In Focus delivers deeper coverage of the political, cultural, and ideological issues shaping America. Published daily by senior writers and experts, these in-depth pieces go beyond the headlines to give readers the full picture. You can find our full list of In Focus pieces here.One by one, cities are falling in America.But this isn’t World War II in Europe, when Warsaw, then Oslo, Rotterdam, and Paris fell in a matter of months, starting with the Nazi blitzkrieg in September 1939. There is no military threatening the United States in the 2020s, but there is an ideological wave sweeping into its cities from New York to Seattle to Washington in the form of socialists Zohran Mamdani, Katie Wilson, and Jenesse Lewis George, respectively.
John Edwards, a Democrat once considered to be the second coming of John F. Kennedy, ran on a presidential campaign slogan of “two Americas” in 2004. Edwards ultimately didn’t win the nomination in 2004, but he was chosen as John Kerry’s running mate. Edwards continued his us-versus-them narrative throughout the campaign, including at the Democratic National Convention that year.At the convention, Edwards said, “We have much work to do, because the truth is, we still live in a country where there are two different Americas. One, for all of those people who have lived the American dream and don’t have to worry, and another for most Americans, everybody else who struggles to make ends meet every single day.”In the eyes of the Democrats in 2026, the message is essentially the same, albeit on steroids.“You can’t earn $1 billion,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) recently argued. “You can get market power. You can break rules. You can do all sorts of things. You can abuse labor laws. You can pay people less than what they’re worth. But you can’t earn that, right? And so … you have to create a myth of earning it.”That’s the Democratic narrative heading into the midterm elections, with early voting less than 100 days away. It’s a classic case of exploiting voters’ emotions, particularly younger adults, who believe a capitalistic system is rigged against them.Say what you will about Ocasio-Cortez, but she is politically street smart and savvy. She reads polls telling her about the massive shift among liberal millennials and Gen Zers who are increasingly embracing socialism. A growing number of these people are not married and refuse to get hitched in the future. Having children is largely out of the question. Instead, their phones and the internet are increasingly more important than human interaction itself, especially when with family.There are tangible numbers that back this up: According to an NBC News poll last year, when asked for their personal definition of success, men who voted for Donald Trump in 2024 ranked having children and being married No. 1 and No. 4, respectively. But among young women who voted for Kamala Harris, having children and being married ranked No. 12 and No. 11, respectively.Overall, 66% of Democrats, regardless of age, embrace socialism, while 42% embrace capitalism. So if you’re wondering why socialists are increasingly winning in deep-blue cities, here’s your answer: If two-thirds of the electorate no longer view socialism as a bad thing, and the energy is largely within that element of the party, an establishment candidate has no shot to win in these cities.But a look at the country as a whole shows socialism isn’t exactly sweeping across anything outside of major cities in blue states. Overall, Trump won 2,633 counties versus just 427 for Harris. Her victories were largely confined to large population centers and perhaps some adjoining areas. Overall, only 19 states went to the Democrat. As a result, an increasing number of Democrats believe the path forward is to promote more socialist candidates to run outside of blue cities and in purple states.Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during a May Day rally on Friday, May 1, 2026, at Washington Square Park in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
