Washington Examiner columnist Joe Concha said socialist candidates are increasingly taking control of the Democratic Party’s political coalition, arguing that the party’s establishment is facing a generational shift.
Concha weighed in on the Democratic Party and its internal divisions between establishment and progressive wings. He predicted that more major American cities will elect socialist candidates, pointing to recent victories and gains by progressive politicians in Democratic strongholds.
“I think more American cities — they’re going to elect socialists. You’re gonna see that in blue cities, across the country, like we saw in New York and Seattle and Washington, D.C.,” Concha said on Fox Business’s Varney & Company Monday.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s rise has become a prominent example of the leftward movement inside the Democratic Party. Mamdani won the nomination for mayor in 2025, defeating former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Concha argued that Democratic leaders may have underestimated the influence of the socialist movement within their own coalition. “When you let these clowns in this big tent that they’re talking about, they’re gonna burn the tent down,” Concha said, arguing that the movement is not simply ideological but is developing the resources needed to challenge the Democratic establishment.
“Socialists don’t like the establishment Democrats almost as much as they dislike MAGA Republicans,” Concha said. “And the money, the momentum, the organization, is with that socialist movement right now.” Concha characterized the transformation as a long-term change in the party’s electorate and political identity.
‘SOCIALISM AND MARXISM IS SPREADING LIKE A MALIGNANT TUMOR:’ JOE CONCHA
“It is a generational shift,” Concha said, echoing a point made by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) on ABC News’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos on Sunday.
Concha also pointed to the Democratic National Committee’s financial problems, arguing that they could further complicate the party establishment’s ability to counter the progressive movement. “And the DNC is flat broke,” he said. “They’re drowning in debt.”