Socialist Candidates Won More Seats Than Ever in 2020 Election

The list included below in this article shows the election victories and losses for socialist and far-left progressive candidates running for office during the 2020 general election. The list was created by a team of researchers at StoppingSocialism.com and The Heartland Institute, a national free-market think tank.

How Did We Define ‘Socialist’ and ‘Progressive’ When Constructing This List?

This list includes candidates for U.S. House, U.S. Senate, and state legislative seats endorsed by Our Revolution, the Democratic Socialists of America, and/or the Progressive Democrats of America.

Our Revolution is a nonprofit organization advocating for the policy agenda of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), a self-described socialist. Our Revolution supports socialist policies such as single-payer health care and the Green New Deal as core parts of its agenda.

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is the largest socialist organization (not a political party) in the United States. According to DSA’s website, “We are socialists because we reject an international economic order sustained by private profit, alienated labor, race and gender discrimination, environmental destruction, and brutality and violence in defense of the status quo.”

socialism watch

The Progressive Democrats of America is a nonprofit organization founded in 2004 “to transform the Democratic Party and our country” by promoting far-left policies within the Democratic Party and across the nation. It supports, among other policies, a national government-managed health care system, dramatic tax increases, an expansion of government social programs, and energy policies similar to those proposed in the Green New Deal.

Important Highlights

  • The biggest takeaway from our research is that the far-left progressive and socialist wings of the Democratic Party gained significant ground in 2020 compared to previous elections, and that a greater proportion than ever of legislative seats will be filled by far-left progressives or socialists in 2021 and 2022. It appears as though the socialist and progressive wings of the DNC are quickly taking over.
  • Our full list includes 266 separate races in 29 states and Washington, DC. We tracked 200 state legislative seats, 60 U.S. House seats, and six U.S. Senate seats.
  • We discovered socialist or progressive candidates won 239 of those races and lost just 24 (three races were still undecided when we put our final analysis together). That means socialists or far-left progressives won more than 90 percent of their races.
  • If uncontested races are excluded, socialist or far-left progressive candidates won by an average of more than 25 percentage points, indicating clearly socialist and progressive groups targeted during the primaries districts that they knew Democrats would win in the general election.
  • In 2018, we conducted a similar analysis and found there were fewer progressive and socialist candidates (we only identified 86 in 2018, based on endorsements from far-left groups), and that those candidates were much less successful. Fewer than 40 percent won their races, and the margin of victory in contested races was slim.

NOTE: You can also download this report by clicking HERE.

Socialist, Other Far-Left Candidates in 2020 Election

Candidate Name (Last) State Office Win/Loss in 2020
Andrade AZ Arizona House WON
Bolding AZ Arizona House WON
Gallego AZ U.S. House WON
Grijalva AZ U.S. House WON
Hernandez AZ Arizona House WON
Jermain AZ Arizona House WON
Mendez AZ Arizona Senate WON
Powers-Hannley AZ Arizona House WON
Quezada AZ Arizona Senate WON
Salman AZ Arizona House WON
Shah AZ Arizona House WON
Baraggan CA U.S. House WON
Bass CA U.S. House WON
Campa-Najjar CA U.S. House LOST
Chu CA U.S. House WON
Denney CA U.S. House LOST
Desaulnier CA U.S. House WON
Duenas CA U.S. House LOST
Fielder CA California Senate LOST
Gomez CA U.S. House WON
Gonzalez Fletcher CA California State Assembly WON
Hufman CA U.S. House WON
Jones-Sawyer CA California State Assembly WON
Kalra CA California State Assembly WON
Khanna CA U.S. House WON
Lee CA U.S. House WON
Lee CA California State Assembly WON
Lieu CA U.S. House WON
Napolitano CA U.S. House WON
Omara CA U.S. House LOST
Porter CA U.S. House WON
Roybal-Allard CA U.S. House WON
Santiago CA California State Assembly WON
Takano CA U.S. House WON
Waters CA U.S. House WON
Duran CO Colorado House WON
Gonzalez-Gutierrez CO Colorado House WON
Jodeh CO Colorado House WON
Neguse CO U.S. House WON
Sirota CO Colorado House WON
Weissman CO Colorado House WON
Woodrow CO Colorado House WON
Abrams CT Connecticut Senate WON
Angelico-Stetson CT Connecticut House LOST
Anwar CT Connecticut Senate WON
Cabrera CT Connecticut Senate WON
Cassano CT Connecticut Senate WON
Chafee CT Connecticut House WON
Cohen CT Connecticut Senate WON
D’Agostino CT Connecticut House WON
Dimassa CT Connecticut House WON
Duff CT Connecticut Senate WON
Elliot CT Connecticut House WON
Flexer CT Connecticut Senate WON
Foster CT Connecticut House WON
Genga CT Connecticut House WON
Godfrey CT Connecticut House WON
Gucker CT Connecticut House WON
Haddad CT Connecticut House WON
Hall CT Connecticut House WON
Hughes CT Connecticut House WON
Johnson CT Connecticut House WON
Kushner CT Connecticut Senate WON
Lesser CT Connecticut Senate WON
Looney CT Connecticut Senate WON
Lopes CT Connecticut Senate WON
Michel CT Connecticut House WON
Morrin Bello CT Connecticut House WON
Needleman CT Connecticut Senate WON
Osten CT Connecticut Senate WON
Phipps CT Connecticut House WON
Porter CT Connecticut House WON
Ritter CT Connecticut House WON
Rochelle CT Connecticut House WON
Sanchez CT Connecticut House WON
Smith CT Connecticut House WON
Turco CT Connecticut House WON
Vargas CT Connecticut House WON
Welander CT Connecticut House WON
Winfield CT Connecticut Senate WON
Winkler CT Connecticut House WON
Holmes-Norton DC U.S. House WON
Eskamani FL Florida House WON
Guillermo-Smith FL Florida House WON
Jones FL Florida Senate WON
Joseph FL Florida House WON
Polo FL Florida House LOST
Wilson FL U.S. House WON
Williams GA U.S. House WON
Scholten IA U.S. House LOST
Ammons IL Illinois House WON
Avelar IL Illinois House WON
Cassidy IL Illinois House WON
Connor IL Illinois Senate WON
Davis IL U.S. House WON
Gabel IL Illinois House WON
Garcia IL U.S. House WON
Gonzalez Jr. IL Illinois House WON
Guzzardi IL Illinois House WON
Harris IL Illinois House WON
Kelly IL U.S. House WON
Lightford IL Illinois Senate WON
Mah IL Illinois House WON
Mason IL Illinois House WON
Newman IL U.S. House WON
Ortiz IL Illinois House WON
Peters IL Illinois Senate WON
Ramirez IL Illinois House WON
Schakowsky IL U.S. House WON
Stava-Murray IL Illinois House WON
Villa IL Illinois Senate WON
Villanueva IL Illinois Senate WON
West IL Illinois House WON
Connolly MA Massachusetts House WON
Elugardo MA Massachusetts House WON
Markey MA U.S. Senate WON
McGovern MA U.S. House WON
Pressley MA U.S. House WON
Sabadosa MA Massachusetts House WON
Eldridge MA Massachusetts Senate WON
Collings ME Maine House WON
Hess ME Maine Senate LOST
Jackson ME Maine Senate WON
Lookner ME Maine House WON
Maxmin ME Maine Senate WON
Sylvester ME Maine House WON
Aiyash MI Michigan House WON
Dingell MI U.S. House WON
Hammoud MI Michigan House WON
Johnson MI Michigan House WON
Levin MI U.S. House WON
Rabhi MI Michigan House WON
Tlaib MI U.S. House WON
Davnie MN Minnesota House WON
Fateh MN Minnesota Senate WON
Gomez MN Minnesota House WON
Greenman MN Minnesota House WON
Hassan MN Minnesota House WON
Hornstein MN Minnesota House WON
Kotyza-Witthuhn MN Minnesota House WON
Liebling MN Minnesota House WON
Long MN Minnesota House WON
Mariani MN Minnesota House WON
Marty MN Minnesota Senate WON
McEwen MN Minnesota Senate WON
Noor MN Minnesota House WON
Olson MN Minnesota House WON
Omar MN U.S. House WON
Port MN Minnesota Senate WON
Schultz MN Minnesota House WON
Torres Ray MN Minnesota Senate WON
Winkler MN Minnesota House WON
Wolgamott MN Minnesota House WON
Xiong MN Minnesota House WON
Aune MO Missouri House WON
Bush MO U.S. House WON
Collins MO Missouri House WON
Lewis MO Missouri House WON
Weber MO Missouri House WON
Dunwell MT Montana House WON
Olsen MT Montana House WON
Stewart-Peregoy MT Montana House WON
Tenenbaum MT Montana House WON
Eastman NE U.S. House LOST
Haaland NM U.S. House WON
Leger Fernandez NM U.S. House WON
Balter NY U.S. House LOST
Biaggi NY New York Senate WON
Bowman NY U.S. House WON
Brisport NY New York Senate WON
Brouk NY New York Senate WON
Cruz NY New York House WON
Gianaris NY New York Senate WON
Hoylman NY New York Senate WON
Jones NY U.S. House WON
Jones NY U.S. House WON
Krueger NY New York Senate WON
Liu NY New York Senate WON
Mamdani NY New York House WON
McMurray NY U.S. House LOST
Mitaynes NY New York House WON
Myrie NY New York House WON
Niou NY New York House WON
Occasio-Cortez NY U.S. House WON
Ramos NY New York Senate WON
Salazar NY New York Senate WON
Sanders Jr. NY New York Senate WON
Souffrant Forrest NY New York House WON
Steck NY New York House WON
Kim NY New York House WON
Rivera NY New York House WON
Skindell OH Ohio House WON
Blumenaeur OR U.S. House WON
Defazio OR U.S. House WON
Leung OR Oregon House LOSS
Merkley OR U.S. Senate WON
Neron OR Oregon House WON
Pham OR Oregon House WON
Prusak OR Oregon House WON
Benham PA Pennsylvania House WON
Cappelletti PA Pennsylvania Senate WON
Cartwright PA U.S. House WON
Fielder PA Pennsylvania House WON
Innamorato PA Pennsylvania House WON
Kinkead PA Pennsylvania House WON
Krajewski PA Pennsylvania House WON
Lee PA Pennsylvania House WON
Otten PA Pennsylvania House WON
Rabb PA Pennsylvania House WON
Saval PA Pennsylvania Senate WON
Morales RI Rhode Island House WON
Alexander SC South Carolina House WON
Bamberg SC South Carolina House WON
Gilliard SC South Carolina House WON
Harrison SC U.S. Senate LOST
Howard SC South Carolina House WON
Matthews SC South Carolina House WON
Rivers SC South Carolina House WON
Thigpen SC South Carolina House WON
Bradshaw TN U.S. Senate LOST
Cohen TN U.S. House WON
Johnson TN Tennessee House WON
Crockett TX Texas House WON
Doggett TX U.S. House WON
Escobar TX U.S. House WON
Goodwin TX Texas House WON
Hinojosa TX Texas House WON
Holguin TX Texas House LOST
Jackson Lee TX U.S. House WON
Meza TX Texas House WON
Morales Shaw TX Texas House WON
Oliver TX U.S. Senate LOST
Ramos TX Texas House WON
Rosenthal TX Texas House WON
Sanchez TX Texas House LOST
Siegel TX U.S. House LOST
Zwiener TX Texas House WON
Rashid VA U.S. House LOST
Chesnut-Tangerman VT Vermont House LOST
Christie VT Vermont House WON
Cina VT Vermont House WON
Cordes VT Vermont House WON
Hooker VT Vermont Senate WON
Kornheiser VT Vermont House WON
Pearson VT Vermont Senate WON
Small VT Vermont House WON
Vyhovsky VT Vermont House WON
Welch VT U.S. House WON
Anderson WA Washington Senate WON
Berg WA Washington House WON
Berry WA Washington House WON
Doglio WA U.S. House LOST
Harris-Talley WA Washington House WON
Hasegawa WA Washington Senate WON
Jayapal WA U.S. House WON
Simmons WA Washington House WON
Baldeh WI Wisconsin House WON
Cabrera WI Wisconsin House WON
Pocan WI U.S. House WON
Rodriguez WI Wisconsin House WON
Sargent WI Wisconsin Senate WON
Kunkel WV U.S. House LOST
Swaerengin WV U.S. Senate LOST

To suggest corrections, please contact Justin Haskins at [email protected] or [email protected].

PHOTO: New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Photo credit: Ståle Grut / NRKbeta. Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0)

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.

Chris Talgo ([email protected]) is the editorial director and a research fellow at The Heartland Institute, as well as a researcher and contributing editor at StoppingSocialism.com.