Certified post election tallies confirm that Democratic Socialists of America endorsed candidates won 79 offices nationwide, including the mayoral races in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Nithya Raman won in Los Angeles and Janeese Lewis George won in Washington, alongside 51 state legislative seats across the country.
Why it matters
The results extend a midterm story that has been building for a week. Democrats seized control of both chambers of Congress in the November 3 elections, and the mayoral wins show the energy on the left reaching into city halls as well. The socialist endorsed candidates ran on housing, affordability and public services, and they won in two of the largest cities in the country.
The Ohio legislature added a different note to the same count. The Republican controlled body passed a bill removing short barrelled rifles, shotguns and suppressors from state regulation, and sent it to the governor. The contrast between the two results captures a country moving in different directions at the same time.
What happens next
The mayoral wins will be watched closely because big city mayors govern in public every day. Raman and Lewis George will now have to deliver on the promises that won them office, from housing to policing to budgets, under the scrutiny that comes with running Los Angeles and the national capital.
For now, the count is certified and the winners are set. The question is whether the mayoral victories mark a lasting shift in urban politics or a single election cycle. The next test will come when the new mayors take office and their first budgets reach the council floor.
The midterm results behind the mayoral wins were broad. Democrats firmly seized control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives in the November 3 elections, in what many have called a blue tsunami. The mayoral victories in Los Angeles and Washington show that energy reaching into city halls as well as Congress, with candidates running on housing, affordability and public services. The 51 state legislative seats add to a picture of a left that won up and down the ballot, while the Ohio gun bill shows the right advancing its own agenda in the states it controls. The two results together capture a country moving in different directions at the same time.
