Zohran Mamdani famously won the New York mayoral election, along with news of some other social democrat, and in at least one case socialist, politicians being elected to various levels of governance in the past weeks.

However, there will obviously be a broad range of reaction from the owning class (including but not limited to possible capital strikes). On top of that, since Mamdani ran as a Democrat, there is a very real threat of the Democratic Party establishment forcing Mamdani into compromise, for example, by state Dems threatening not to approve Mamdani’s tax increases on the rich.

We’ve already seen some possible signs of Mamdani moderating stances on police and Zionism, and we’ve already seen other recent DSA politicians like AOC compromising, so this threat of Democratic Party pressure could be imminent if Mamdani (and the Dems) aren’t held accountable by citizens and their power structures (including unions and other interest groups).

What power do citizens have to hold these social politicians to their word? How much power do existing structures like the DSA and worker unions have?