While the Democratic Party focuses on campaigning against President Donald Trump in a desperate bid to bolster popularity ahead of November’s midterm elections, Democratic Socialists are surging in the party’s primaries.

Tuesday saw Democratic Socialist Darializa Avila Chevalier and socialist-aligned candidates Claire Valdez and Brad Lander advance in Democratic congressional primaries to represent New York in the U.S. House of Representatives. Chevalier defeated incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat and Lander defeated incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman, while Valdez defeated more moderate candidates in the open race to succeed retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez. Both Chevalier and Valdez were backed by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), and Chevalier, Valdez, and Lander were all three endorsed by socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D). DSA-endorsed candidates also won 10 primary races for the New York state legislature.

In Washington, D.C., progressive candidate Janeese Lewis George won the Democratic primary to succeed outgoing Muriel Bowser (D) as mayor, while socialist-aligned progressive city councilwoman Nithya Raman (D) advanced to the runoff in the Los Angeles mayoral election, facing off against incumbent Mayor Karen Bass (D) in the general election later this year.

The advance of Mamdani-backed socialist candidates has reportedly caused some tension between the Ugandan-born Muslim mayor and Democratic congressional leadership, although House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) has tried to publicly minimize the conflict. “I don’t think we’re on opposite pages. You can ask him whether he thinks we’re on opposite pages. He doesn’t believe we’re on opposite pages,” Jeffries said Tuesday, according to Axios. “A handful of primaries that go in one direction or the other in a given state or two aren’t going to reshape who we are as House Democrats.”

In comments to The Washington Stand, FRC Action Director Matt Carpenter said that progressive DSA-aligned candidates feel “emboldened” by the success of figures like Mamdani. “Apparently, Democrat primary voters, upset at the direction of their city, state, or district, have decided that the real change they need is a further left, more authentically socialist government,” he observed. “While it’s a given these voters will be disappointed by the socialism they usher in, it’s unclear how this will impact the electability of Democrats in statewide races or running for suburban seats.”

“Will suburban voters with mortgages, who view things like property rights and privately owned grocery stores as positives, vote for Mamdani-style leftist socialism? I doubt it,” Carpenter anticipated. “The leftward lurch we’ve seen in New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C., will be a detriment to Democrats running statewide in states like Georgia, North Carolina, and Texas. I suspect this explains the reluctance of national Democrats, like Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, to embrace the new socialist and socialist-adjacent candidates in their party.”

While Jeffries and others may be hesitant to embrace their party’s growing socialist wing, influential progressives like Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) are heralding the rise of DSA-backed candidates as a sure path to victory. “The reality is that our platform of a new deal is resonating,” Khanna trumpeted on social media, following the wins by Chevalier, Valdez, and Lander. “It’s a platform that says no to foreign wars, no to genocide, but it’s also a platform that says yes: yes to Medicare for all, yes to childcare for all, yes to unions for all, and yes to a tax on billionaires and trillionaires.” He added, “Our message to the oligarchs: bring it on.”

Others, like Muslim Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), praised the DSA-aligned victories. “We are very lucky to have a principled leader and someone who understands who it means to be a leader carrying for their whole constituency,” Omar said in a social media post riddled with errors, congratulating Chevalier, who is a convert to Islam. “Congratulations sis and welcome to Congress!” She added, “Alhamdulillah,” a phrase which means, “All praise be to Allah.”

Over the past two years, following Trump’s 2024 election victory, Democrats have been grappling with losing both the electoral college and popular vote to Trump and both the House of Representatives and the Senate to Republicans. While some strategists have stressed that attacking Trump is not a winning strategy on its own — and risks imperiling the party when Trump is no longer on the ticket in 2028 — both moderate Democratic voters and independent voters have reported that the Democrats are too extreme on a host of issues — chiefly immigration and gender transitions for children, but also longstanding Democratic Party issues like abortion.

The “civil war” within the ranks of the Democratic Party has allowed for the rise of far-left, openly socialist figures like Mamdani, whose hyper-progressive policies are likely to further alienate an even broader swath of voters, both in the critical midterm elections and in the 2028 general election.