Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) declared Monday that the surge of democratic socialist candidates in Democratic primaries represents a long-overdue shake-up for a party that voters saw as part of the establishment. In an appearance on Fox News's "America's Newsroom," de Blasio argued that the Democratic Party needed a jolt after the 2024 election, when President Trump successfully positioned himself as an anti-status quo figure.
"I think what we're seeing here is insurgency, and the Democratic Party, bluntly, needed insurgency. We needed a change, because what happened in 2024, people saw the Democratic Party as part of the status quo that they did not like. Ironically, Trump seemed like the guy who was ready to break the status quo. Now the tables have turned," de Blasio said.
He added that Trump has become the face of the establishment. "Trump is the status quo guy. Trump sounds like Joe Biden right now, bluntly."
The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.
The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) have gained fresh momentum after a string of primary victories. Last year, Zohran Mamdani won the New York City mayoral race, and the group scored two more notable House primary wins last week. The movement traces its modern rise to Bernie Sanders's 2016 presidential campaign, which brought democratic socialism into the mainstream, and later to Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's 2018 victory. Ocasio-Cortez is now widely seen as a potential 2028 presidential contender.
Now, the DSA is zeroing in on Colorado, where Tuesday's primary will test the movement's strength. Melat Kiros, a former attorney and leftist candidate, is challenging longtime Representative Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) in a Denver-based House district. The race has drawn national attention as a bellwether for the progressive wing's ability to unseat moderate incumbents.
The rise of democratic socialism has exposed deep rifts within the Democratic Party. Some moderates, like Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.), have warned that the party is being "taken over" by a far-left fringe, while others argue that the shift is a necessary response to voter frustration with corruption and inequality. De Blasio's comments align with the latter view, framing the insurgency as a corrective to the party's 2024 failure.
Meanwhile, Trump has escalated his attacks on democratic socialists, calling them "the biggest threat since the founding" of the United States. The former president's rhetoric underscores how the issue is becoming a central fault line in American politics, with both parties grappling with internal and external challenges to their identities.
