Mayor Eric Johnson has previously portrayed the City of Dallas as a welcoming refuge for New York City residents looking to escape the socialist policies enacted by the newly elected Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
This invitation was for the people, not for Mamdani’s political agenda to move to Texas. Yet some are questioning whether such ideologies could enter the Lone Star State. The Texas Observer published on January 27 an article titled “In Texas Cities, Let A Hundred Mamdanis Bloom.”
The headline mirrors a slogan adopted by Chinese Communist Dictator Mao Zedong, “Let a hundred flowers bloom.”
DSA Co-Founder Urges Leftist Takeover of Texas Cities in Texas Observer Piece
Co-founder of San Antonio Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), Alex Birnel, authored the Texas Observer article that appeared to call on left-wing politicians to advance socialist politics in cities across Texas.
The piece invited discussion of the potential impact of such ideologies in Texas.
“It would be implausible to say that Mamdani’s municipal victory bears directly on our infamously repressive state as an abstract unit,” Birnel wrote. “But Texas and the State of Texas are not exactly one – this sprawling place we call home contains five of the 15 most-populous cities in the country. All lean to the left, all see their power currently suppressed, and all are where the lessons of Mamdani can apply.”
Birnel added that “Texas mythmaking has long reinforced the state’s reactionary spirit,” but pointed to what he called a “long history of insurgence.”
“This historical reframing is especially crucial here,” Birnel wrote.
Birnel pointed to “Red Tom” Hickey – who earned the nickname the “Uncrowned King of Texas Socialism” – as someone who “gave Texas socialism a public voice through journalism and agitation when class politics still carried mass meaning.”
He also pointed to the Raza Unida Party from the 1970s, which promoted “Mexican-American nationalism” and the hypothetical “Chicano” state of “Aztlan” in the American Southwest.
As The Dallas Express reported, extremist groups like the Brown Berets – which targeted Denton County Sheriff Tracy Murphree in 2025 – have since adopted the concept.
Texas: Preemption, Austerity, and the Fight for Urban Power
Birnel pointed to numerous obstacles in Texas to prevent left-wing or socialist candidates from victory, like “union-busting, zealous preemption, and bootstrap austerity,” which he said have “hollowed out civic life.”
“The affordability crisis is placed neatly into policy silos instead of being treated as the class war that stands between us and better lives,” Birnel explained. “History is conceded, books are banned, and the grassroots is kept at arm’s length.”
Still, Birnel pointed to what he called “the raw material” – people in cities facing the same costs, workers organizing, and “a past that shows Texans have fought together before.”
“The idea that a Mamdani-esque politics cannot happen here is not an iron law; it is a disbelief locked in place by power,” he wrote. “It will break when candidates truly come from the rank and file and believe, as testified through consistent action, that they will accomplish little unless the ranks behind them grow alongside their electoral wins.”
The Honorable Chuck DeVore, chief national initiatives officer at the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), told The Dallas Express he agrees Texas has policies in place to prevent a widespread socialist victory – but state legislators still need to close key loopholes.
“It’s already the case that local government in Texas is frequently run by people who are to the left of the typical Texas electorate. The big difference is that they are largely limited in the damage they can do, other than messing with police and fire or doing virtue signaling,” DeVore said. “They’re largely limited because of the way Texas government is constructed.
DeVore said the difference between New York City and Texas cities “has become very stark.” He pointed to a “mechanical limitation” on how politicians can affect residents’ lives.
DeVore noted that New York allows cities to impose an income tax on residents, but Texas does not. Meanwhile, New York City can circumvent the state tax cap, but Texas does not allow this – instead, capping sales tax at 8.25%, with cities taking up to 2%. Also, Texas state law preempts local laws to ensure consistency across the board.
“This is a relatively recent feature because of how left cities have been going,” DeVore explained. “They essentially were getting this patchwork quilt of regulatory burden in Texas, a lot of it connected to unions.”
TPPF warned the City of Dallas in July 2025 that it was still enforcing 133 local laws preempted by state law, as The Dallas Express reported at the time.
State legislators passed the “Death Star Bill” in 2023, banning cities from regulating areas already covered by Texas law.
TPPF backed a 2025 bill dubbed “Death Star 2.0,” aiming to add teeth to the previous law.
DeVore Warns of Union Loopholes and Low-Turnout Elections
DeVore said state legislators still need to close vital footholds.
“In the Texas Observer article, he’s basically laying out the secret sauce – which most Texas Republican lawmakers don’t think that’s a threat, because it hasn’t been a threat,” DeVore said.
DeVore said left-wing candidates have been successful locally, especially in places like San Antonio, due to low voter turnout in smaller elections.
“We would like to see election consolidation, where we get rid of these off-year elections on a Saturday that generate 5% turnout,” he said. “Let’s consolidate them with the primary, or the runoff, or the general election in November.”
DeVore also pointed to unions’ immense funding and organizing power in Houston, when the left-wing powerhouse SEIU set its sights on a local janitor firm.
When Professional Janitorial Services CEO Brent Southwell resisted unionization, SEIU targeted his business with a three-year campaign to “Kill PJS” – using “media collaboration, baseless lawsuits, and union-planted employees” to drive away business, as Texas Scorecard reported.
“They were pressuring people,” DeVore said. “He refused, and they started doing illegal acts to try to unionize his force. He sued, and he won.”
In 2016, a Houston jury ruled the SEIU branch used illegal tactics and ordered the group to pay $5.3 million in damages. The union has since declared bankruptcy, and Southwell has been trying to collect his judgment.
DeVore stressed again that state legislators should focus on closing union loopholes.
“A lot of the lawmakers in Texas have been, I think, dangerously naive about the unions and the power of organization they provide to the left.”