Hector Green is a member of the Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America. All photographs taken by Zach B, a photographer and Metro DC DSA member.
THERE'S A POPULAR MEME IN ONLINE POLITICAL SPACES that illustrates the contradictions of our current moment: "Evelyn Normielib — Retired teacher, Voted for Buttigieg in 2020, ‘the blood of the tyrant shall water our fields.’" The meme is tongue-in-cheek. But when it comes to understanding the political terrain within Democratic Party politics in 2026 and the front lines of resistance to President Donald Trump’s fascist regime, there are millions of Evelyns fighting back. Democratic Socialists must learn to find a place for Evelyn or ignore her at their peril.
I have encountered this “Evelyn” phenomenon personally, and I'm sure many readers have, too, with your own relatives, friends, or coworkers. The wave of radicalization within all sectors of the once-passive Democratic Party base is clear, and their disapproval of the Democratic establishment has never been higher. This disapproval does not simply take the form of complaining online or social media posting; just look at the massive fundraising hauls that anti-establishment candidates like Graham Platner have pulled in. Anti-establishment sentiment is so strong among the Democratic base that Platner’s support didn’t collapse even after it was revealed that he had a Nazi tattoo. This radicalization was most importantly demonstrated on the streets of Minnesota, where seemingly non-radical, white members of the much-maligned "professional managerial class" have been beaten, gassed, and arrested while facing down federal agents.
Broad “No Kings” protests in late 2025 turned out an estimated 7 million people who skewed older and whiter but also carried signs identifying themselves as members of antifa and calling for Trump’s imprisonment. The March 2026 “No Kings” protests mobilized between 8 to 9 million protesters at 3,000 different locations, making it the largest single day of protest in American history.
The Democratic grassroots, even its more conservative primary electorate, is so infuriated with the party establishment that it is willing to vote for almost anyone who says they want to fight Trump. This includes socialists. After years of grinding through bruising Democratic primaries, where the establishment and base united to oppose progressives and young voters, the older and typically moderate Democratic primary electorate is finally ready to embrace socialists — as long as those socialists show that they are willing to lead in the fight against the Democrats' enemies: billionaires and Trump.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani masterfully capitalized on this new political climate and spoke to both leftists and more moderate Democrats on the campaign trail. He described himself as a democratic socialist in the vein of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., fighting for the party's priorities in the tradition of the New Deal. He was a fighter and a team player. This framing may not have gained Mamdani clout with Communist Twitter, which has since accused Zohran of selling out on Palestine organizing, selling out to abundance or YIMBYs, selling out to New York Governor Kathy Hochul and betraying Tax the Rich, etc. But it made him palatable to the types of voters he needed to win the election: a retired music teacher, for example, and other true-blue Democrats who are tired of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries' pathetic brand of non-leadership.
This kind of approach is key to any socialist attempts to build a larger electoral project. When we on the Left laugh at language used by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or Senator Bernie Sanders that starts with “It's not radical to…” (e.g., Bernie’s 2025 speech, Bernie’s 2026 UAW speech, Bernie’s NYC mayoral swearing in) we often wonder: who is this supposed to be for? Who gets mobilized by being repeatedly told something isn’t radical? But the recent upsurge in political activity makes it clear. This language speaks to millions who are mobilized by the defense of “American values” and “decency,” even if it will take radical solutions to make those principles possible. It may not be radical to love your neighbor, but Evelyn Normielib will yell at police and Immigration and Customs Enforcement like she is in Black Bloc if it means she can stand up for the Golden Rule.
The Republican enemy has never been more demoralized — as shown in the recent Texas special election where a Trump +17 district flipped to a Democratic candidate who was outfundraised 10:1. In New Hampshire, a county council seat flipped Dem in a R+13 district. In 2025, Democrats flipped a staggering 21% of Republican-held legislative seats. Trump's polling outside of his rabid 30% core support is worse than ever. He's even negative with whites, non-college educated voters, men, and Hispanics — demographics who won him the 2024 election.
This is an urgent opening for the Left to beat back the fascist Right. But it won't last forever. We learned that after the last so-called Blue Wave receded after 2018.
Democratic Socialists of America chapters have a golden opportunity to run socialist candidates in Democratic primary elections across the country. But this opportunity comes with a catch. Socialists must run as "true Democrats" who are for true Democratic priorities: abolishing ICE/Customs and Border Patrol (now polling very well with the Democratic base), taxing billionaires out of existence, and jailing Donald Trump. We must be seen as the true fighters against Trumpism, especially if other electeds in the party continue to fail to rise to the occasion. The Democratic Party's base, beyond the previously discussed suburban whites, is still composed of young people, African Americans, and immigrants, who all share the common experience of being attacked by the Trump regime. DSA candidates can ride the coming Democratic Party Tea Party wave and receive a groundswell of support from the party base when establishment candidates can’t catch up to their messaging.
Running national candidates as “true Democrats” will also be a valuable way to build on the success that local DSA chapters have had in electing candidates to smaller-scale positions. National candidates will gain the attention that comes from running for a federal position. We will not win them all — we might not even win the majority of races we fight for — but we may win enough to create a genuine and organized Democratic Socialist pull within federal politics. Since Bernie’s loss in 2020, the media and politicians wrote us off. They said we wouldn’t be a federally viable force for years to come. But if we play our cards right, we could be relevant in federal politics at an unprecedented level.
This is not just a valuable opportunity, it is a necessity. Congress broadly, and most of the Democratic caucus in it, has abrogated its responsibilities to the working people of this country and the Constitution. (These are the types of bread-and-butter American political references socialists need to learn to make to broaden our appeal beyond the already converted!) The American working class needs elected representatives that will fight tooth and nail to defend them and try to win real victories on their behalf. And the socialist movement needs more fighters in Congress who will be receptive to movement action from below, and who can further embolden the Democratic base by showing what's possible when you have congressmembers willing to fight.
DSA chapters need to start now by recruiting, planning, and organizing to find people that we can run in 2028. At its last national convention, DSA committed itself to the 2028 presidential election and the May Day 2028 mass strike. These campaigns could face a congressional body that vacillates between hostility and apathy, or they could find support in a congressional body that has more than just “The Squad” — one that contains a meaningful bloc of capital-S Socialists. If Trump and the reactionary right are ever going to be held to account in this country, and the necessary reforms passed to improve the lives of working people, we will need to win more seats.
All it takes is learning how to better talk to people like Evelyn.
