Astoria Emerges as 30-Year Democratic Socialist Hub in NYC

1 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Aug 7

Astoria has become a center of democratic socialist power in New York City, marking a sharp shift for a neighborhood once seen as relatively conservative and white working class.
Pura Barakos’s house near Astoria’s center has symbolized that change for more than 30 years, covered in bumper stickers promoting left-wing positions on gun control, civil rights and U.S. foreign policy.
Barakos said the home long felt like an island in the neighborhood, and vandals repeatedly splattered it with tar or paint to cover its political messages.
That trajectory now casts Astoria as a visible base of organized left-wing activism in the city rather than an isolated pocket of dissent.