In May, I narrowly missed out on making the runoff for a seat on the San Antonio City Council. The candidate who nudged past me into second place, by less than 2%, is a socialist. He ultimately went on to win.

Coupled with Zohran Mamdani’s victory in the democratic primary for New York City mayor, and the rise of fellow socialist mayoral candidate Omar Fateh in Minneapolis, this should be cause for concern at all levels of American government.

My new councilman rarely if ever mentioned his endorsement from the San Antonio Democratic Socialists of America. His website offered plenty of hints though.

Whereas Mr. Mamdani wants to create “city-owned grocery stores,” our councilman aims to “create new city jobs” to “construct … community gardens and food forests.” He hopes these “good paying public jobs” will combat “the rising cost of living.”

One goal he spoke openly about on the campaign trail was “directly expand(ing) affordable housing opportunities.” Mr. Mamdani wants to do the same.

It’s hard not to think of Friedrich Hayek’s quip “if socialists understood economics, they wouldn’t be socialists.” They would have an inkling that government is the biggest driver of inflation.

They would also know that handing out “grants” or “forgivable loans to start … a business” erodes a key motivation for entrepreneurial success. If would-be business owners don’t have to save their own earnings, or repay debt, there’s less incentive for them to please the customer.

The taxpayer unwittingly ends up on the hook.

No doubt some of these aforementioned goals are shared by other left-wing politicians, like our former councilwoman. They seem to know however, that a lurch too far in that direction would be disastrous for the economy, and society as a whole.

That’s why they’re more likely to get into bed with developers, and Big Business. Ironically, that’s one thing that’s driving many of their voters to socialists; they mean what they say, and campaign donations won’t change their mind.

They can however, be beaten in the arena of ideas. The obstacle, at least on the local level, is getting into that arena in the first place.

Voter turnout in Bexar County for the 2024 presidential election was almost 60%. It was well over 40% in the 2022 midterms. For this municipal election, it was less than 10%. Though that didn’t seem to be a problem last month in the Big Apple, it’s a chronic one everywhere else.

To be sure, there are differences in governance between Texas and New York, and it’s possible that might also feed a sense of complacency here.

It would be easier, for example, for Mr. Mamdani to get Albany’s blessing to raise the city’s minimum wage than it would be for our council to do something similar. That hasn’t stopped them from trying though, as they passed a paid sick leave ordinance a few years ago.

That was eventually struck down by the courts, but not before costing taxpayers legal fees.

Before that ruling in 2021, San Antonio had zero socialists on the city council. Now, there are three. That’s halfway to a majority.

My district is arguably the swingiest one in the generally blue Alamo City. Our last councilwoman endured two runoffs, and won the 2023 election with less than 54% of the vote. Her predecessor, who leaned right, defeated her in one of those runoffs.

I finished barely 2% out of first in this May’s elections. District 6 is gettable.

If we don’t get more involved in local elections, this trend will continue to percolate upward. Then we’ll see fellow travelers Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Greg Casar (a former Austin city councilman) with more company in Washington, DC.

The opinions shared here do not necessarily represent the official position of the Libertarian Party. These editorial articles have been submitted by Libertarians across the country, and featuring these topics does not represent an endorsement of the content therein.