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(NewsNation) — When Zohran Mamdani won the New York mayoral race, it was a political earthquake.
A prominent Democratic Socialist of America leader, his victory, along with other DSA wins, was ramed as a grassroots movement on the left.
But a former Democratic fundraiser says it’s not as organic as it looks.
Evan Barker, author of “Nothing Left: Confessions of a Democratic Operative,” spent five years fundraising for progressive and DSA-aligned candidates.
“This isn’t just a grassroots organic movement. There is real organization. There’s real money behind them,” Barker told NewsNation on Monday.
“They have incredibly powerful billionaires, sometimes very rich people that are funding them. Donors like Way to Win, the Soros family.”
This socialist surge comes at a time when Congress is looking at billionaires abroad, including Neville Roy Singham, their influence, and if they are trying to sow discord in America. The Ways and Means Committee warned this year that foreign billionaires have their thumb on the scale of American politics.
“You know, if you look at Zohran Mamdani, for instance.,I believe he was infused with a huge donation into a super PAC by a woman named Liz Simons, who is a billionaire hedge fund heiress,” Barker said.
Mamdani-backed DSA candidate Darlisa Chevallier, who calls her campaign 100% powered by the people, said she will never take money from corporate PACs.
“She had a super PAC that supported her called American Priorities, and they put in $500,000 in an ad buy, which is kind of crazy. I mean, that’s almost that’s unthinkable for somebody that is so fringe just a few cycles ago,” Barker said.
Federal Election Commission data shows over 60% of Chevallier’s campaign fundraising came from out of state. Much of it is from super PACs including American Priorities, a pro-Palestinian super PAC created this year to counter pro-Israel groups such as AIPAC and Justice Democrats, the group that boosted AOC in 2018, which poured in another quarter million on advertising. All told, American Priorities pledged to spend $10 million this election cycle.
“It’s hard for me to think of, right now in mid-2026, an organization that dollar for dollar is exercising more influence in, I guess particularly Democratic Party politics, right?” Robert Stilson, senior research analyst at the Capital Research Center, told NewsNation.
“Because this is an organization that their total revenues in 2024 were just over $6 million, maybe $6.3 million, and as nationally politically active 501(c)(4) nonprofits go, that’s very small.”
Stilson has been tracking the DSA for years and tells NewsNation he has seen two important, simultaneous trends occurring within the past decade: exponential membership growth and an ideological shift to the “far left.”
“It’s not particularly socialist, and it’s not particularly American,” he said.
“It’s a whole network of different groups: donor networks, Justice Democrats, the DSA. They’re all coming together, and they’re working together, and they’re partnering together; 10 years ago, they weren’t doing that,” Barker added.
“In the second coming of Donald Trump, they’ve gotten their stuff together, and they’ve realized that they need to work together to get these candidates over the finish line, which is exactly what you’re seeing happen.”
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