Unsung Heroes
The progressives you may have never heard of! These candidates score 80 or higher (70+ for honorable mentions, 60+ for also worth mentioning) on our progressive rubric, have no more than 2 endorsements from the organizations we track, are not incumbents, and are running in districts not overshadowed by another progressive candidate with 4 or more endorsements. There might be more than one highly-progressive candidate in a district, which means you have an embarrassment of riches to choose from, and you'll want to consider other factors in your decision. These are the unsung heroes — amazing progressives who aren't getting much national attention! See our methodology for more details.
Dear candidates: Your progressive commitment is amazing! If you are interested in getting some more attention to your campaign, check out our candidate page for more information. If you think you should have a higher progressive "score" than what is showing, it might be that your website doesn't list enough of the progressive principles that we have listed on our methodology page. Let us know if you've updatd it!
Emergency veterinarian and former State Department foreign affairs officer who managed $20M+ in foreign aid for human rights and conservation; member of the queer community. Champions Medicare for All wiping all medical debt, abolishing ICE and dismantling DHS, $25/hour minimum wage indexed to inflation, 100% clean energy by 2040, banning corporate PAC money and overturning Citizens United, and invoking Leahy Laws to end the genocide in Gaza.
Civil rights attorney and sexual-violence-survivor advocate running in NY-12. 23-position comprehensive platform includes abolishing ICE with right to counsel for all immigrants, recognizing Palestine as a state and conditioning aid to Israel on a two-state solution, restoring USAID capacity, universal catastrophic healthcare coverage, a living wage indexed to inflation, banning congressional insider trading and 12-year term limits, ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment, a Constitutional right to privacy, and legalizing psychedelic healing research.
Former Waltham City Councilor, teacher, and community organizer; father detained and deported when he was 14. Medicare for All with no co-pays or premiums; $25 minimum wage and sectoral bargaining; abolish ICE and redirect its budget to schools and healthcare; green federal jobs program at New Deal scale; overturn Citizens United to end billionaire-funded elections.
Army veteran, AP English teacher in underserved North Nashville communities who built a 12-bill governing agenda before announcing. Calls for universal healthcare at $50/month covering dental, vision, and mental health; canceling all student debt and making public college free; banning corporations from owning single-family homes; a constitutional amendment overturning Citizens United; and a $75/ton carbon penalty on fossil fuel utilities. Rejects all corporate PAC and billionaire money.
Veteran, father, and democratic socialist from Mount Airy who organizes with the Frederick DSA and community groups across Platform: universal healthcare, Green New Deal, abolish ICE, end AIPAC money in politics, overturn Citizens United, tax corporations and the wealthy, free education pre-K through college. Campaign is 100% funded by working people — no corporate PACs, no billionaire donors.
School board trustee for Waterford School District for over a decade; juvenile justice reform analyst for Michigan Supreme Court; UAW union family; father an immigrant veteran. Champions Medicare for All, Green New Deal with 100% clean energy and green union jobs, abolish ICE, $25 federal minimum wage, cancel student debt, free public college, no corporate PACs, no AIPAC money, and a pathway to citizenship including DACA parents.
Movement organizer running in Wisconsin's 4th Congressional District on an explicitly pro-democracy, anti-fascist platform. Codify healthcare for all including reproductive health. Put an end to the U.S. war machine and stop tax dollars from funding the genocide of Palestine. Move away from institutionalized systems of punishment toward public health infrastructure and truly safe communities. Build equitable public education at all levels. Topple authoritarianism and the billionaire class.
Born and raised in the Coney Island projects; lost his father at 11 and his mother at 21; worked from age 15 in summer youth programs, as a carnie on the East Coast, food trucks, nightclubs, and bakeries; dropped out of high school but returned to school in 2020 during the pandemic and graduated from Brooklyn College with an MBA in 2025. Running against Hakeem Jeffries. Backs Medicare for All, expand and protect public housing, abolish ICE, Green New Deal, 90% marginal tax rate on incomes over $10M, cancel student and medical debt.
Brooklyn organizer raised by a single mother; Black man living with disabilities, including blindness in one eye from a childhood brain tumor; has organized with Bernie Sanders nationally and local DSA leaders. Medicare for All, Green New Deal, abolish ICE, end all aid to Israel and BDS, PRO Act, expand public housing, cancel student and medical debt. Rejects all corporate PACs.
Progressive Democrat from North Central Florida's Alachua County running to represent rural and agricultural communities. Backs climate action with off-fossil-fuels target by 2035, abolish ICE, simplify path to citizenship, end endless wars by banning military contractors in war zones, legalize marijuana and abolish for-profit prisons, fully fund public schools through university, $18/hour minimum wage. Running for children and their future.
Peruvian immigrant who arrived as a single mother with $300, worked minimum-wage jobs, and earned two master's degrees. First Latina immigrant elected to Virginia General Assembly; expanded Medicaid to 400,000 Virginians, passed public sector collective bargaining, banned ICE from cooperating with local law enforcement. Advocates for Medicare for All, living wage, abolishing ICE, and an end to costly wars. Rejects corporate PACs, AIPAC, and crypto.
Honorable Mentions
Mike Cortese, TN-04, Tennessee
Nashville music-industry veteran and small-business owner running in TN-04. Platform: gradually lower Medicare eligibility age starting with the most vulnerable, decouple health coverage from employment, negotiate all prescription drug prices, break up pharmacy benefit managers, stop Wall Street from buying single-family homes, increase the federal minimum wage, end Citizens United, ban congressional insider trading, restore congressional war powers, reinstate canceled IRA industrial investments, and create an independent redistricting commission. · Aug 6
Hadley Anthony, MD-07, Maryland
Baltimore democratic socialist raised by a pediatric nurse mother and a first-generation college graduate father. Worked three jobs while barely affording rent — below poverty wages, no health benefits, no union protection. That experience drives her campaign to end the broken political system that stagnates wages while costs rise. Challenges incumbent Kweisi Mfume; supports Medicare for All and abolishing right-to-work laws. · Jun 23
Marquita Bradshaw, Senate, Tennessee
Born in Memphis; lifelong environmental-justice fighter and 2020 Democratic nominee for US Senate (first African-American woman to win major-party nomination in any Tennessee statewide race) returning to challenge Marsha Blackburn-style politics. Platform: Healthcare for All, Green New Deal, $15 minimum wage, abolish ICE, restorative justice, overturn Citizens United, universal background checks, DACA support, high-quality public education, and protecting democracy. · Aug 6
Melissa Chaudhry, WA-09, Washington
Nonprofit consultant and affordable housing advocate who converted to Islam and won a federal court case to free her detained veteran husband from ICE. Campaigns on Medicare for All or a public option, no corporate PAC money, ranked-choice voting, permanently affordable homeownership, anti-displacement protections, the right to organize, gig worker protections, green jobs, and diplomacy over military force. · Aug 4
Michael Soetaert, Senate, Kansas
Openly gay progressive Democrat from Kansas running for U.S. Senate, filed with FEC and Kansas SOS. Endorses Medicare for All, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, and the Freedom to Vote Act. Calls the Gaza genocide and Palestinian ethnic cleansing crimes against humanity and rejects AIPAC and all PAC money. Backs creating a cabinet-level Department of Peace (H.R.1111). Supports the Equality Act plus a constitutional amendment for LGBTQIAP2S+ rights. · Aug 4
Lore Bergman, TN-06, Tennessee
Disability advocate with lived experience navigating Social Security and HUD systems; community organizer focused on vulnerable women, children, and the disabled. Champions free universal government-funded healthcare modeled on Medicare, abolishing ICE, rent control and housing as a human right, raising the minimum wage to a living wage, free childcare and Pre-K, abolishing Citizens United and the Electoral College, and reducing fossil fuel influence in politics. · Aug 6
Hunter Gordon, WA-01, Washington
Home care aide supporting his brother with Down syndrome and another long-term client; lifelong resident of raised in Redmond; union member; running against one of the 9th richest members of Congress. $25/hour minimum wage, Medicare for All, abolish ICE and DHS, national rent control, cut all US aid to Israel, break up Big Tech monopolies, make billionaire status illegal. · Aug 4
Brit Robinson, FL-04, Florida
Jacksonville-based community organizer running a people-first campaign. Supports Medicare for All with no premiums or copays including dental and vision, free community and state college, a living federal minimum wage, vacancy taxes and corporate property caps to address housing costs, ending for-profit prisons, expedited path to citizenship, and overturning Citizens United. No corporate PAC money. · Aug 18
Nick J. Sciretta, NY-04, New York
South Shore New Yorker who witnessed the arc from Occupy Wall Street to the 2016 DNC and has spent years organizing working people. Running on the most transformative pro-labor platform he can craft — fighting the ultra-wealthy, rebuilding the middle class, and delivering economic justice to Long Island families left behind by a system rigged against them. · Jun 23
John Munter, MN-08, Minnesota
MN-08 Democrat publishing 18 months of Duluth News Tribune op-eds on rebuilding the middle class through single-family housing. Core platform: wartime taxes on the wealthy and corporations to address debt; cut ICBM upgrade to save $2 trillion; oppose Medicare Advantage profit-extraction; drug treatment over incarceration; small-farmer parity Farm Bill; Marshall Plan reboot for Central and South America; published essay on US Jewish divisions on Gaza. · Aug 11
Angie Nixon, Senate, Florida
Jacksonville native and Florida State Representative whose mother worked two jobs to get by; lost a cousin to gun violence; runs a community bookstore providing nutrition and educational resources. Former union organizer and voter registration director. Champions Medicare for All, PRO Act, universal childcare, codifying Roe, raising wages. Refuses corporate PAC and AIPAC money; supports banning Congressional stock trading. · Aug 18
Ericka Kopp, VA-01, Virginia
Healthcare attorney and first-generation American; raised in Virginia's 1st district, biracial, bilingual, and a caregiver to a disabled veteran. Champions a comprehensive universal healthcare system covering dental, vision, and hearing; $30/hr minimum wage; universal childcare; and free public education pre-K through post-secondary. Pledges to end Citizens United, take no AIPAC money, abolish ICE, support Palestinian statehood, and expand voting rights. · Aug 4
Connor Burbridge, Senate, Rhode Island
New Jersey-born; served in the Army Reserve 2017–2022; Lehigh University graduate now working in elder care in Rhode Island. Running as a grassroots-only candidate who refuses corporate PACs, wealthy donors, and dark money. Campaigns on averting climate disaster, universal healthcare, economic justice and income equality, rebuilding the social safety net, and equal access to education. · Sep 9
Jesse Fleenor, LA-05, Louisiana Result Pending
Louisiana dairy farmer and single father of three running in a jungle primary in deeply red campaigning for a 91% top marginal tax rate on billionaires to eliminate extreme wealth concentration, universal healthcare with zero copay for veterans and seniors, ending cash bail, no PAC money of any kind, and rebuilding American community from the ground up.
Herman Garcia, TN-01, Tennessee
East Tennessee small-business owner running for District One on a comprehensive 19-plank platform: single-payer universal healthcare with Medicare expanded to dental/vision/hearing; $15 minimum wage indexed to inflation; constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and ban corporate PAC money; federal assault weapons ban; codify Roe; legalize marijuana federally; ban congressional stock trading; raise taxes on the wealthy. · Aug 6
Diop Harris, MI-04, Michigan
Battle Creek native; youth grantmaker for the Battle Creek Community Foundation before studying public policy at Michigan State. Worked as a Congressional staffer connecting constituents to services, then organized Capitol Hill workers to unionize. Supports single-payer healthcare, a Federal Jobs program, PRO Act collective bargaining, Great Lakes protection, full arms embargoes on nations violating international law, and banning private equity from buying single-family homes. · Aug 4
Also Worth Mentioning
- Kiana Bierria-Anderson, New York, NY-04 · Jun 23
- Chris Armstrong, Wisconsin, WI-07 · Aug 11
- Kevin Fagan, Washington, WA-05 · Aug 4
- Karla Kemp, Florida, FL-13 · Aug 18
- Sarah Preu, Kansas, KS-03 · Aug 4
- Danielle Welch, New York, NY-03 · Jun 23
- Chris Boyd, Massachusetts, MA-04 · Sep 1
- JoAnna Mendoza, Arizona, AZ-06 · Jul 21
- Burk Stringfellow, Virginia, VA-02 · Aug 4
- Nina Schwalbe, New York, NY-12 · Jun 23
- Yen Bailey, Florida, FL-02 · Aug 18
- Gage Stills, Wisconsin, WI-01 · Aug 11
- Katrina deVille, Wisconsin, WI-08 · Aug 11
- Adele McClure, Virginia, VA-07 · Aug 4
- Jules Roberson, Oklahoma, OK-03 · Jun 16
- Boris Velasquez, Maryland, MD-08 · Jun 23
- Cole Epley, Kansas, KS-04 · Aug 4
- Kaela Berg, Minnesota, MN-02 · Aug 11
- Nicole Locklin, Florida, FL-26 · Aug 18
In the November Election
These unsung heroes won their primaries and are now heading to the November 2026 general election.
Son of a 35-year elementary school teacher and a fourth-generation farmer from Indiana; honorably discharged from the US Marine Corps in 2012; used the GI Bill to earn a doctorate in music from the University of Illinois; visiting instructor at Purdue University; member of Marine Corps League and American Legion Post 11; performs as percussionist with Lafayette Symphony Orchestra and Lafayette Citizens Band; recently earned an Associate's in Energy Technology. Backs Medicare for All, PRO Act, clean energy transition, cancel student debt.
Dr. Kristin Hook, TX-21, Texas
PhD biologist and former federal science policy expert who worked in Senator Warren's office, at NIH, and the GAO — and helped secure $20 billion in environmental justice provisions in federal law. Champions Medicare for All, Green New Deal, abolishing ICE, ending military aid to human rights abusers including Israel, and taxing the rich.
Samantha Mota, CA-37, California
Community organizer and activist in Los Angeles; advocated for the Pico neighborhood's 19th Street community garden in Santa Monica; mother and daughter of immigrant communities. Backs a National Health Insurance system (all-inclusive with dental, vision, and mental health), the Green New Deal, "End Israeli Aid," tuition-free public college, Homes for All Act, ranked choice voting, For the People Act, and ending Citizens United.
Maria Jukic, OH-14, Ohio
Daughter of immigrants; grew up in a union household steeped in Christian ethics of service. Spent 24 years in healthcare administration before becoming an attorney and serving on Euclid City Council. Running on healthcare affordability, protecting Social Security, humane immigration reform, environmental protection, and campaign finance reform to end the influence of big money in politics.
Refugee from Iran; came to the US not knowing English, supported by public schools and government programs; community and faith leader in Morgantown, WV. Champions a single-payer public option, raising the minimum wage to a living wage, ending right-to-work laws, the right to organize, defunding ICE and reinvesting in community policing, ending Citizens United, and ranked-choice voting.
Also worth mentioning:
- Brad Meyer, Indiana, IN-09
- Mark Nair, Texas, TX-13
- Joshua Turek, Iowa, Senate
- Colby Watson, North Carolina, NC-08
- Yolanda Prince, Texas, TX-01
- Richard Ojeda, North Carolina, NC-09
- Angela "Heli" Rodriguez Prilliman, Texas, TX-12