DSA leader’s working-class image takes hit as public records pile up contradictions

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The contradictions are piling up around New York City Democratic Socialists of America co-chair Gustavo Gordillo, whose claims about his working-class credentials — from being a “union electrician” to his housing and family story — have increasingly collided with public records and other evidence.

Gordillo has repeatedly invoked his family’s immigrant success story while explaining his support for socialism.

“My parents came here, they had nothing,” Gordillo told the New York Times in a profile piece earlier this month. “Their first jobs were in fast food and cleaning houses. They built success in this country. And they’re absolutely the exception.”

According to Gordillo, he advances the cause of socialism because he believes it can “build a world” where his parents’ success story is “not exceptional.”

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DSA sign in a split image with Gustavo Gordillo

A 2021 obituary for Gordillo’s paternal grandfather, however, raises questions about the family history behind that account.

Manuel Gordillo, Gordillo’s grandfather, immigrated from Peru to the United States to practice medicine in 1958. After settling in the United States, Manuel met his future wife in St. Louis, and the couple later had Gordillo’s father, Gustavo.

The obituary also notes that Gordillo’s grandfather built a successful life as a psychiatrist in Ohio, at one point serving as the president of the Ohio Psychiatric Association, casting doubt on the socialist’s claim that his parents grew up in poverty.

“My dad, his first job in the United States was working at Wendy’s, my mom’s first job was a house cleaner, and they did make a living for themselves, and they had success,” Gordillo told Fox News in July.

Gordillo and the New York City Democratic Socialists of America did not respond to requests for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Monday.

The questions surrounding Gordillo’s account of his family history come after discrepancies emerged over how he has described his occupation and living arrangements.

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The 38-year-old socialist, for example, told the New York Times that he was renting a modest apartment in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn only for it to be revealed that he was actually living in a $1.4 million townhouse owned by his father in a trendier part of the borough.

“Not only did DSA co-chair Gustavo Gordillo’s parents buy him this rowhouse, they converted it from a two family and renovated it into a luxury single-family home for him,” New York City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino said on X. “Exactly the kind of ‘greed’ the DSA rails against on a daily basis, and reducing valuable housing inventory by one more unit, which is supposedly something the DSA cares very deeply about.”

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Also undercutting Gordillo’s working-class image is his continued self-identification as a “union electrician” despite the fact that he hasn’t been a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers since March, when he was fired for not showing up to his apprenticeship.

“After learning of Mr. Gordillo’s prolonged absence from and failure to participate in required work and classes, the trustees of the Joint Apprentice Training Committee terminated Mr. Gordillo from the program,” the IBEW said in a statement.

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Even with the IBEW publicly stating that Gordillo is not a member of their organization, the socialist leader still identifies himself as a “union electrician” on social media.

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