Parliamentary group

Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb drew criticism from a city councilman after launching Blue Cities/Red States, a new coalition of 15 Democratic mayors governing in Republican-controlled states, unveiled this week in Miami. The group describes itself as a centrist alternative to both MAGA Republicanism and what it calls the "far-left dysfunction" of organizations like the Democratic Socialists of America.

Cleveland Councilman Rebecca Shah, the council's lone DSA member, rejected the comparison as "delusional at best and dishonest at worst," telling Bibb during a Monday council meeting to "focus on your job, and stop looking for the next one." Shah argued that centrist Democrats, not socialists, have failed to deliver transformative economic policy at the city and state level, pointing to a temporary gas tax holiday that will pull $725 million from Ohio's state budget, which she said passed because statehouse Democrats declined to resist a pre-election Republican measure. "It was not socialists that have brought you the last 60 years of decline," Shah said. "It's been capitalists." Bibb's office has not yet responded to requests for comment.