Norristown, Pennsylvania, is a majority-renter town with deep industrial roots. New councilmember David McMahon explains why the suburbs aren’t a monolith — and why suburbs like his are fertile ground for socialist organizing.

A hundred years ago, Pennsylvania was crawling with socialists. Not just in big cities, but in coal towns, mill towns, and small boroughs that look a lot like today’s inner suburbs. Socialists ran city halls, sat in the state legislature, and focused on the basics: public ownership, decent services, and making life better for poor and working people.

Some of the most well-known sewer socialists came straight out of those towns. Emil Seidel, the first socialist mayor of Milwaukee, was born in Ashland, a coal town in northeastern Pennsylvania, and was a craftsman. Reading’s socialist mayor, John Henry Stump, was a cigar factory worker and union organizer. Not career politicians, early socialists were workers who believed the government should work for the people who keep our communities moving.

​​Fast-forward to today. Pennsylvania now has more than a dozen socialist elected officials, from Pittsburgh to the Lehigh Valley to Philadelphia. In November, Philly Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) endorsee David McMahon joined their ranks when he was sworn in as an at-large councilmember in Norristown, a working-class suburb just outside Philadelphia.

Norristown isn’t a wealthy community. It’s not swimming in luxury developments. It’s a majority-renter town with deep industrial roots and a long history of its residents being asked to do more with less. A hundred years ago, socialists would have recognized it immediately as a fertile ground for working-class agitation. McMahon sees the potential there, too.

A longtime community organizer, DSA member, and union worker in the film industry, McMahon brought sewer socialism to Norristown (literally) in 2020 when he led a successful campaign to stop the privatization of the sewer system. Now, as a council member, he sees an opportunity to build on that struggle to create a mass movement for democratization of utilities, housing, and labor.

McMahon’s victory shows something important: socialism isn’t just for cities. Its appeal is not limited to dense downtowns or college neighborhoods. It can appeal to anyone fed up with privatization, rising costs, and a political system that keeps telling them there’s no money for the things they need. Not all suburbs are rich suburbs, and plenty of suburbanites fit this description.