Methodology

This site reflects the opinions of one person, including what values constitute being progressive, which organizations best express those values, and which candidates meet those criteria. While most candidates appear here based solely on their running for office, some may be missing — their website may be hard to find, may contain little information, or may have been non-functional when we checked it. Some candidates may also be emphasized or de-emphasized based on personal opinion or other factors.

Organizations

The organizations we track were chosen based on familiarity, experience, and a feeling that they share progressive values. There are many PACs (political action committees) that promote progressive candidates, but their rosters can be chosen for any number of reasons that aren't transparent. We tend to focus on organizations that are more action-oriented rather than purely electoral.

We do not weigh any one organization over another — all endorsements count equally. The more endorsements a candidate has from these organizations, the higher they will appear in the Top Candidates cards.

Data Sources

Besides importing endorsement lists from organizations, we use several external data sources to determine which candidates are running in each district and to provide context about incumbents and races. Most sources are imported approximately daily, though timing varies.

FEC filings — candidate registration data for each district. FEC data is loaded less frequently than other sources because it takes a long time to process.
Secretary of State certified candidate lists — where available, per state
Members of the United States Congress — current legislators data, including Senate class and biographical information
House incumbents and Senate incumbents — current members of Congress
Retirements — incumbents not seeking re-election in 2026
Special elections — upcoming special election dates and types
DCCC Frontline, Red to Blue, and Districts in Play — DCCC-designated vulnerable incumbents, challengers, and targeted districts
Your Rep's Record — member grades
Congressional birthdates — biographical data used by the shame table
Cook Political Report — House and Senate race competitiveness ratings

Status of Primary Elections

The whole point of this site is to help you find the most progressive candidates for each congressional district — who may or may not be the incumbent. Incumbents have a large structural advantage in primary elections, so they are not emphasized here. Incumbents are not included in the Top Candidates cards.

After a primary election is held, we show progressive candidates who did not win only on the Thank You page, along with a list of the endorsements we had noted for them.

Featured Candidates for Upcoming Elections

At the top of the Top Candidates page, we show cards for states that have a primary election coming up soon. These cards are generally chosen based on the number of endorsements a candidate has, along with an evaluation of their progressive values based on their campaign website (see the scoring section below). Some offices may show more than one candidate on a card, indicated as a "tie," when there is no clearly more progressive candidate.

Progressive Scoring and Ranking

While some candidates are ranked based on the number of endorsements they have and pledges they have signed, others are ranked and displayed based on our own "progressive score" — a 0–100 rating based primarily on their stated positions on their campaign websites. We use a combination of AI-assisted and human evaluation to score candidates across ten issue areas, in roughly descending order of importance:

Economic Justice & Labor
Healthcare
Climate & Environment
Campaign Finance & Anti-Corruption
Housing & Cost of Living
Immigration
Criminal Justice
Foreign Policy & Military
Democracy & Voting Rights
Vision vs. Reaction (affirmative policy-led platform vs. primarily reactive framing)

Unsung Heroes

We search FEC filings and the web to find all candidates running for Congress. Using a combination of artificial intelligence and human evaluation, we score each candidate on the progressive rubric above. Candidates who meet all of the following criteria appear on our Unsung Heroes page:

Score of 75 or higher on our progressive rubric
No more than 1 endorsement from the organizations we track
Not an incumbent
Running in a district not already represented by a progressive candidate with 4 or more endorsements

Candidates scoring 65 or higher appear as Honorable Mentions; those scoring 55 or higher appear as "Also Worth Mentioning."

Limitations and Caveats

Progressive scores are based on stated positions, not voting records. A candidate's platform may not reflect how they would actually legislate.
Campaign websites change. Our evaluations may lag behind updates to a candidate's platform.
Some organizations delay updating their lists after an announcement, so data may be slightly out of date.
Our methodology evolves as we learn more. Scores, rankings, and chosen organizations from earlier in the cycle may not reflect our current criteria.
None of the evaluations on this site have anything to do with electability, fundraising levels, or campaign viability. We evaluate progressiveness only.