man, to have Bernie as my Mayor in the 80s. What a time to be alive
self-extinction on
Neat idea, and also fun that the graph kinda looks like a city skyline
1isOneshot1 on
Would be more if we gave our third parties more support
wtf_ftw on
This plot shows the cumulative population of Americans each year who live in a city with a socialist for mayor. The data comes from [this Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_elected_socialist_mayors_in_the_United_States), along with census population data. The highlighted cities are those with the highest number of person-years under socialist leadership (population multiplied by years with a socialist mayor).
I made some exclusions for clarity:
* The county executives listed on the Wikipedia page are not included.
* Brand Whitlock (Toledo, 1906–1912) is excluded as he was a Georgist and explicitly rejected the socialist label [(e.g. in this book).](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/67648/67648-h/67648-h.htm)
* David Dinkins (New York City, 1990-1993) is excluded. It seems that he was allied with socialists (the wiki cites a speech he gave at a DSA meeting while he was in office), and possibly a member of the DSA at some point (sources conflict), but it seems that he did not self-identify as a socialist while he was mayor.
* The mayors listed here from Rockford, IL are recorded as members of the local progressive or labor parties rather than a “socialist” party. I have kept them on the plot because I can not independently verify whether or not they were openly socialist (the wiki cites a book I do not have immediate access to).
For the highlighted cities that remain, the mayors were either self-identified socialists or members of explicitly socialist parties. I have not independently verified every entry from the “Other” category.
Data was gathered and visualized using R / ggplot.
gravitysort on
So once mamdani gets elected there will be an all time highest portion of americans with a socialist mayor?
Meanteenbirder on
I think Burlington might be considered to currently have one.
wesborland1234 on
What does a Socialist mayor do differently from a non-socialist one?
figleaf29 on
Source? I think Ron Dellums was mayor during those Oakland years. While liberal, he was hardly a socialist.
[Edit: found the source buried in the comments. I stand corrected.]
gasmask11000 on
Jackson no longer has a socialist mayor since July 1st. Their mayor got primaried after being indicted on corruption charges
Bob_Spud on
A timewaster.
Usually Americans label anybody as a socialist if they oppose them.
FoxxyDeer2004 on
jackson ms? really? the state with the most regressive possible policies?
![[OC] Population of Americans with a Socialist Mayor, 1989-2025](https://www.byteseu.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/i3q66jkz6lof1-1024x520.png "[OC] Population of Americans with a Socialist Mayor, 1989-2025")
15 Comments
man, to have Bernie as my Mayor in the 80s. What a time to be alive
Neat idea, and also fun that the graph kinda looks like a city skyline
Would be more if we gave our third parties more support
This plot shows the cumulative population of Americans each year who live in a city with a socialist for mayor. The data comes from [this Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_elected_socialist_mayors_in_the_United_States), along with census population data. The highlighted cities are those with the highest number of person-years under socialist leadership (population multiplied by years with a socialist mayor).
I made some exclusions for clarity:
* The county executives listed on the Wikipedia page are not included.
* Brand Whitlock (Toledo, 1906–1912) is excluded as he was a Georgist and explicitly rejected the socialist label [(e.g. in this book).](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/67648/67648-h/67648-h.htm)
* David Dinkins (New York City, 1990-1993) is excluded. It seems that he was allied with socialists (the wiki cites a speech he gave at a DSA meeting while he was in office), and possibly a member of the DSA at some point (sources conflict), but it seems that he did not self-identify as a socialist while he was mayor.
* The mayors listed here from Rockford, IL are recorded as members of the local progressive or labor parties rather than a “socialist” party. I have kept them on the plot because I can not independently verify whether or not they were openly socialist (the wiki cites a book I do not have immediate access to).
For the highlighted cities that remain, the mayors were either self-identified socialists or members of explicitly socialist parties. I have not independently verified every entry from the “Other” category.
Data was gathered and visualized using R / ggplot.
So once mamdani gets elected there will be an all time highest portion of americans with a socialist mayor?
I think Burlington might be considered to currently have one.
What does a Socialist mayor do differently from a non-socialist one?
Source? I think Ron Dellums was mayor during those Oakland years. While liberal, he was hardly a socialist.
[Edit: found the source buried in the comments. I stand corrected.]
Jackson no longer has a socialist mayor since July 1st. Their mayor got primaried after being indicted on corruption charges
A timewaster.
Usually Americans label anybody as a socialist if they oppose them.
jackson ms? really? the state with the most regressive possible policies?
NYC about to break the scale
[https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CsHT3Xiqwk0](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CsHT3Xiqwk0)
Alice covers this topic in detail
You can see the red scare in the data
I expect this will massively increase with Mamdani’s election and the wave I expect following/in line with him on city level across country
Is there a reason why David Dinkins, mayor of NYC 1990-1993 and member of DSA, isn’t on here?