Voters in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., have added their cities to the ranks of American cities run by socialists. You can only hope that those voters get everything they voted for, just as voters in other socialist-run cities have before them.
Los Angeles voters chose to dump Mayor Karen Bass, herself a sympathizer of Cuba’s communist regime, in favor of Democratic Socialists of America member Nithya Raman. Raman is just as guilty of the city’s failures as Bass, having served on the city council, and the biggest difference between the two is that Raman is more accepting of unsanitary, dangerous homeless encampments popping up around the city.
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Meanwhile, voters in Washington, D.C., elected Janeese Lewis George, a socialist who has promised more spending despite the city already facing a $680 million budget gap. Lewis George is also a DSA member who sat on her city’s council and has cheered the hobbyist protesters in Minnesota, stating, “Imagine what it would be like to have a Mayor who was helping to lead the resistance.” Lewis George wants the National Guard members who have helped drive down the district’s crime to be taken off the streets.
Other cities have already thrown themselves to the socialist wolves, with predictable results. Chicago elected Brandon Johnson in 2023, a socialist in all but the label he gives himself. His election followed a similar path to Raman’s, with voters choosing the more left-wing candidate to replace the already very far-left incumbent (in this case, Lori Lightfoot). Chicago’s schools are failing, the city has no grasp on its rampant crime problem, and city leaders have still failed to handle the budget crisis they have been wrestling with for years. As of October, Johnson had an approval rating of 22%, with his disapproval sitting at 53%.
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Seattle elected socialist Katie Wilson in 2025, another far-left candidate replacing the left-wing incumbent. With Seattle’s downtown hollowed out and residents wanting to move out because of taxes and a lack of affordability, Wilson came into office promising higher taxes, more rent control, and more tolerance for homeless encampments. Wilson even came into office promoting a boycott of Starbucks, the iconic Washington state company that employs thousands of Seattle residents and provides the city with a large chunk of tax revenue.
Combine that with New York City socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani pushing ahead with his tax and rent control policies that will drive more residents out of the Big Apple, and you have a who’s who of major American cities under the thumb of socialist policies that have a proven track record of failure. Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles were both failing cities already, but Chicago has shown that it can always get worse. Now, those cities join the rest on the socialist trajectory, and no one will be able to argue that those voters aren’t getting exactly what they voted for.