Are we looking at a socialist future in this nation? With the election of two big city socialist mayors in Seattle and New York, you have to wonder.

Today the current number of socialist officeholders is the highest it has been since 1912. As of 2025 more than 250 Democratic socialists hold public office in the United States. These include Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Greg Casar (D-Texas), Summer Lee (D-Pa.), and Danny K. Davis (D-Ill.) in the House. In the Senate there is of course the one and only Bernie Sanders (D-VT).

At the State Legislature level New York not surprisingly leads the way with the largest contingent of socialists with eight members. Minnesota’s legislature Includes three state socialist senators. Pennsylvania also has three socialist members and Colorado, and Rhode Island also have socialist members.

On the local level eight mayors are identified as socialists including Zohran Mamdani in New York City and Katie Wilson in Seattle. Nationwide, 96 city council members are socialists.

Most of the above officials run and serve as members of the Democratic Party or as independents caucusing with them rather than under a “Socialist” party banner. Many other members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus support socialist policies.

Their legislative focus centers on several key policy areas  Against all economic data available and common sense, they believe in taxing the wealthy by proposing significantly higher taxes on the largest earners, corporations, and inheritances, as well as establishing a wealth tax. In California a proposed “2026 Billionaire Tax Act” affecting 200 taxpayers is a potential November California ballot measure aiming to impose a one-time 5% tax on the net worth of residents with $1 billion or more. Many of the 200 are already seeking safe havens in Texas and Florida.

Socialists lead the push for free stuff like Medicare for all and tuition free public colleges with student debt cancellation while never explaining how these things will be paid for. They support national rent control and massive investment in public housing, which if you’ve been exposed to council housing in Great Britain or ugly public housing projects in the U.S. you know is not a good idea.

Socialists support “pie in the sky” programs like the Green New Deal that only lead to far higher energy bills for all and more vulnerable electric grids. They support public power generation despite the fact that the government has never been able to do anything as well or as cheaply as private enterprise.

In New York City, Mayor Mamdani, not even two months in office, is already faced with a budget short fall of $5.4 billion. This comes after placing a hiring freeze on the NYPD and reducing funding by $22 million while allocating $1.1 billion for his so-called Department of Community Safety that would handle mental health crises and non-violent calls currently handled by police. He has also requested $5.6 million for an Office of Racial Equity, $1 billion for free childcare and over $25 million for an office specializing in climate change mitigation and “environmental justice,” whatever that means.

Gov. Kathy Hochul has said the state will give New York City $1.5 billion to help close the gap, but Mamdani also wants the state to increase taxes on corporations and the wealthy to further bridge the gap. In a move to pressure the governor to support higher taxes, he has said that a city property tax increase of 9.5% would be necessary. This of course would impact the middle class.

Support for socialism in the U.S. is characterized by a sharp generational and partisan divide, although it remains a minority view overall. I’m not surprised but for the first time, Democrats view socialism more favorably than capitalism, with 66% expressing a positive image of socialism compared to just 42% for capitalism. In contrast, only 14% of Republicans view socialism positively. What is troubling is that 54% favor capitalism which is down from 60% in 2020.

Younger generations show significantly higher affinity for socialist ideas. According to Cato/YouGov and Axios polling 62% of adults aged 18-29 have a favorable view of socialism. Among college students, 67% report a positive or neutral association with the term. About 51% of voters aged 18-39 would like to see a democratic socialist win the 2028 presidential election.

While we should be concerned that 66% of Democrats have warm feelings for socialism I am not surprised. However, I find the polling results for college students and those aged 19 to 39 very concerning. Somewhere along the way Gen Z and Millennials have drunk the Kool-Aid of socialism. For some it might have been provided by family and friends, but I’ll bet that much of it was offered by high school teachers and later by college faculties who spent more time propagandizing students rather than teaching. The proof of this may be in how poorly students do on standardized tests, and the problems colleges and universities have with reading and writing skills among incoming freshmen.

We should also remember that in 1999 Venezuela elected socialist/communist Hugo Chávez as president and went from being the most prosperous nation in Latin America to the poorest. I hope we are not on the verge of a socialist future for the sake of generations to come.

Thomas Kirkpatrick Sr. is a Silver Creek resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com