Bernie's Army: 2016's Class of Progressive Candidates
The presidential campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is is calling for a “political revolution” to take control of our political system from moneyed interests. His campaign has been criticized repeatedly for offering an ambitious democratic-socialist agenda that would be blocked by a Republican-dominated Congress. Clinton’s less ambitious but still liberal plans will similarly face a stone wall of GOP opposition. As they might say, “Oh yeah? You and what army?”
Thus, the policy success of the Democratic candidates relies in large part on whether they are buoyed by wins down the ticket. The Clinton campaign and its supporters argue such down-ballot successes are a political impossibility.
However, as David Dayen noted in a recent article in The New Republic, a wave of progressive candidates – which he dubbed “Bernie’s Army” – is running for Congress. Below is a list of candidates who may deserve that label – candidates endorsed for progressive platforms, who have endorsed the Sanders presidential campaign.
- The New Republic: Bernie’s Army is Running for Congress (TNR)
- Endorsers of Bernie Sanders for President (EBS)
- Democracy for America (DFA)
- Climate Hawks Vote (CHV)
- Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC)
- BlueAmerica (BA)
| Candidate | Race | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Kim Foxx | IL-Cook County State’s Atty | DFA |
| Jennifer Boysko | VA-HD-86 | DFA |
| Candidate | Race | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Alan Grayson | FL-SEN | BA |
| Rob Hogg | IA-SEN | CHV |
| Tom Fiegen | IA-SEN | EBS |
| Donna Edwards | MD-SEN | BA |
| PG Sittenfield | OH-SEN | BA |
| John Fetterman | PA-SEN | TNR EBS |
| Russ Feingold | WI-SEN | BA |
| Candidate | Race | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Raul Grijalva* | AZ-03 | EBS |
| Wendy Reed | CA-23 | EBS |
| Lou Vince | CA-25 | BA |
| Nanette Barragan | CA-44 | CHV BA |
| Bao Nguyen | CA-46 | EBS BA |
| Susannah Randolph | FL-09 | DFA |
| Tim Canova | FL-23 | EBS TNR running against DWS |
| Joseline Peña-Melnyk | MD-04 | DFA BA |
| Jamie Raskin | MD-08 | DFA CHV BA running against Chris Matthews’ wife |
| Paul Clements | MI-06 | BA |
| Pat Murphy | IA-01 | BA |
| Mike Noland | IL-08 | BA |
| Keith Ellison* | MN-05 | EBS |
| Carol Shea-Porter* | NH-01 | BA |
| Alex Law | NJ-01 | BA EBS |
| Peter Jacob | NJ-07 | EBS |
| Lucy Flores | NV-04 | EBS DFA TNR |
| Ruben Kihuen | NV-04 | BA |
| DuWayne Gregory | NY-02 | BA |
| Bill Perkins | NY-13 | EBS |
| Diana Hird | NY-18 | EBS |
| Eric Kingson | NY-24 | EBS BA |
| Zephyr Teachout | NY-19 | EBS DFA |
| Tom Guild | OK-05 | EBS |
| Shaughnessy Naughton | PA-08 | CHV |
| Angela Marx | WA-03 | EBS |
| Parmila Jayapal | WA-07 | EBS |
| Mike Manypenny | WV-01 | EBS |
Incumbents are marked with an asterisk.