“We have had folks on the doors who see us wearing Democratic Socialist gear, like hats or shirts, and they’ll say, ‘Oh, DSA, like Zohran,’” he says.
Democrats far outnumber Republicans in the nation’s capital, meaning the winner of the Democratic primary is expected to easily be elected mayor in November.
“I wouldn’t like it, and maybe we’ll take back Washington and run it on the federal basis,” Trump said last week. “We won’t put up with it. We’re not going to lose our business.”
The DSA’s expanding influence is evident in its growing membership, which counted only about 5,000 members as recently as 2016, according to Megan Romer, national co-chair of the DSA. The organization has seen a significant bump in membership since the second Trump administration as well as Mamdani’s victory, she says, rising from around 70,000 in 2025 to more than 100,000 now. Romer said the new members are largely young and urban, often living in places where democratic socialists already hold office.
