Sewer socialism is flowing through America's cities
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Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
America's cities are seeing a socialism surge, but it's not the post-Cold War boogeyman that schoolchildren were warned about.
The big picture: It's called sewer socialism, and is the cornerstone for policies from New York's Zohran Mamdami, Seattle's Katie Wilson and Washington D.C. mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George.
- Sewer socialism focuses on expanding government programs for the public good, like affordable housing, child care and public transportation.
- The three Democratic socialists are among those seeking to reboot the movement pioneered by Milwaukee, Wisconsin politicians in the 1900s when they expanded sewage systems and built the first municipally sponsored public housing project in the U.S.
Zoom in: Longtime Democratic strategist Jesse Lehrich says these mayors are connecting with voters because they're younger, less entrenched in mainstream political institutions and can better relate to people struggling with affordability than millionaires in Congress.
- "It's like, yeah, good job reading the polls that tell you that affordability is the number one issue. Do you understand why that is the case? It's because people can't f--king afford to eat, so of course that's their main issue," Lehrich told Axios.
By the numbers: Sixty-seven percent of college students hold a positive or neutral view of the word "socialism," compared with 40% for the word "capitalism," according to a 2025 Axios-Generation Lab poll.
- More broadly, 39% of U.S. adults have a positive view of socialism, while 54% view capitalism positively, per a 2025 Gallup poll.
The intrigue: These Democratic socialists are essentially reviving public investment strategies associated with Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal.
- As America's economy recovered after the Great Depression, the federal government gradually scaled back some large public works and social investment programs, says Ashik Siddique, co-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America's National Political Committee.
- He adds that many of those programs that "expanded services for many people... those have really been attacked and reversed."
Case in point: President Clinton replaced open-ended cash welfare with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families in 1996, adding strict work requirements and benefit time limits while declaring an end to "welfare as we know it."
- President Nixon froze public housing spending in 1973. Congress followed with Section 8 vouchers in 1974, shifting federal housing policy from building public units to subsidizing the private market.
Zoom out: Lehrich believes that "widespread frustration" with Democrats has allowed Democratic socialist candidates to see "some real resonance in certain places."
- He added that Americans clearly think the "status quo is broken." Perceived "outsiders " and candidates who are "challenging that" are seeing electoral benefits.
What we're watching: It's still unclear whether sewer socialism can succeed beyond deep-blue cities, but the movement is growing.
- The Democratic Socialists Association hit 100,000 members in February 2026 and has since grown to 110,000, and about 172 nationally endorsed DSA candidates have won elected office since 2018, a DSA spokesperson told Axios.
- That number does not include "self-identified Democratic socialists, DSA members who did not receive a national endorsement, or candidates endorsed solely by local DSA chapters," the spokesperson added.
Go deeper: Poll: College students prefer socialism to capitalism
