Robert Dale Owen (D-Ind.)

The term “socialism” or “socialist” gets bandied about quite a bit, but we do have actual socialists in Congress and some people who identified with the Socialist Party historically before going to a different party. Two were Populists before they became members of the Socialist Party. Interestingly, there is some variation in scoring, although at least one of these inclusions is questionable. I have also added George Rhodes (D-Penn.), as he had a past in Pennsylvania’s Socialist Party. One figure I am excluding is John Travers Wood, who although he was the Socialist mayor of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho way back in the 1910s, by the time he was elected to Congress in 1950 as a Republican he was about as far as you could get from a socialist.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y., 2019- ) – -0.297

Perhaps the media’s most stylish if not the most touted socialist, Ocasio-Cortez’s score is strangely high given that she and “The Squad” have on some occasions voted “nay” with Republicans on Democratic legislation as it wasn’t sufficient for them.

Danny Davis (D-Ill., 1997- ) – -0.486

Danny Davis has long represented his Chicago district and has been a member of Democratic Socialists of America.

Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich., 2019- ) – -0.288

Another member of The Squad, she represents a Detroit district and like Ocasio-Cortez, she has voted “nay” on certain Democratic proposals.

Ilhan Omar (D-Minn., 2019 – ) – -0.293

Representing Minneapolis, Omar is also a member of “The Squad”.

Cori Bush (D-Mo., 2021- ) – -0.247

Cori Bush, representing urban St. Louis, became part of “The Squad” after her election in 2020.

Major Owens (D-N.Y., 1983-2007) – -0.569

Owens was a major NYC leftist and objected to the electoral vote count of Ohio for Bush in 2004. He also was the floor manager for the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990.

Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y., 2021- ) – -0.356

Bowman, representing New York City, is yet another member of “The Squad”.

Summer Lee (D-Penn., 2023- ) – -0.375

Elected to Congress in 2022, Summer Lee was a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and was elected with their support.

Greg Casar (D-Tex., 2023- ) – -0.378

Representing territory from East Austin to West San Antonio and formerly of the Austin City Council, Casar has been affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America.

Bernie Sanders (I-Vt., 1989- ) – -0.539

Bernie Sanders is certainly America’s most famous contemporary socialist. He is interestingly not lower on DW-Nominate as there has been the occasional issue he has sided with the GOP on, such as auditing the Fed or opposition to funding research into human cloning.

Horace Greeley (W-N.Y., 1847-49) – 0.429 – Horace Greeley actually served as a member of Congress shortly, but I actually have strong doubts about Greeley’s “socialism”, as it seems like he entertained the idea rather than embraced it, and he tended to include ideas he entertained in his newspaper. His DW-Nominate score indicates that he if he was a socialist, he was by far the most right-wing socialist to ever serve in Congress.

Robert Dale Owen (D-Ind., 1843-1847) – -0.232 – This is more of an actual socialist from Greeley’s time period, as his father, Robert Owen, was a major socialist theorist, his sort being a utopian socialism. Owen throughout his life stood for socialism. Yet as a member of Congress he had a reputation as not exceptional as far as Democrats went. Owen I find an interesting example not only because he was a Democrat in the time it was thought of as the party of Jackson, but also because he identified as a socialist before The Communist Manifesto existed.

Victor Berger (S-N.Y., 1911-13, 1923-29) – 0.176 – Berger of Milwaukee represents one of the DW-Nominate anomalies for sure, as his score is above that of red hunter Richard Nixon. He faced off regularly against Republican William Stafford.

Meyer London (S-N.Y., 1915-19, 1921-23) – -0.026 – One of the official members of the Socialist Party, he appears more conservative than most Democrats, and part of that may be his opposition to Democratic war measures, including his opposition to cracking down on civil liberties.

Andrew Biemiller (D-Wis., 1945-47, 1949-51) – -0.484 – Formerly a Socialist representative in the Wisconsin Assembly, Biemiller fairly seamlessly made the transition to a staunchly liberal Democrat in Congress. Both times he lost reelection it was to Republican Charles Kersten, the last Republican to represent Milwaukee in Congress.

David Bonior (D-Mich., 1977-2003) – -0.547

Although a member of Democratic Socialists of America, Bonior rose up to be the third-ranking Democrat in the House during the Bush Administration and was known as a major opponent of NAFTA. Interestingly, he was pro-life in his voting record.

Ron Dellums (D-Calif., 1971-98) – -0.644

Elected to represent Berkeley, California, in 1970, Dellums was a self-described socialist, staunchly anti-Vietnam War, and almost never voted for military appropriations bills.

John Conyers (D-Mich., 1965-2017) – -0.658

John Conyers long represented Detroit in Congress and notably introduced legislation to investigate the idea of reparations.

Leo Isacson (ALP-N.Y., 1948-49) – -1

Isacson won a special election in a normally staunchly Democratic district. He was left-wing to the hilt on domestic policy and his vote against the Marshall Plan can be seen as a vote friendly to the USSR.

Hugh De Lacy (D-Wash., 1945-47) – -0.501

De Lacy was one of two “secret communists” of Congress and represented Seattle for a term and was the leader of the pro-communist Washington Commonwealth Federation within the Democratic Party. However, he lost reelection in 1946, a time in which Seattle wasn’t relentlessly left-wing.

John Bernard (FL-Minn., 1937-39) – -0.353

Bernard was another of the two “secret communists” of Congress, although he would later publicly call himself a communist. He represented the Iron Range in Minnesota, now a Republican area.

Jerry J. O’Connell (D-Mont., 1937-39) – -0.396

Jerry O’Connell was known as a supporter of the Republican forces in the Spanish Civil War and was a communist fellow-traveler. He later associated with Hugh De Lacy’s wing of the Democratic Party, the Washington Commonwealth Federation.

Homer T. Bone (D-Wash., 1933-44) – -0.047

Bone had a past in Washington’s Socialist Party before winning election to the Senate as a Democrat. As a senator, although he was a New Dealer, he strongly opposed FDR’s foreign policy.

George Rhodes (D-Penn., 1949-69) – -0.369

Rhodes had a history in Pennsylvania’s Socialist Party, but the future was brighter with the Democrats and he defeated Republican Frederick Muhlenberg for reelection in 1948, serving 20 years and being a staunch supporter of Democratic programs.

Fiorello LaGuardia (R-N.Y., 1917-19, 1923-25, Prog. 1925-27, R-N.Y., 1927-33) – 0.208

LaGuardia is one of the people that I would question a full-on labeling of “socialist”. Although he did win election to Congress on a fusion Progressive/Socialist ticket in 1924, but ran as a Republican again in 1926.

George Lunn (D-N.Y., 1917-19) – -0.181

Lunn had been the Socialist Party mayor of Schenectady, New York, before Democrats approached him to run for Congress on their ticket. He would lose reelection in 1918.

Harry Lane (D-Ore., 1913-17) – -0.154

Lane was a rather independent-minded progressive senator and got into a whole lot of hot water for voting against American participation in World War I in 1917. He died before there were electoral consequences.

Freeman Knowles (P-S.D., 1897-99) – -0.281

Knowles started out as a Populist but would later join the Socialist Party.

Kittel Halvorson (P-Minn., 1891-93) – -0.153

Halvorson was just like Knowles in trajectory.

Henry Smith (UL-Wis., 1887-89) – -0.148

Smith had been a Socialist in the Wisconsin Assembly and, like in Congress, represented Milwaukee. He at differing times ran on the Democratic, Union Labor, Greenback Party, and Socialist tickets.

Jerry Voorhis (D-Calif., 1937-47) – -0.329

Jerry Voorhis was a loyal New Dealer but is also notable for being defeated by Richard Nixon for reelection in 1946. Interestingly, it was Nixon’s anti-communist politicking against Voorhis that turned Governor Earl Warren, a personal friend of Voorhis, against him throughout his political career.

Vito Marcantonio (R-N.Y., 1935-37, ALP 1939-51) – -0.415

Interestingly, Marcantonio was once a Republican! He was also one of the few openly pro-communist legislators out there, but his excellent constituent service helped keep him in office until Republicans and Democrats ran a fusion candidate to defeat him in 1950.

Interestingly, it has only been relatively recently that socialists got elected to office and stayed consistently long. Milwaukee figures as having multiple socialist figures representing the district as they had a particularly strong pull there.

References

Voteview.

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