The People’s Republic of Astoria
How a neighborhood in Queens became the only place in the United States where residents are represented by socialists locally, in both state houses, and federally.
By Eric Santomauro-Stenzel
Subway stop in Astoria, Queens
Across the East River from bustling Manhattan and underneath elevated subway tracks, Astoria, Queens has become a major launching point for the 21st century socialist movement. Dubbed both by opponents and supporters as “The People’s Republic of Astoria,” many organizers are hoping that success will enter Gracie Mansion next year.
Back in 2020, things were just getting off the ground. Already facing an uphill battle against a nearly ten-year Democratic incumbent, NY State Assemblymember Aravella Simotas, first-time candidate Zohran Mamdani’s campaign was thrown for a loop by the COVID-19 pandemic. Unable to knock doors and host rallies like usual and facing harsh conditions, the campaign searched for new strategies. One of them was visible from the campaign office.
In a parking lot, a “person who's just trying to do the goodwill of the world,” was handing out food from the trunk of their car, recalled campaign volunteer Eric Thor. “Hey, why don't you just come to the office? Why don't you just deliver food out of here?” Thor says the organizers asked. The Astoria Food Pantry lives on years later.
“All of the voter contact calls we hit, we would open them with the question of, ‘Do you need food? Do you need groceries?’” Mamdani told the New Yorker.
At the time, some questioned why a socialist candidate would bother challenging a democrat who already has a relatively liberal reputation. While Mamdani is now serving his 3rd term and running for NYC mayor, Simotas, on the other hand, was recently hired as the Senior Vice President for Government Affairs at the Real Estate Board of NY.
Socialist success in western Queens is part of a yearslong trend. The NYC Democratic Socialists of America and its Queens branch have combined hyperlocal activism for issues like tenant rights and supporting union drives, with its fervor for a capital-m Movement for fundamentally reshaping society. It’s paying off: socialist and DSA-endorsed candidates keep winning in Astoria.
With the swearing in of DSA-supported State Senator Kristen Gonzalez in 2023, Astoria became the only place in the United States where residents are represented by socialists locally, in both state houses, and federally. It began in 2018 with the insurgent victory of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whose district also includes parts of the Bronx. When the young, progressive firebrand beat ten-term incumbent Joe Crowley, it sent shockwaves across the country and city, capturing leftist excitement started by Bernie Sanders’s 2016 presidential campaign.
“It was really exciting that she beat this guy that was supposed to be the next Speaker of the House,” said Stylianos “Scott” Karolidis, an Astoria native.
“Okay, who got her elected?” Karolidis remembers asking before he resolved to join NYC-DSA in 2019. “I was really motivated about housing, gentrification, and rising rents.”
As the nation’s largest chapter in its largest city, NYC-DSA is composed of several local branches. Over a dozen DSA-endorsed candidates have been elected across NYC, with another hotspot in Brooklyn.
Unlike many modern political organizations, DSA prides itself as being a membership-led group. Members, including many of its electeds, often point out that they can’t speak for the whole of the organization because of these kinds of democratic structures. At both the local and national level, members participate in elections for their own leadership, and vote to set mandates for action at conventions.
After AOC’s win, the chapter began noticing an electoral pattern. Despite DSA-backed Tiffany Cabán’s Queens District Attorney bid in 2019 failing by a miniscule margin, her campaign reflected strong support in the borough’s western neighborhoods. NYC-DSA aggressively pursued campaigns in the succeeding years, including Cabán’s 2021 City Council win. They also focused on high profile local issues like housing, building a stronger network of support along the way.
Thor, a former citywide co-chair of the New York City Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), recalled the successful 2018 fight against a potential Amazon HQ in neighboring Long Island City. Many progressive groups and elected officials, including AOC, opposed the proposed development, and “that was something that joined the neighborhood together in a coalition sense,” Thor said. Amazon cancelled their plans in 2019, citing local politicians’ resistance.
So when in 2020, Astoria Gas Turbine Power, LLC, a subsidiary of NRG Energy, proposed the development of a natural gas peaker plant, the community kicked into action. Along with a coalition of other groups, DSA organizers put together lobbying visits and rallies to oppose it and instead promote renewable energy.
Sebastian Baez, a third-generation Astorian, had followed NYC-DSA on Instagram for a few months before finding a flyer while walking down the street one day. “Damn, you know, I didn’t even realize there was a power plant going up.” From there, he got involved with the marches.
The socialists’ visibility in fighting the NRG plant, and the state blocking it in October 2021, deepened their support. Localizing the climate and pollution concerns also pushed forward the Build Public Renewables legislative campaign at the state level.
Elizabeth Oh, who campaigned to halt the power plant, said organizing around these issues was key to building out DSA’s base. Living close to other “motivated and smart” organizers made their work easier. “Talk about the things you care about, love your comrades.” Years on, Oh says, Astoria is DSA “turf” that wants to show up for Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral campaign.
Astoria has long had a large immigrant population. With Greek immigrants dating back to the midcentury, and more recent South Asian, Middle Eastern and Northern African, and Latin American arrivals, around 38% of the broader area’s population is foreign-born, according to census data of Queens Community District 1.
Thor recalls one door knocking canvas for Mamdani’s first Assembly race where he was handing out literature in three languages. He said he “found a lot of people frustrated with current politics.”
Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani
In its whole hundreds-year history, Astoria has at times been both a wealthy enclave and a working-class neighborhood. Today, it’s on the up and up as a cheaper option with access to Manhattan. In addition to immigrants, a shiftier category has also grown in the form of transplants from other areas of the city and country, described by some as “downwardly mobile.”
Rent in Astoria has also increased significantly over the years. According to the NYU Furman Center, Astoria’s real median gross rent rose by 35.6% from 2006 to 2022.
Baez, who also organizes with the Astoria Tenants Union, said that “landlords have definitely tried to take a hammer to Astoria in terms of rezonings and new luxury developments.”
Karolidis says he “worked very hard to make enough money to afford rent here,” longing to return after his family moved when he was a teenager.
Some local DSA members say it’s the convergence of these factors that have made their success possible. Immigrant communities and downwardly mobile young and single people have a set of shared incentives.
One of the shrinking number of people to have spent most of their lives in the changing neighborhood, Karolidis describes them as “two groups of untethered people, both transplants.” As a result, “that means they're up for some other alternative type of politics. They don't have a connection to an establishment.”
Mamdani represents DSA’s first effort to bring that success citywide with his mayoral candidacy. Running on issues like freezing rent for rent-stabilized tenants, “fast and free” buses, and universal childcare, his campaign has centered on ideas that would make visible changes in people’s lives.
Mamdani’s digital campaign has also focused on the most conspicuous elements of everyday life for New Yorkers. His social media presence often sheds light on smaller phenomena that other mayoral candidates have not historically focused on like what he calls ‘Halalflation,’ or the rising price of street food, or local Lunar New Year celebrations.
“This campaign is for every New Yorker who believes in the dignity of their neighbors” Mamdani summed up his message in a recent TikTok. “This is New York, we can afford to dream.”
Eric Santomauro-Stenzel is a freelance journalist based in New York City. He can be reached at es4275@columbia.edu