10 Progressive Candidates to Watch in the 2022 Midterm Elections

While most progressive candidates lost to an incumbent in this year’s Democratic primaries, progressives won over half of the open-seat races.

One study found that progressive candidates received many high-profile endorsements, including from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) or Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). They also enjoyed support from one or more of the following groups: Indivisible, Justice Democrats, Our Revolution, Sunrise Movement, or The Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC).

Here are 10 progressive-backed candidates to look out for in Tuesday’s midterm elections:

Jamie McLeod-Skinner, Oregon’s 5th

Endorsements: Indivisible, Our Revolution, PCCC

Jamie McLeod-Skinner was the only progressive-backed candidate out of 11 to beat an incumbent in this year’s Democratic primaries.

McLeod-Skinner defeated the seven-term incumbent Rep. Kurt Schrader, who was endorsed by President Biden, in the Democratic primary for Oregon’s 5^th Congressional District.

McLeod-Skinner’s policy priorities include affordable housing, protecting rural economies from corporate take-over, and lowering health care costs. Her campaign website says she has also been endorsed by Planned Parenthood Action Fund and will “will take on extremists like [her] opponent who would ban access to abortion, even before a woman knows she’s pregnant — and keep government out of our personal medical decisions.”

She is running against Republican candidate Lori Chavez-DeRemer in Tuesday’s general election. McLeod-Skinner did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment by publication.

Maxwell Alejandro Frost, Florida’s 10th

Endorsements: PCCC, Sanders

Frost, 25, won the Democratic primary for Florida’s 10^th Congressional District this August.

“As the first generation-z member of Congress, from day one, I will fight to end gun violence, win Medicare For All, transform our racist criminal justice system, and end the climate crisis,” Frost states on his campaign website.

Frost is running against Republican candidate Calvin Wimbish in the general election for U.S. House Representative of Florida’s 10^th Congressional District.

Frost did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment by publication.

Jonathan Jackson, Illinois’ 1st

Endorsements: Our Revolution, Sanders

Progressive-backed Jonathan Jackson, son of Rev. Jesse Jackson, won the Democratic primary in Illinois’ First Congressional District, which includes much of the South Side of Chicago. Jackson’s victory comes after the district’s 15-term Democratic representative, Bobby Rush, announced his retirement in January.

“We have enormous challenges, from hospitalization to some of the largest discrepancies in life expectancy between Englewood and Streeterville,” Jackson said at a watch party in June. “We are seeing an epidemic of gun violence. We are seeing grocery stores close in Englewood. … We are going to take this to [Housing and Urban Development]; we are going to take this to the Agriculture Department; we are going to take this all through D.C. until we are heard and our lives matter.”

Jackson’s policy priorities, as stated on his website, include:

• Introducing a regulatory framework to make Blockchain technology and other digital asset markets more accessible to communities of color.

• Affordable housing via the People’s Housing program, which provides a progressive framework for housing by declaring it a fundamental human right.

• A Green New deal plan that “emphasizes environmental and social justice and acknowledges how historically oppressed groups are more likely to be affected by climate change.” This plan calls for “protection of workers’ rights, community ownership, universal healthcare, and a job guarantee.”

• Reducing crime by getting more guns off the street.

• Address the wage gap, “systemic racial and gender inequities,” by raising wages of all working women and providing pay equity.

Jackson will face Republican Army veteran Eric Carlson in the general elections this Tuesday. Jackson did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment.

Delia Ramirez, Illinois’ 3rd

Endorsements: Indivisible, Our Revolution, Sanders

Illinois General Assembly Fourth District Assistant Majority Leader Delia Ramirez (D) won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Representative of the state’s 3rd Congressional District.

 LGBTQ+ rights are among Ramirez’s policy goals. According to her campaign website, “She will support and fight for the Equality Act to fully guarantee nondiscrimination protections for the LGBTQ+ community throughout the United States including in housing, employment, education, and federally funded programs.”

• She plans to add “gender identity” and “sexual orientation” as protected classes under the federal Fair and Equal Housing Act.
• “She will support the Every Child Deserves a Family Act to end discrimination against LGBTQ+ families in the child welfare system.”

View her other policy goals on her campaign website. Ramirez did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment.

Randi McCallian, Missouri’s 8th

Endorsements: Indivisible

Randi McCallian won the Democratic primaries for Missouri’s 8th Congressional District. McCallian told The Daily Signal that “corporate greed” and “corporate price gouging” are major factors behind the inflation of gas and food prices.

“I believe our district deserves a representative that wants to see more opportunity here, a Congressperson that fights for us and not against us,” McCallian said. “It is an honor to provide a choice to voters in this election, regardless of party.”

“People of the 8th should vote for me if they are ready for someone who will direct our tax dollars back into our district to invest in our local infrastructure and economy, for investment in jobs, healthcare, and educational opportunities,” she added. “My policies are those that the majority of Americans want: to end corporate greed in our government, to bring manufacturing jobs back, and to improve healthcare. A major reason for the inflation of gas and food prices is due to corporate greed and my policy stance is to protect Americans from corporate price gouging.”

See McCallian’s other policy priorities on her campaign website.

Summer Lee, Pennsylvania’s 12th

Endorsements: Ocasio-Cortez, Justice Democrats, Our Revolution, PCCC, Sanders, Sunrise

Pennsylvania state Rep. Summer Lee, a Democrat representing Allegheny County, beat candidate Steve Irwin by under a percentage point in the state’s 12^th Congressional District primaries. Her victory comes after the district’s Democratic incumbent, Rep. Mike Doyle, announced his retirement.

Voting rights are one of Lee’s policy priorities. Her campaign website states:

Not only must we end racist voter ID and suppression laws, restore the full power of the Voting Rights Act, and end gerrymandering, but we must go farther and provide every person in our country with the right to vote – from previously incarcerated people to immigrants, everyone deserves a voice in our democracy.