WASHINGTON, Sept. 3 — The House adopted a resolution Tuesday denouncing socialism “in all its forms,” a political messaging exercise that Republican leaders scheduled ahead of the November elections after a string of Democratic primary victories by democratic socialist-aligned candidates. The final tally saw all Republicans joined by eight Democrats in support: Reps. Kathy Castor (FL), Henry Cuellar (TX), Don Davis (NC), Jared Golden (ME), Vicente Gonzalez (TX), Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA), Darren Soto (FL), and Gabe Vasquez (NM).
Two Democrats voted present — Reps. Chrissy Houlahan (PA) and Maggie Goodlander (NH).
The resolution’s timing was strategic. Several Democratic primary contests this cycle saw incumbent Democrats defeated by candidates aligned with the democratic socialist movement, including Darializa Avila Chevalier in New York and Melat Kiros in Colorado. Those results gave Republican leadership an opening to force a vote that would put the broader Democratic caucus on the record.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) tied the denunciation of socialism directly to opposition to non-citizen voting, a central plank of the president’s stalled voting regulations agenda. “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.
The resolution also reaffirmed Republican support for the SAVE America Act, the president’s signature voting bill, which has sat stalled in the Senate for months without even a simple majority behind it. A small number of congressional Democrats openly identify as democratic socialists, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY).
A near-miss on procedure
The vote nearly never happened. Earlier Tuesday, a handful of Republican hardliners voted “no” on a party-line procedural vote, protesting problems with a short-term government funding bill. That protest threatened to sink the resolution before it reached the floor.
Two moderate Democrats — Golden and Gluesenkamp Perez — defected to help the procedural vote succeed, rescuing the resolution and putting some of their Democratic colleagues in an awkward political position. House Democratic leadership condemned the move, calling it “a significant breach of trust” and stating that it “necessitates a serious re” — the statement was cut off in the source.
The episode underscores the broader stakes for both parties heading into November. For Republicans, the resolution frames the election as a choice between American governance and socialist ideology. For Democrats, it exposes the internal fault lines between the party’s moderate wing and its progressive flank — divisions that Republican strategists are counting on to drive turnout and message discipline in the closing weeks of the cycle.
What this signals going forward: expect the SAVE America Act and the socialism question to feature heavily in Republican messaging through Election Day, while House Democratic leadership works to contain the fallout from its members’ procedural defection. The Senate, meanwhile, shows no immediate signs of moving on the stalled voting bill.
