The House passed a resolution Tuesday evening condemning socialism, with all but eight House Democrats voting against it. The final tally was 220 to 192, and every single “no” vote came from the left — including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, D-Calif.
The resolution also affirmed support for election integrity and called for passage of the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, a bill nearly all Democrats oppose.
The vote almost never happened. Earlier that day, House conservatives threatened to block the procedural “rule vote” needed to bring the resolution and several other bills to the floor. Five Republicans — Reps. Pete Sessions of Texas, Chip Roy of Texas, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Clay Higgins of Louisiana, and Andy Harris of Maryland — voted against the rule in protest, not over the socialism resolution itself, but over how GOP leadership handled a short-term government funding bill. The Senate had modified the House-passed continuing resolution to delay a hemp product ban by 30 days and curb the Trump administration’s control over federal grants, and the five rebels wanted to send a message.
That protest should have sunk the rule. Instead, two House Democrats stepped in to bail Republicans out. Reps. Jared Golden, D-Maine, and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., provided the votes needed to push the rule through 209 to 208 — reportedly without even notifying Jeffries beforehand.
Golden is not running for re-election. Gluesenkamp Perez is one of the most vulnerable Democrats in the country. Golden is also a co-lead on a lobster and crab fishing bill that would have stalled had the rule failed.
With the rule secured, the resolution condemning socialism moved forward and every Republican present voted for it. Eight Democrats joined them: Golden, Gluesenkamp Perez, Don Davis of North Carolina, Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, Henry Cuellar of Texas, Kathy Castor of Florida, Gabe Vasquez of New Mexico, and Darren Soto of Florida. Two more, Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, voted “present.”
What the resolution says
“The resolution is pretty easy, right? It condemns socialism in all its forms, including the DSA, recommits ourselves to the Constitution of the United States…a third point is that we don’t want non-citizens voting in elections,” said Rep. Jeff Crank, R-Colo., who led the effort. “They can certainly be critical, but it’s just a quick choice for the American people to see where people stand on this stuff.”
Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger, R-Texas, was blunt about the stakes. “Socialism has failed everywhere it’s been tried without exception. It’s a dangerous ideology that creates misery for the very people it claims to help,” Pfluger told Fox News Digital. “Today’s vote puts the Left on the record and removes any doubt about where my colleagues on the other side of the aisle stand.”
Democrats dismiss it as theater
Democrats called the resolution a symbolic distraction. “So you’re concerned about rising gas, or are you concerned about grocery prices? You know, don’t worry. Republicans in Congress are passing another non-binding resolution condemning socialism,” Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said during a hearing Monday.
The vote lands amid a broader fight inside the Democratic Party. Candidates aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America have been knocking off establishment incumbents in primaries around the country, and Republicans are betting that trend becomes a liability for Democrats heading into the November midterms.
