Progressives ride red-district wins to record 105-plus House bloc

The Congressional Progressive Caucus is heading into the next Congress bigger than it has ever been. The group said Sunday it will welcome more than 25 new members, lifting its ranks past 105 lawmakers — up from 100 last term. A record share of those newcomers won districts that Trump carried, and caucus leaders are promising to use the new Democratic majority to push left.

The freshmen campaigned on Medicare for All, stronger worker protections and ending US arms and military support for Israel over its war and conduct in Gaza. “Progressive ideas won that election,” caucus chair Greg Casar said outside the Capitol, “and we need to deliver on those promises.” The caucus endorsed nine candidates in competitive red-to-blue races, and six won. Newcomer Adam Hamawy, a New Jersey surgeon who has worked in Gaza, said his priorities are Medicare for All and stopping what he called a genocide there.

Randy Villegas won in California, where Trump took the district by two points in 2024, and Katy Padilla Stout won in Texas by eight points in a district Trump carried by 15; Sam Forstag won in Montana, where Trump won by 11. Six Democratic Socialists of America-backed candidates also took safely Democratic House seats, among them New York’s Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez, Michigan’s Donavan McKinney and Pennsylvania’s Chris Rabb. Three incoming members are already using the platform: Brad Lander of New York, Scott Wiener of California and Daniel Biss of Illinois wrote to Israel’s ambassador on Friday demanding the release of Abed Abu Shehadeh, a Palestinian journalist and Israeli citizen detained at his Jaffa home on election night; his lawyers say he was freed Sunday without charges.

Pramila Jayapal, the caucus’s chair emerita, said the sweep caught even her off guard. “I don’t think anyone could have expected this level of wave support,” she said. The caucus plans to take members on the road to sell Medicare for All, including in red states such as South Carolina and Florida. Jayapal pointed to Alabama’s Shomari Figures, who signed onto the bill six to eight months ago and beat back a Republican gerrymander; when Republicans tested Medicare for All attacks in his Trump-leaning district, she said, they tested so badly the party never ran them.

The left is not the only bloc growing. The centrist New Democrat Coalition, already the largest House Democratic caucus at 114 members, expects to add about 39, with 30 coming from flipped seats. The centrist thinktank Third Way argues moderates “delivered” the majority, saying New Democrat, Blue Dog and WelcomePAC candidates flipped 31 Republican-held House seats — 25 of them in districts Trump won.

Casar said the caucus will bring bills on wages, corruption, housing costs, credit card interest rates and child care to the floor, and isn’t worrying about vetoes. “The best way to not get something into law is to never pass it,” he said. He wouldn’t commit the caucus to backing Hakeem Jeffries for speaker: “Every single member here is going to have their individual vote.” So far, none of the DSA-backed incoming members have committed to Jeffries either.