The House of Representatives on Friday overwhelmingly approved a resolution condemning socialism, with dozens of Democrats joining Republicans to formally oppose the implementation of “socialist policies” in the United States following Zohran Mamdani’s recent election as mayor-elect of New York City.
In a 285–98 vote, 86 Democrats crossed the aisle to support the measure. Two lawmakers, Rep. Deborah Ross, D-Pa., and Rep. Janelle Bynum, D-Ore., voted present.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. — who endorsed Mamdani shortly before the New York City mayoral election — also voted in favor of the resolution, underscoring the internal tension within the Democratic Party over how closely to align with explicitly socialist ideas.
The resolution, introduced by Rep. Maria Salazar, R-Fla., catalogs what it describes as the failures and human costs of socialist systems around the world. It cites examples including the Castro regime in Cuba, Mao Zedong’s rule in China, and the ongoing government of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, arguing that socialism has historically been accompanied by famine, repression and mass violence.
“Resolved by the House of Representatives that Congress denounces socialism in all its forms and opposes the implementation of socialist policies in the United States,” the text declares.
Although the measure is nonbinding and does not carry the force of law, it comes at a moment when debates over the role of government have intensified nationwide. Progressive figures such as Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., have championed a larger government role in areas like healthcare and education, and Mamdani — a self-described socialist — has become one of the most prominent new faces of that movement.
The vote also coincides with Mamdani’s scheduled meeting with President Donald Trump on Friday, a conversation likely to draw additional attention to the clash between populist and socialist currents in American politics.
Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., praised the resolution and argued that socialism fundamentally conflicts with American values of individual freedom and open markets.
“It always leads to a destruction of liberties for people,” Donalds said, adding that socialist systems depend on centralized control over the distribution of resources and share characteristics with other forms of authoritarian government. “We have a responsibility to defend the American core of capitalism, free markets and liberty [against] socialism, democratic socialism, communism, authoritarianism, fascism,” he said.
While the party’s progressive wing has gained momentum and visibility, the vote revealed that many Democrats remain wary of embracing the socialist label. Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., who supported the resolution, has been outspoken in urging Democrats to chart a more centrist course and distance themselves from explicitly socialist branding.
“I talk about being a new kind of old-fashioned Democrat and giving policy prescriptions about what we need to do to address people’s concerns about the economy and affordability and the cost of living and wages,” Suozzi wrote on X earlier this month. “The answer is not the populism of Donald Trump or Zohran Mamdani — it’s about giving specific policy prescriptions.”
