The following list shows the election victories and losses for socialist candidates running for office during the 2018 midterm elections. The list was created by the team at StoppingSocialism.com.
How did we define “socialist” when constructing this list?: This list includes all candidates for governor, U.S. House, and U.S. Senate endorsed by Our Revolution (Bernie Sanders’ far-left political group) and/or the Democratic Socialists of America, the largest socialist organization in the United States. It also includes all state legislative candidates that support/are members of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Some important highlights: This list includes 86 separate races in 35 states. We tracked 30 state legislative seats, five gubernatorial races, one state AG, 46 U.S. House seats, and four U.S. Senate seats. We discovered socialist candidates lost 52 of those races and won 34 (39.5 percent). If uncontested races are excluded, socialist candidates received on average 49 percent of the vote. Their principal opponent received on average 46.9 percent of the vote. On average, socialist candidates’ performed 2 percentage points better than their principal opponent, if uncontested races are excluded. With uncontested races included, socialists on average won by 11.1 percentage points.
To correct errors, please contact Justin Haskins at [email protected].
Socialist Candidates in 2018 U.S. Midterm Elections
| Candidate Name (Last) | S | Office | Party | Win or Loss in 2018 |
| Gallego | AZ | U.S. House | D | WIN |
| Grijalva | AZ | U.S. House | D | WIN |
| Romero | AZ | AZ House | D | LOSS |
| Beckles | CA | Calif. House | D | LOSS |
| Campa-Najjar | CA | U.S. House | D | LOSS |
| Chu | CA | U.S. House | D | WIN |
| de Leon | CA | U.S. Senate | D | LOSS |
| Denney | CA | U.S. House | D | LOSS |
| Estrada | CA | Calif. House | D | LOSS |
| Kim | CA | Calif. Senate | D | WIN |
| Lee | CA | U.S. House | D | WIN |
| Levin | CA | U.S. House | D | WIN |
| Porter | CA | U.S. House | D | LOSS |
| Rouda | CA | U.S. House | D | LOSS |
| Gonzales | CO | Colorado Sen. | D | WIN |
| Fontaine | CT | Conn. House | D | LOSS |
| Flores | FL | U.S. House | D | LOSS |
| Gillum | FL | Florida Gov. | D | LOSS |
| Patel | FL | U.S. House | D | LOSS |
| Abrams | GA | Georgia Gov. | D | LOSS |
| Ring | GA | U.S. House | D | LOSS |
| Gabbard | HI | U.S. House | D | WIN |
| Perruso | HI | Hawaii House | D | WIN |
| Scholten | IA | U.S. House | D | LOSS |
| Jordan | ID | Idaho Gov. | D | LOSS |
| Garcia | IL | U.S. House | D | WIN |
| Watson | IN | U.S. House | D | LOSS |
| Thompson | KS | U.S. House | D | LOSS |
| Walker | KY | U.S. House | D | LOSS |
| Trundle | LA | U.S. House | D | LOSS |
| McGovern | MA | U.S. House | D | WIN |
| Pressley | MA | U.S. House | D | WIN |
| Acevero | MD | MD House | D | WIN |
| Jealous | MD | MD Gov. | D | LOSS |
| Raskin | MD | U.S. House | D | WIN |
| Stewart | MD | MD House | D | WIN |
| Mele | ME | Maine House | D | LOSS |
| Ringelstein | ME | U.S. Senate | D | LOSS |
| Sylvester | ME | Maine House | D | WIN |
| Tlaib | MI | U.S. House | D | WIN |
| Ellison | MN | Minn. AG | D | WIN |
| Omar | MN | U.S. House | D | WIN |
| Bahr | MT | Mont. House | D | WIN |
| Marquez | MT | Mont. House | D | LOSS |
| Horton | NC | U.S. House | D | LOSS |
| Rixon | NC | NC House | D | LOSS |
| Buffalo | ND | ND House | D | WIN |
| Coryell | NE | Neb. Senate | I | LOSS |
| Davis | NE | Neb. Senate | I | LOSS |
| Eastman | NE | U.S. House | D | LOSS |
| Haaland | NM | U.S. House | D | WIN |
| Balter | NY | U.S. House | D | LOSS |
| Cobb | NY | U.S. House | D | LOSS |
| Kirchgessner | NY | NY Senate | D/WFP | LOSS |
| Ocasio-Cortez | NY | U.S. House | D | WIN |
| Salazar | NY | NY Senate | D | WIN |
| Shirley | NY | U.S. House | D | LOSS |
| Fiedler | PA | Penn. House | D | WIN |
| Innamorato | PA | Penn. House | D | WIN |
| King | PA | U.S. House | D | LOSS |
| Lee | PA | Penn. House | D | WIN |
| Seale | PA | Penn. House | D | LOSS |
| Bell | RI | RI Senate | D | WIN |
| Geren | SC | U.S. House | D | LOSS |
| Creasy | TN | Tenn. House | D | LOSS |
| Nelson | TN | Tenn. House | D | LOSS |
| Robinson | TN | Tenn. Senate | D | WIN |
| Salinas | TN | Tenn. Senate | D | LOSS |
| Bell | TX | U.S. House | D | LOSS |
| Escobar | TX | U.S. House | D | WIN |
| Fagan | TX | U.S. House | D | LOSS |
| Holguin | TX | U.S. House | D | LOSS |
| O’Rourke | TX | U.S. Senate | D | LOSS |
| Siegel | TX | U.S. House | D | LOSS |
| Singer | UT | U.S. House | D | LOSS |
| Cockburn | VA | U.S. House | D | LOSS |
| Flaccavento | VA | U.S. House | D | LOSS |
| Lewis | VA | U.S. House | D | LOSS |
| Hallquist | VT | Vermont Gov. | D | LOSS |
| Sanders | VT | U.S. Senate | I | WIN |
| Jayapal | WA | U.S. House | D | WIN |
| Morgan | WA | Wash. House | D | WIN |
| Smith | WA | U.S. House | D | LOSS |
| Smith | WA | Wash. House | D | LOSS |
| Bryce | WI | U.S. House | D | LOSS |
| Pocan | WI | U.S. House | D | WIN |
Justin Haskins is editor-in-chief of StoppingSocialism.com, a New York Times bestselling author, and the director of the Socialism Research Center at The Heartland Institute. Follow him on social media @JustinTHaskins.
