Zohran Mamdani is not unique. The democratic socialists are working here, too.
If we want to transform our city, our state, and our world, we must listen to the needs of working-class people and redefine what is possible together.
In the wake of Zohran Mamdani’s historic victory, there will be countless retrospectives about what makes him a strong candidate and how his singular talent was discovered.
As extraordinary a campaigner and coalition builder as Mamdani may be, candidates like him are not unique. They are made by political organizations like the Democratic Socialists of America — both in New York and in Philadelphia.
Over the past year, a broad movement coalesced around Mamdani to sweep him into office. But he did not emerge from a vacuum. He is the product of a decade-long organizing project built by the New York City chapter of DSA — where Mamdani began as a volunteer canvasser and ultimately became cochair of the electoral committee, which elected 11 candidates to local, state, and federal office.
In 2021, through a democratic process, the chapter decided to run Mamdani as part of a long-term plan to build political power and win reforms that improve the lives of working people.
As a DSA member who was elected to the state Senate in Pennsylvania, I can see this movement taking shape here at home.
While the electoral project of Philly’s DSA chapter is newer than New York‘s, our chapter built a similar model driven by a large base of volunteer members who democratically endorse candidates as part of a strategy to build power for working-class Philadelphians.
As socialist elected officials, we hold formal power, but in acting alone, we struggle with the status quo power entrenched within our economy and our government. To win the future our children deserve, we need to work alongside organized movements fighting both inside and outside the arena of elections.
My relationship with DSA did not end after my election day. As a member of our chapter’s Socialists in Office commission, I have been proud to join other elected colleagues in supporting organizing campaigns outside of electoral politics. In addition to electing six socialists — including David McMahon, who won a seat on the Norristown City Council on Tuesday — our chapter has helped tenants at West Philly’s Brith Sholom House organize against their landlord, winning a commitment from the city to preserve the 360-unit complex as affordable housing for seniors.
Our chapter’s members organized parents and teachers to build more than 100 air filters for classrooms in public schools, and won a commitment from the school district for a pilot program to improve indoor air quality across our schools. We sent more than 100 volunteers and raised $10,000 to support UNITE HERE workers on strike at the stadiums, and striking workers at Starbucks, UPS, and District Council 33, among others.
My colleagues on the commission — Councilmembers Kendra Brooks and Nicolas O’Rourke, and State Reps. Elizabeth Fiedler and Rick Krajewski — and I would not be able to succeed in campaigns like these without the organized workers, parents, or tenants who are integral to organized change.
Neighbors organized with Philly Thrive to shut down an oil refinery that was polluting surrounding neighborhoods. Parents organized with Lift Every Voice to restore nurses to every public school. Justice-impacted residents organized with Amistad Law Project to help pass city funding for mental health professionals as first responders to people in crisis.
A statewide coalition of 60 organizations rallied with the DSA chapter to pass my Whole-Home Repairs legislation in Harrisburg, which has helped keep thousands of low-income Pennsylvanians in their homes. A national model of it passed the United States Senate last month.
We cannot change the politics of the past without organizing elected officials into a coherent structure outside the institutions that created and uphold the status quo. This is the work that forges candidates like Mamdani and makes their victories possible.
If we want to transform our city, our state, and our world, we must push the bounds of what the powerful are willing to concede, listen to the needs of working-class people, and redefine what is possible together.
Mamdani’s victory has made clear that we can inspire our neighbors and reshape the electorate through a bold vision for universal changes that uplift the lives of an entire city.
The fight for a better world is not only possible — it has already begun.
Nikil Saval has been a state senator representing Pennsylvania’s 1st Senatorial District since winning his first election in 2020. He has been a Democratic Socialists of America member since 2014.