman won 514,900 votes, or 53.6%, to Bass’s 446,407 votes, or 46.4%. The Associated Press called it an upset likely to reshape the nation’s second-largest city.

The Associated Press described Bass as “embattled” heading into the race, a sign of months of criticism over her leadership. Voters in one of the country’s most Democratic cities still chose to push further left rather than keep their sitting mayor. That decision should worry anyone who thought Los Angeles had hit rock bottom on crime, homelessness, and basic city management.

Washington Gives a Landslide to the Left

Janeese Lewis George, a D.C. Council member, won the Washington, D.C., mayor’s race after beating Robert L. Gross and independent candidate Rhonda Hamilton. The New York Times reported Lewis George took 161,352 votes, or 84.4%, compared with Hamilton’s 19,149 votes, or 10.0%. NBC News confirmed she was projected the winner of the race.

That margin leaves no room for debate about where D.C. voters stand. Multiple outlets described Lewis George as a Democratic Socialists of America member, placing her squarely in the same political camp as Raman. Running the nation’s capital, she now controls policy over federal workers, local police, and a city that already struggles with crime and homelessness.

A Four-City Pattern Takes Shape

Raman and Lewis George join two other democratic socialist mayors already running major American cities. Reporting named Zohran Mamdani in New York City and Katie Wilson in Seattle as part of the same wave. Together, these four cities hold millions of residents now governed by officials tied to an organization that openly rejects free-market capitalism.

🇺🇲 BREAKING: Democratic Socialists are gaining ground in American politics.

Following Tuesday’s elections, DSA members Nithya Raman in Los Angeles and Janeese Lewis George in Washington, D.C., have won mayoral races.

They join New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Seattle…

— M.A.Waseem (@WaseemAnderson) November 7, 2026

The Democratic Socialists of America doesn’t just chase mayor’s races. Internal reporting shows nearly 90% of the group’s tracked 2026 wins came in state and local contests like city councils and school boards, often by running inside Democratic primaries against sitting incumbents. Low-turnout city elections reward the kind of disciplined door-knocking and volunteer networks the group has built for years, letting a small, organized movement claim outsized power over how America’s biggest cities are run.