DES MOINES, IOWA — What do fried enchi­la­da fun­nel cakes and demo­c­ra­t­ic social­ism have in com­mon? Both made their debut this year at the Iowa State Fair, an annu­al tra­di­tion deeply embed­ded in Amer­i­can cul­ture and pol­i­tics. In the August 9 open­ing parade, amid floats adver­tis­ing Iowa Catholic Radio and corn mazes, 30 Iowa social­ists chant­ed, ​“How does sin­gle-pay­er pass? Uni­fy the work­ing class!”

“I think people around me distrust centralized power and the elites. They might not call that the ‘ruling class,’ but that’s what it is.”

Every four years, pres­i­den­tial hope­fuls flock to the Iowa fair­grounds to test their mes­sag­ing and prove their com­mon touch. Things are qui­eter in off-years, so local Demo­c­ra­t­ic Social­ists of Amer­i­ca (DSA) mem­bers decid­ed to try an exper­i­ment. Why not use the event to test Iowans’ appetite for socialism?

“We had no idea how peo­ple would react,” says Chris­tine Darr, sec­re­tary of Iowa’s new­ly formed Dubuque DSA chap­ter. In fact, the social­ists got a warm wel­come, with many in the crowd cheer­ing their calls for uni­ver­sal healthcare.

Since its launch in Jan­u­ary, the Dubuque chap­ter has grown to about 40 mem­bers. It’s one of four Iowa chap­ters that have sprung up since Don­ald Trump’s vic­to­ry. DSA even has a mem­ber run­ning for a seat on Des Moines’ non-par­ti­san city coun­cil: Abshir Omar, 26, a Soma­li refugee.

He wouldn’t be the state’s first social­ist to hold office. Pri­or to 1960, the Iowa branch of Eugene V. Debs’ Social­ist Par­ty suc­cess­ful­ly elect­ed can­di­dates in at least eight cities. That includ­ed the city of Dav­en­port, where vot­ers pulled off an aston­ish­ing polit­i­cal rev­o­lu­tion in the midst of the first Red Scare: In 1920, the may­or and five of eight city coun­cil mem­bers were open social­ists. A social­ist can­di­date for gov­er­nor, George Peck, ran that year call­ing for pub­licly owned util­i­ties and state insur­ance for indus­tri­al acci­dents, but the influ­ence of Iowa social­ists soon fiz­zled amidst infight­ing and a fresh wave of red-baiting.

It’s these oft-for­got­ten his­to­ries that many are hop­ing to chan­nel as they rebuild social­ist orga­ni­za­tions in the Mid­west. ​“Lots of peo­ple don’t know that Iowa has a pop­ulist his­to­ry, even a social­ist his­to­ry,” says Alex Kruse, 20, a new DSA mem­ber who hails from a union house­hold in Dubuque and says he was ​“first drawn to Marx­ism in mid­dle school.”

DSA’s mem­ber­ship num­bers in the Mid­west still lag behind the coasts, but the region has seen nine new DSA chap­ters form this year and 2,800 new mem­bers sign up online since the 2016 election.

That should debunk the notion that social­ism can’t play in Peo­ria, says Eri­ka Paschold, 31, a mem­ber of a DSA chap­ter in Lin­coln, Neb., estab­lished in April. ​“I’m real­ly pas­sion­ate about try­ing to con­nect Nebras­ka val­ues to social­ist val­ues,” says Paschold, who grew up on a farm out­side Lin­coln. ​“I think peo­ple around me dis­trust cen­tral­ized pow­er and the elites. They might not call that the ​‘rul­ing class,’ but that’s what it is.” The Lin­coln chap­ter plans to orga­nize around afford­able hous­ing issues.

In April, DSA mem­ber Dylan Park­er won his bid for city coun­cil in Rock Island, Ill., just across the riv­er from Dav­en­port. Park­er, a 28-year-old diesel mechan­ic who was born in Dav­en­port and is well aware of its social­ist his­to­ry, says he ​“nev­er shoved the s‑word down peo­ples’ throats” while knock­ing on doors. But he didn’t hide his pol­i­tics, either, and cam­paigned on a pro­pos­al for pub­licly owned broad­band inter­net — a plan rem­i­nis­cent of the ​“sew­er social­ism” made famous in Mil­wau­kee in the ear­ly 20th cen­tu­ry. Munic­i­pal­ly mind­ed social­ists sought to clean up the pol­lu­tion caused by the Indus­tri­al Rev­o­lu­tion and estab­lish city con­trol over water and pow­er systems.

Park­er says he doesn’t mind this call­back to the pol­i­tics of waste dis­pos­al: ​“It’s not the most glam­orous name, but it’s the sub­stance that mat­ters,” he says. ​“The goal is to replace pri­vate own­er­ship of ser­vices with demo­c­ra­t­ic ownership.”