New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s victory over establishment Democrats has reverberated nationwide — energizing Democratic Socialists of America chapters — including in Las Vegas, where local membership and energy have surged.
Nationally, DSA membership jumped from 80,000 in October to over 90,000 by November. The Las Vegas chapter gained 200 members between Mamdani’s primary win and November general election victory, reaching around 550 people now paying dues. A recent Las Vegas DSA general body meeting had 89 members show up, the largest co-chair Shaun Navarro has seen.
Las Vegas DSA aims to channel this energy into two Nevada Assembly seats in 2026 midterms. Navarro is running for Assembly District 34, while the group backs Val Thomason, who got 34.5% in her 2024 primary loss to Assemblymember Venise Karris in District 10.
“We’re trying to create Zohran in every single state,” Navarro said. “We want to replicate that here, and I think it shows a winning message.”
Mamdani’s campaign centered on freezing rent increases for stabilized apartments — a policy Thomason wants to adapt for Nevada by capping landlord hikes.
“One of the biggest issues, maybe even more so in Nevada than in New York, is housing,” Thomason said. “I’ve been an organizer for years, and I hear every single time we have a conversation about what issue is affecting people, the issue is rent prices.”
Navarro’s platform emphasizes affordability (opposing corporate subsidies, pushing mining and real estate reinvestment), accountability (criticizing a recent emergency session with no real emergencies), and sustainability (for state coffers and environment).
Intraparty squabbles
In 2021, democratic socialists swept the Nevada Democratic Party’s leadership, but outgoing officials transferred $450,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee — and the entire staff resigned, sparking infighting.
By 2023, a more moderate “unity” slate led by Assemblymember Daniele Monroe-Moreno reclaimed control.
Navarro calls it “ancient history” that most voters will ignore.
“This … was very inside baseball,” he said.
Las Vegas DSA co-chair Tiffany Stoik says DSA now views the party as a “loose cabal of donors and elites,” shifting focus away from controlling it.
“It does not benefit us to really get involved in their business,” she said.
The ‘S’ word
Thomason says the “S” word — socialism — no longer scares voters; door-knocking confirms it, backed by August Gallup polling showing 66% of Democrats view socialism positively versus 42% for capitalism. Americans’ favorability for “big business” has dropped 17 points in four years, with only 17% of Democrats approving.
“A lot of the hesitancy toward socialism is gone, especially amongst young people,” Navarro said.
Navarro cites Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 26-point Nevada Democratic presidential caucus win over Joe Biden in 2020 as proof that democratic socialist policies such as Medicare for All resonate.
Challenges ahead
Some, like Democratic consultant Peter Koltak, doubt replication in swing-state Nevada, which went for President Donald Trump in 2024; it lacks New York’s young, educated voter clusters or groups like the Working Families Party, which has been trying to pull the party leftward for decades.
The DSA isn’t alone in making affordability central to its message. More moderate Democrats have also embraced such proposals, with some candidates promising utility rate freezes.
Molly Forgey, the state party’s previous communications director, wrote in an email to the Sun that the “upcoming election isn’t about moderates versus progressives.”
“Next November is about electing Democrats who are committed to delivering for all Nevadans on the issues they care most about,” Forgey said. “That’s why Nevada Democrats up and down the ballot are laser-focused on ensuring families can put food on the table and afford quality health care.”
But nationally, Democrats are still languishing with low approval ratings, an opportunity DSA aims to exploit. It’s not enough “just to not be Trump,” Navarro said.
“You have to provide an alternative vision for the future,” he added.
Navarro isn’t naive about the attacks that will come the way of democratic socialist candidates.
Navarro, himself, faces scrutiny over past activism, including calling then-Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo (now governor) “a piece of human garbage” in 2022 and reposting a Hamas paraglider image captioned “Free bird Free Palestine” on Oct. 7, 2023.
“I think a tweet … compared to the reality of what’s happening (in Gaza) is really a non-issue,” Navarro said.
Koltak warns that the transition from activist to a candidate can be tough.
“As folks who are sort of coming out of the world of activism and transitioning into the world of being candidates, they have to exhibit a tremendous amount of discipline that, maybe, they did not have to exhibit purely as an activist,” he said speaking generally and not directly referring to Navarro’s social media feed.
It starts with a 20-page questionnaire, which Stoik said asked candidates to pledge in a town hall with members not to take money from corporate political action committees, real estate developers and “corporate lobbyists.”
Then, a candidateearns an endorsement only by garnering at least two-thirds of the chapter’s support. So far for candidates in 2026, five people made it through the initial vetting process, Thomason said, before it was just her and Navarro left.
And while the process may have a high bar, Navarro said getting DSA’s endorsement means more than just another logo on flyers.
The organization plans on running alongside the candidates, providing support through canvassing, phone banking, writing press releases, designing graphics and organizing rallies, Stoik said.
“Basically, we are going to be the campaign team for these candidates when they get our endorsements,” Stoik said.
Thomason plans to target Karris’ record, like her vote against price-fixing curbs in Assembly Bill 44. “It was a very corporate year for her in the Legislature, so we do intend to go on the offensive,” Thomason said. Karris’ campaign did not respond to multiple attempts for comment.
“We’re … looking to win,” Stoik added. “Losses are demobilizing.”
