If the meteoric rise of New York City mayor-elect, Zerun Maldani illustrates one thing, it's this.

Affordability or a lack thereof has energized young voters.

Hello, and welcome to USA Today's The Excerpt. I'm Dana Taylor. Today is Tuesday, November 18, 2025.

But that's not the only term voters and politicians are buzzing about.

Mamdani is also a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. What does that even mean in 2025?

For more on all things, Mom Doni, and what it might mean for the party that lost control of all three branches of government in the 2024 elections. I'm now joined by USA Today, Chief Political Correspondent, Philip and Bailey. It's good to have you here, Philip.

Hey, how are you? Philip, when we talk about Republicans and Democrats, it's not uncommon to refer to the hard

right or the far left. Are there similar distinctions with Democratic Socialists?

How does Mamdani describe or define his political beliefs?

When we ask people about Zohan Mandani, the mayor elect of New York City, a member of the

Democratic Socialist America, and about really socialism, Democratic Socialism as a whole.

It really depends on who you talk to and who you ask.

But there are some clear lines of demarcation on what democratic socialism is.

And generally speaking, it is defined as a belief that the economy should be democratically run for the benefit of the public,

that there are basic human rights like housing and health care that society, often meaning the government, should provide.

That is very different than free market capitalism, which has really fueled American innovation, invention,

and as a system that we've been running under for the most part for most of this country's history, although there are

some elements of socialism, Democratic socialist members would point out within American democracy

within our economy. So look, when you talk to someone like Gonzalez from the Heritage Foundation,

he is adamant how he views

Zohan Mandani, someone from the right, he views him as a communist. He's not a communist.

Communism is that authoritarian system. But when you talk to more centrist-minded Democrats,

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