The former leader of the largest socialist group in America has been on Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's (D-NY) staff since her election to Congress in 2018, Fox News Digital reported.
Frank Llewellyn, the former director of Democratic Socialists For America (DSA) is the treasurer for both Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign and her political action committee, Courage to Change, campaign finance records show. Concerns about socialism are on the rise as Zohran Mamdani, a DSA member, leads in the polls for New York's upcoming mayoral race.
As the former director of the DSA from 2001 to 2011, Llewellyn played an intimate role in electing Bernie Sanders to the Senate, something Llewellyn saw as a major achievement for socialist politics.
Llewellyn would later become involved with the most famous of Sanders' proteges, joining the campaign staff of Ocasio-Cortez in 2018.
While some of her fellow leftists in the so-called "Squad" have been voted out, "AOC" has become a fixture in national politics, winning re-election easily every two years since entering Congress.
Indeed, some speculate that AOC could take Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer's (D-NY) job in the future, and she continues to be floated as a White House candidate.
In any case, the DSA may be on the precipice of a generational victory as polls predict Zohran Mamdani to be the likely next mayor of New York.
Llewellyn has been an active member of New York City chapter of the DSA since it was founded in the 1980s.
The group is giddy about the prospect of Mamdani's mayoralty, with members boasting at a recent meeting that they practically wrote his agenda.
“Our endorsed candidates are expected to follow the will of the membership,” said Darren Goldner, a chapter leader, at an October 1 meeting.
Many Democrats, especially in the suburbs of New York, have scrambled to distance themselves from Mamdani and his radical politics, while out-and-proud socialists like Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders have endorsed him.
Ideologically, Mamdani and AOC are joined at the hip. Both voice support for DSA priorities like shutting down federal immigration enforcement, curtailing local policing, decriminalizing prostitution, and redistributing wealth to pay for their socialist freebies. Mamdani's agenda even includes plans to hike property taxes in white neighborhoods, a shockingly racist proposal that has received less attention than it warrants.
While it's still too soon for AOC to start popping champagne bottles, Mamdani's rise is widely seen as inevitable, even after a debate showing Wednesday night where he began to crack under pressure.
As Election Day approaches, Mamdani has tried to put on a moderate image, offering token support for law enforcement and vowing to protect Jewish residents who are concerned that he is soft on anti-Semitism. Despite Mamdani's polished persona, his top competitor in the race, ex-governor Andrew Cuomo, warns Mamdani would govern as a puppet of the radical left.
“According to DSA leaders, for years they have told him how to vote, written his platform, and now they openly brag that if he’s elected mayor, he’ll follow their orders,” said Cuomo.
