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

PHOTO: U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders speaking with supporters at a campaign rally at the Paul R. Knapp Learning Center in Des Moines, Iowa. Photo by Gage Skidmore. Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Justin Haskins

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.