First, Brandon Johnson was elected Mayor of Chicago, then, Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic nomination for New York mayor in alliance with the Democratic Socialists of America. He is the favorite to win the November election.

This summer, the Democratic Party of Minneapolis endorsed socialist Omar Fateh over Jacob Frey, the incumbent Democratic mayor. The November election is expected to be close.

Now, Seattle may be catching the socialist disease.

This is the left coast city that saw one of its neighborhoods occupied for weeks by protestors after the 2020 murder of George Floyd, reacted against left-wing radicalism and a spike in crime a year later by electing moderates Ann Davison as city attorney and Bruce Harrell as mayor. But in last month’s open primary both incumbents placed second against left-wing challengers.

Katie Wilson, the openly socialist contender advocates spending taxpayer money on city-owned grocery stores, subsidies for online blogs and free summer child care.

Why is this happening? Recent polling finds that only four of 10 Democratic voters have a positive view of capitalism and the numbers are much worse in America’s large cities.

Here’s how bad things have gotten in Seattle. Last February, a ballot measure taxing firms such as Amazon, Microsoft, and T-Mobile to pay for new public housing passed with 73% of the vote, and was hailed by progressives as a repudiation of a “corporate-controlled fascism” that rules Seattle. These companies are – and soon we will say WERE – major employers in the city. Already, Microsoft has moved thousands of employees out of Seattle into nearby and more business-friendly Bellevue.

Blue cities within blue states are in danger of becoming occupied by socialists who will hollow out the very commerce and enterprise that made places like New York and Seattle great.