America’s big cities are starting to look like socialist recruitment posters. Zohran Mamdani in New York City. Kate Wilson in Seattle. Aftyn Behn circling Nashville. Janeese Lewis George in Washington, D.C. If you didn’t know better, you’d think voters suddenly wanted mayors who sound like they’re auditioning for a campus protest.

When the Old Guard Fades, the Ideologues Move Fast

Nothing about this is surprising. When a city collapses, someone will always step in claiming they can fix it, even if they helped break it.

BREAKING: A self-described democratic socialist is running to be the next mayor of Washington, D.C.

D.C. Councilmember Janeese Lewis George announced her campaign Monday, just days after Mayor Muriel Bowser revealed she won’t seek reelection to a fourth term. George, who grew… pic.twitter.com/wyIqjqJCCL

— Off The Press (@OffThePress1) December 1, 2025

Janeese Lewis George is what happens when a political party stops believing in its own values. She calls herself a Democrat on paper but sells herself as a socialist when the cameras roll. She uses the Democratic label for legitimacy and uses the socialist label for clout. Democrats let her do it because they no longer know where their party ends and the activist fringe begins. She is not an outsider storming the gates. She is the inside taking on the shape of the fringe. If voters want to see the future of the Democratic Party, they should look at Janeese. She is not a warning sign. She is the confirmation.

New Yorkers kept telling me the same thing: they’re thinking of leaving because they can’t afford to raise their kids here. Universal childcare isn’t just a promise — it’s how we make this a city for everyone. pic.twitter.com/3A2fLgOJ6w

— Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@ZohranKMamdani) December 1, 2025

Meet Katie Wilson, Seattle’s new Democratic socialist mayor who wants to defund the police and up taxes for social housing. She is 43, and her parents still pay some of her bills.

The Democrats had two “Democratic” candidates running against each other in NYC, and the crazier… pic.twitter.com/D5nijn4Aud

— Avery Daye (@AveryDaye) November 14, 2025

Democrats ran these cities for decades.

Democrats controlled the budgets, the agencies, the schools, the housing departments, the police oversight boards, the zoning commissions, and the entire machine. That machine broke in slow motion. Housing became impossible. Crime became a guessing game. Public schools slipped into chaos. Taxes went up while services went down. People got tired of the excuses. When a party governs with no competition, it stops governing. That’s exactly what happened here.

If you want a preview of where this movement is heading, this clip says it all.

A Crisis Becomes the Opening

Socialists understand timing in a way Democratic leaders never do. Exhaustion becomes the momentum. The moment people stop believing the old promises, the activists show up and present themselves as the bold alternative. Their ideas do not fix anything, but the certainty in their message lands in a political climate where Democratic leaders sound unsure of their own.

A quick sidenote worth mentioning. National media barely covers these local races. Local news shrank. National outlets chase federal drama. Nobody is watching city halls anymore. That silence gives socialist candidates an easy path with almost no scrutiny.

This Isn’t Random

This trend is not isolated. Cities are becoming training grounds for the activist left. Local office lets them test ideas before anyone notices the results. A mayor can shift policing priorities overnight. A council can rewrite zoning laws with a single vote. These changes happen quietly and quickly. Once one city tolerates the experiment, they move it to the next.

Democrats want people to believe this is a natural evolution inside the party. It is not. It is a takeover happening in plain view while national leaders look away. Janeese Lewis George is proof. She calls herself a Democrat, campaigns as a socialist, and walks straight into a mayoral race with the full party label behind her. The activists push the agenda in the cities. The party pretends to be moderate on television. Regular people pay the price.

Voters deserve clarity. Socialist mayors are not rising because the ideology suddenly became popular. They are rising because Democrats created a vacuum. Decades of mismanagement left cities so hollowed out that the only candidates with energy and a plan were the extremists. A city pushed to the edge becomes easy to flip. A worn-out electorate becomes easy to sway. A broken system becomes easy to take over.

And unless something changes, more cities will fall the same way.

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