The House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning socialism Tuesday evening by a vote of 220 to 192, with only eight House Democrats crossing party lines to support it. Nearly the entire Democratic caucus voted no, 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, legislation nearly all Democrats oppose.
The vote almost didn’t happen. Hours earlier, House conservatives had threatened to block a procedural “rule vote” needed to open debate on the resolution and several other GOP-backed bills. 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, putting it on track to fail.
Two House Democrats, Reps. Jared Golden of Maine and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, then stepped in to provide the votes needed to push the rule through, 209 to 208, catching Jeffries off guard. Jeffries told reporters he had not been notified beforehand.
Golden is not seeking re-election, while Gluesenkamp Perez is considered one of the most vulnerable Democrats in the country heading into 2026.
Who crossed the aisle
Beyond Golden and Gluesenkamp Perez, six other Democrats joined Republicans on the final resolution vote: Reps. 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. Reps. Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania voted present. All Republicans present voted in favor.
Why the rebels balked
The five Republicans who voted against the rule were not objecting to the socialism resolution itself. Their protest targeted how party leaders handled a short-term government funding bill, or continuing resolution, that passed just before the rule vote. The Senate had modified the original House-passed measure, adding an unrelated 30-day delay to a congressionally approved hemp product ban and a provision limiting the Trump administration’s control over federal grants.
Notably, Golden also co-leads a separate bill to pause new federal restrictions on the American lobster and crab fishing industries — legislation that would have stalled had the rule failed.
The politics behind it
Socialism has become a flashpoint in the 2026 midterm cycle as candidates aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America continue to defeat establishment-backed Democrats in primaries around the country. Republicans have seized on that internal fight as evidence the Democratic Party is drifting leftward.
Rep. Jeff Crank, R-Colo., who led the resolution, described it as straightforward. “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,” Crank told Fox News Digital. “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, framed the vote as a way to force Democrats to go on record. “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 said. “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 dismissed the measure as political theater that ignores everyday economic concerns. “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.
