WASHINGTON, Sept. 1 — The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday adopted a resolution denouncing socialism “in all its forms,” a largely symbolic political messaging exercise that nonetheless exposed fractures on both sides of the aisle ahead of the November elections. The measure passed by a vote of 220-192-2, with eight Democrats joining every Republican in support. Those Democrats were Reps.
Kathy Castor of Florida, Henry Cuellar of Texas, Don Davis of North Carolina, Jared Golden of Maine, Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, Darren Soto of Florida, and Gabe Vasquez of New Mexico. Two Democrats — Reps.
Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania and Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire — voted present. Strategically, the resolution was never just about ideology. It also reaffirmed support for the SAVE America Act, President Trump’s signature voting regulations bill, which has been stalled in the Senate for months and lacks even a simple majority support there.
GOP leaders scheduled the vote after several democratic socialist candidates won Democratic primaries, including Darializa Avila Chevalier of New York and Melat Kiros of Colorado, both of whom defeated incumbent Democrats. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, framed the vote in stark terms Tuesday.
“Not only do we denounce socialism, but also the idea of people that aren’t American citizens voting in our elections, because that’s part of their platform,” Scalise said, referring to the Democratic Socialists of America. A small number of congressional Democrats identify as democratic socialists, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. The vote nearly did not happen.
A handful of Republican hardliners voted “no” in a party-line procedural vote earlier Tuesday to tee up the resolution and other measures, protesting a short-term government funding bill. That protest could have derailed the entire exercise, but two moderate Democrats — Golden and Gluesenkamp Perez — defected and helped the procedural vote succeed, putting some of their Democratic colleagues in a politically tricky position. The broader stakes are clear.
Rep. Pete Aguilar of California, chair of the House Democratic Caucus, noted that some Democrats have proposed a separate resolution condemning socialism that removes the statement of support for the SAVE America Act. “We’re capitalists.
We believe in a capitalist system and rules and laws,” Aguilar said Tuesday morning. What this signals is a pre-election battle over the definition of the Democratic Party’s left flank, with Republicans using the primary results to paint the party as drifting toward socialist positions. The calculus for GOP leadership appears straightforward: force Democrats to either embrace the SAVE America Act or defend socialist-aligned candidates.
The counter-resolution Aguilar referenced suggests Democrats are looking for a way to split the difference. With the Senate showing no appetite for the voting bill, Tuesday’s resolution may be remembered less for its substance than for the procedural drama that nearly killed it — and the defections that saved it.
