The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bipartisan resolution condemning socialism on Friday. The resolution, introduced about a month ago by Rep. Maria Salazar (R-FL), explicitly denounces socialism in all its forms and rejects the implementation of socialist policies in America. The bill cites "more than 100 million deaths at the hands of socialist governments." Republicans hailed the vote as an easy moral stand against a system that “crushes the human soul.”

While 86 Democrats broke ranks to support the condemnation, 98 Democrats opposed the resolution, which passed 285-98. 

In a 2023 vote, 109 Democrats voted to condemn while 86 voted against it and 14 Democrats voted present. 

This vote came hours before New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist, arrived in Washington, D.C., to meet with President Donald Trump for the first time. 

Among the 86 Democrats who supported the measure were 14 congressmembers from New York and New Jersey, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who only endorsed Mamdani in the 11th hour of the mayoral race.

Other New Yorkers who also supported the measure included Rep. Ritchie Torres of the Bronx, Reps. Greg Meeks and Grace Meng of Queens, and Reps. Laura Gillen and Tom Suozzi of Long Island. Suozzi made a special point of distancing himself from Mamdani during the mayoral campaign.

The measure was also supported by Republican Staten Island Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, whose mother fled Cuba in 1959. She said her mother left Cuba to avoid what she called "the very things that our new socialist mayor in New York City says he wants." -CBS News

Democrats voting against the resolution included Rep. Maxine Waters of California, who denounced it as a distraction. "I wish we were here on the House floor this morning debating solutions that would reduce grocery bills, lower housing costs, end Trump's tariffs strangling American small businesses and manufacturers, solve the Republican health care crisis, or any legislation that allows Americans to afford [to] live through the catastrophic economic policies of Trump and the Republicans," she said, even though symbolic resolutions are common in the House.

Republicans weren’t buying it.

“100 Democrats just refused to condemn the horrors of socialism,” Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) said in a post on X. “There were no poison pills in this resolution. There are 100+ socialism sympathizers in the United States House of Representatives. Despicable.”

“If you needed proof that the left has gone completely insane, here it is,” Congressman Russell Fry (R-S.C) said. 

Of note, across five votes to denounce socialism since 2009, two were unanimous and three were not - including the aforementioned 2023 vote in which 86 Democrats voted against it.

Mamdani dismissed the resolution as irrelevant when asked about it in the Oval Office.

"I have to be honest with you, I focused very little on resolutions. Frankly, I've been focusing ... on the work at hand," he claimed. "I can tell you, I am someone who is a democratic socialist. I've been very open about that. And I know there might be differences about ideology, but the place of agreement is the work that needs to be done to make New York City affordable. That's what I look forward to."

While some may consider this to be nothing more than an ideological purity test, Mamdani's election - and the results of this vote, clearly indicate the direction of the pendulum.