“Yes, that is true,” Mamdani said during an appearance on SiriusXM’s The Clay Cane Show. “The vice president reached out to have a conversation, and we’ve had a brief conversation. We’ve been in touch over the last few months, and I really do appreciate her outreach.”

The “outreach” underscores Harris’s recognition that socialists are wielding growing influence in elections, following her bruising 2024 loss to President Donald Trump. Whether that influence will translate into any future support for Harris is far less certain.

“The answer isn’t ideological affinity. It’s opportunity,” California Republican strategist Matt Klink told the Washington Examiner, arguing that socialists are more interested in shaping an establishment politician than nominating one of their own.

“Harris has repeatedly demonstrated that her policy positions travel wherever the votes are,” Klink said. “DSA doesn’t need her to be a true believer. They need her to be useful.”

Klink added that Harris’s outreach reflects the reality that the party’s left flank has become increasingly difficult to ignore.

“She is telling Democratic funders and influencers exactly where she thinks the party is going,” he said, arguing that courting pro-Palestinian activists this early signals the DSA now “sets the price of admission” in a Democratic presidential primary.

But even some voices on the left question whether Harris can simply step into a movement that has spent years building its own political identity.

“I suspect the interest is in one direction,” veteran political expert Garry South told the Washington Examiner. “Harris obviously is trying to remain relevant by grasping at straws. It’s a little late in her career to be looking for a political sex change, and cozying up to the Democratic Socialists.”

Even as Harris navigates the party’s shifting ideological landscape, others are more skeptical about whether any alignment with the socialist left is genuine or durable.

“I think there’s another issue at hand,” political pundit Jamie E. Wright said, framing the central question as whether Harris can build goodwill with the Democratic Socialists of America — or whether the DSA sees her as someone it can actually work with.

Wright said the group has long defined itself by its differences from mainstream Democrats, even when there is overlap on issues such as labor and voting rights.

“The DSA has defined its politics around these kinds of questions,” she said, pointing to disagreements over criminal justice, foreign policy, policing, and the scope of structural reform.

While politicians often reach across ideological lines, Wright added, “simply reaching out doesn’t necessarily mean that the group being reached out to will reciprocate.”

She told the Washington Examiner the real question is whether any relationship reflects shared ideology or political convenience — “and whether that shows up in actual actions rather than symbolic ones.”

Progressive radio host and author Thom Hartmann said Mamdani’s success reflects voters’ embrace of economic populism over the cautious centrism favored by many Democratic strategists.

“Harris can read a room,” Hartmann told the Washington Examiner. “She can see the votes and the energy have swung back” toward the affordability message that powered Mamdani and other progressive candidates.

Still, he said Harris must overcome skepticism from activists who have long viewed her as an establishment Democrat.

“Only if people believe her, and belief is exactly what she hasn’t earned,” Hartmann said. “Voters can smell a poll-tested pivot.”

Hartmann argued Harris could still become a credible progressive candidate if she fully embraces “New Deal economics” and distances herself from what he called the party’s Wall Street wing. Otherwise, he said, activists are likely to back candidates who have consistently championed those priorities, pointing to Mamdani and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) as examples.

Even if Harris were to succeed in consolidating the Democratic base, some Democrats argue the strategy carries significant political risks.

Ashleigh Ewald, a former Gen Z content creator for Harris’s 2024 campaign, said Democrats ultimately win by persuading moderates and independents rather than focusing exclusively on energizing progressive activists.

“Most elections are decided by moderates, independents, and swing voters, not by people who are already firmly committed to one side,” Ewald said. “If Democrats want to regain ground in competitive states and districts, they have to demonstrate they’re focused on practical solutions that resonate with the political middle.”

DSA EYES NATIONAL EXPANSION AFTER NEW YORK WINS AS DEMOCRATS BRACE FOR NEW PRIMARY FIGHTS

At the end of the day, she added, “parties don’t win by speaking only to their base. They win by persuading voters who haven’t already made up their minds.”

For Harris, the challenge heading toward 2028 may not be convincing socialists that she agrees with them on every issue. It may be convincing a movement that has gained new political clout that she is more than just another establishment Democrat trying to catch up with where the party’s grassroots have already gone.