Pennsylvania Democrat Chris Rabb sat down for a podcast interview and said something even his own party will struggle to explain away.
Rabb had just finished bragging that the Mamdani takeover of the Democratic Party was spreading to cities across the country.
Then he tied his entire socialist identity to the color of his skin and a relative who has been dead for nearly two centuries.
Rabb Says His Race Is The Only Reason He's A Socialist
Rabb made the comment on the July 17 broadcast of Roland Martin Unfiltered.
He was explaining why voters in his overwhelmingly Democratic Philadelphia district should trust his socialist agenda.
Rabb didn't credit policy or ideology.
He credited his skin color, telling the audience flat out that he identifies as a socialist "because I'm black."
That reasoning was just the opening act.
Rabb says a direct ancestor, five generations back, ran with black abolitionists at Seventh and Lombard Street 190 years ago.
That intersection sits inside the very district Rabb is about to represent in Washington.
He also claims to own the ancestor's personal writings, and says the ideas in them line up with what he's saying today.
That relative has a name, according to Rabb's campaign: Rev. Amos Noë Freeman, a Presbyterian minister connected to the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee, the group that helped smuggle escaped slaves north in the 1830s.
Nobody is disputing that history.
The problem is what Rabb did with it.
He used a 190-year-old abolitionist to justify universal basic income, Medicare for All, and a government living wage in 2026.
The Congressional Black Caucus Excuse
Rabb did not stop at his own family tree.
He reached back to the Congressional Black Caucus's 1972 Black Bill of Rights to argue his socialism is heritage, not radicalism.
Fifty years, one platform, case closed. That's the pitch.
Rabb has already pushed for Pennsylvania to pay reparations to black residents of the state, the Daily Caller reported.
Black voters have also elected school choice, small business ownership, and capitalism at the ballot box for generations, a fact Rabb's heritage argument conveniently erases.
Rabb himself is no outsider.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez endorsed his campaign back in April and the Philadelphia DSA was behind him from day one, according to the Daily Caller and RedState, long before he needed his ancestor's blessing.
Rabb Declares The Mamdani Effect Real
Before any of that, Rabb opened with a boast, insisting that Mamdani-style socialism was already spreading through six cities: Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Denver, Detroit, Trenton, and Harlem.
He isn't wrong that something is happening.
Democratic Socialists of America candidates have knocked off sitting Democrats in New York, Colorado, and Michigan this year alone.
Rabb himself steamrolled the party's preferred candidate back in May, and he will walk into Congress in January without ever facing a Republican opponent.
The seat is rated D+40, the most lopsided Democratic district in the entire country.
Rabb does not have to persuade anyone.
He only has to keep the socialist base fired up, and Friday's comments did exactly that.
Even Fellow Democrats Are Turning On The Socialists
Days before Rabb's comments went viral, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, who is black, was already taking aim at the Democratic Socialists of America.
Richards wrote that "white supremacy comes in all forms," a direct shot at the very movement Rabb just credited to his ancestors.
That's a Democrat attacking Democrats, and it shows the socialist wing of the party cannot even keep its own coalition in line.
What This Really Reveals
Here is what should worry Democrats more than anything Trump has ever said about socialism.
Rabb just told his own voters that questioning his politics is the same as questioning his identity.
That isn't a policy argument, it's a shield.
It lets Rabb dodge every legitimate question about who actually pays for universal basic income and a living wage once the checks start going out.
Rabb has also stood on Independence Mall and called the Declaration of Independence a document that "purposely erased indigenous and black peoples," Breitbart reported.
None of that gets debated once the conversation gets rerouted to a 190-year-old family Bible.
That's the real story here – a one-party district where a sitting state lawmaker can tie his socialism to his race and never answer for it.
Sources:
- Mariane Angela, "Chris Rabb: I'm a Democratic Socialist 'Because I'm Black,' Cites Ancestor," Breitbart, July 23, 2026.
- Amy Furr, "NYC – Black Democrat Leader Criticizes Democratic Socialists of America: 'White Supremacy Comes in All Forms'," Breitbart, July 21, 2026.
- Daily Caller News Foundation, "Far-Left Lawmaker Who Introduced Joke Forced Vasectomy Bill Likely Heading To Congress In Major Upset," Daily Caller, May 20, 2026.
- Chris Talgo, "Democratic Socialist Chris Rabb Will Be the Most Radical Member of Congress," RedState, May 26, 2026.
- Mariane Angela, "Democrat Nominee Chris Rabb Trashes Declaration of Independence: 'This Is a Nation Born on Stolen Land and Stolen Labor'," Breitbart, July 1, 2026.
