Since the rise of socialist electoral activity in the wake of Bernie Sanders’s 2016 presidential campaign, socialists have won office in districts and states all over the country. But there is only one neighborhood in the United States that has put socialists into office on the city, state, and federal level. That neighborhood is Astoria, in the New York City borough of Queens.

There were glimmers of potential even before the recent wave, when for example progressive gubernatorial candidate Zephyr Teachout came within a hundred votes of winning Astoria in 2014, significantly higher than her 33 percent vote share statewide. But the real turning point came in 2018, when Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was elected to Congress. Astoria was critical to her victory.

In 2020, democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani was elected to represent Astoria in the New York State Assembly. And this year Tiffany Cabán, who narrowly lost her race for Queens district attorney in 2019, won a spot on the New York City Council. All three are open democratic socialists, and members of the Democratic Socialists of America, which campaigned heavily for these victories in coalition with other progressive groups.