man, to have Bernie as my Mayor in the 80s. What a time to be alive
Neat idea, and also fun that the graph kinda looks like a city skyline
Would be more if we gave our third parties more support
This plot shows the cumulative population of Americans each year who live in a city with a socialist for mayor. The data comes from [this Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_elected_socialist_mayors_in_the_United_States), along with census population data. The highlighted cities are those with the highest number of person-years under socialist leadership (population multiplied by years with a socialist mayor).
I made some exclusions for clarity:
* The county executives listed on the Wikipedia page are not included.
* Brand Whitlock (Toledo, 1906–1912) is excluded as he was a Georgist and explicitly rejected the socialist label [(e.g. in this book).](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/67648/67648-h/67648-h.htm)
* David Dinkins (New York City, 1990-1993) is excluded. It seems that he was allied with socialists (the wiki cites a speech he gave at a DSA meeting while he was in office), and possibly a member of the DSA at some point (sources conflict), but it seems that he did not self-identify as a socialist while he was mayor.
* The mayors listed here from Rockford, IL are recorded as members of the local progressive or labor parties rather than a “socialist” party. I have kept them on the plot because I can not independently verify whether or not they were openly socialist (the wiki cites a book I do not have immediate access to).
For the highlighted cities that remain, the mayors were either self-identified socialists or members of explicitly socialist parties. I have not independently verified every entry from the “Other” category.
Data was gathered and visualized using R / ggplot.
So once mamdani gets elected there will be an all time highest portion of americans with a socialist mayor?
I think Burlington might be considered to currently have one.
What does a Socialist mayor do differently from a non-socialist one?
Source? I think Ron Dellums was mayor during those Oakland years. While liberal, he was hardly a socialist.
[Edit: found the source buried in the comments. I stand corrected.]
Jackson no longer has a socialist mayor since July 1st. Their mayor got primaried after being indicted on corruption charges
A timewaster.
Usually Americans label anybody as a socialist if they oppose them.
jackson ms? really? the state with the most regressive possible policies?
I expect this will massively increase with Mamdani’s election and the wave I expect following/in line with him on city level across country
Is there a reason why David Dinkins, mayor of NYC 1990-1993 and member of DSA, isn’t on here?
I think it would be interesting to represent this is a percentage as well. Like % of American population under a socialist mayor. Would show more how mayoral socialism is becoming more infrequent when you consider the growth of the country. (unless Mamdani gets elected, in which case the last sentence is wrong)
16 comments
man, to have Bernie as my Mayor in the 80s. What a time to be alive
Neat idea, and also fun that the graph kinda looks like a city skyline
Would be more if we gave our third parties more support
This plot shows the cumulative population of Americans each year who live in a city with a socialist for mayor. The data comes from [this Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_elected_socialist_mayors_in_the_United_States), along with census population data. The highlighted cities are those with the highest number of person-years under socialist leadership (population multiplied by years with a socialist mayor).
I made some exclusions for clarity:
* The county executives listed on the Wikipedia page are not included.
* Brand Whitlock (Toledo, 1906–1912) is excluded as he was a Georgist and explicitly rejected the socialist label [(e.g. in this book).](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/67648/67648-h/67648-h.htm)
* David Dinkins (New York City, 1990-1993) is excluded. It seems that he was allied with socialists (the wiki cites a speech he gave at a DSA meeting while he was in office), and possibly a member of the DSA at some point (sources conflict), but it seems that he did not self-identify as a socialist while he was mayor.
* The mayors listed here from Rockford, IL are recorded as members of the local progressive or labor parties rather than a “socialist” party. I have kept them on the plot because I can not independently verify whether or not they were openly socialist (the wiki cites a book I do not have immediate access to).
For the highlighted cities that remain, the mayors were either self-identified socialists or members of explicitly socialist parties. I have not independently verified every entry from the “Other” category.
Data was gathered and visualized using R / ggplot.
So once mamdani gets elected there will be an all time highest portion of americans with a socialist mayor?
I think Burlington might be considered to currently have one.
What does a Socialist mayor do differently from a non-socialist one?
Source? I think Ron Dellums was mayor during those Oakland years. While liberal, he was hardly a socialist.
[Edit: found the source buried in the comments. I stand corrected.]
Jackson no longer has a socialist mayor since July 1st. Their mayor got primaried after being indicted on corruption charges
A timewaster.
Usually Americans label anybody as a socialist if they oppose them.
jackson ms? really? the state with the most regressive possible policies?
NYC about to break the scale
[https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CsHT3Xiqwk0](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CsHT3Xiqwk0)
Alice covers this topic in detail
You can see the red scare in the data
I expect this will massively increase with Mamdani’s election and the wave I expect following/in line with him on city level across country
Is there a reason why David Dinkins, mayor of NYC 1990-1993 and member of DSA, isn’t on here?
I think it would be interesting to represent this is a percentage as well. Like % of American population under a socialist mayor. Would show more how mayoral socialism is becoming more infrequent when you consider the growth of the country. (unless Mamdani gets elected, in which case the last sentence is wrong)
Comments are closed.