2026年8月19日 下午1:41 美国东部时间 / 哥伦比亚广播公司（CBS）新闻
作者：凯特琳·伊莱克 政治记者
凯特琳·伊莱克是CBSNews.com驻华盛顿特区的政治记者。她曾供职于《华盛顿考察家报》和《国会山报》，并曾入选美国国家新闻基金会2022年保罗·米勒华盛顿报道奖学金项目。
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华盛顿讯 从纽约到科罗拉多、密歇根，再到如今的佛罗里达，左翼国会候选人接连获胜，这一系列胜利成为民主党初选的亮点，并在目前的中期选举竞选活动中定义了赛道，引发了人们对其影响力范围以及进步左翼运动可行性的质疑——此时民主党正力争在11月的选举中拿下参众两院的控制权。
民主党人希望借助总统支持率低迷、一场不受欢迎的对伊战争以及秋季普遍存在的民生负担问题造势，但与此同时，他们也正就党内的不同愿景展开激烈交锋。尽管到目前为止，进步左翼的势头在这一叙事中占据了显著位置，但这场运动可能被夸大了，其规模远不及2010年掌控共和党初选的茶党运动。
中间派民主党智库“第三条道路”负责政治与研究的副主任戴维·德拉富恩特称，极左翼候选人在本次选举周期中击败三名现任议员是一项“令人印象深刻的成就”，但他补充道，“从大局来看，这不过是将蓝色地盘染得更蓝而已。”
“在绝大多数将决定众议院议长归属的选区，这些候选人既没有参选，也肯定不会获胜，”他说道。
这种态势或许是有意为之。知名左翼团体“正义民主党人”的一位发言人表示，该组织的重点是深蓝选区，而非将资源投入到“民主党已有完整基础设施来翻转紫色选区”的竞选。
“我们的目标是确保最深度、最民主的选区的代表真正代表本党的基础选民，真正引领本党向前发展，”“正义民主党人”的通讯主任乌萨马·安德拉比说道。“在我们试图争取全国每一位紫色选区选民之前——显然，我们需要赢得紫色选区选民才能翻转国会控制权——我们需要先赢回我们的基础选民。”
无论是在深蓝飞地还是其他地区，这些国会候选人都是新近变得大胆的进步派候选人中的一员，其中一些人自称为民主社会主义者，代表着一股新崛起的、充满活力的选民群体。他们在医疗保健、工人权利、美国对以色列的支持等议题上不断突破边界，并可能在未来推动本党政策方向。
追踪进步左翼的崛起
根据一项对反叛民主党人的分类标准，进步左翼候选人在其参选的大部分选区中都取得了胜利。CBS新闻的一项分析显示，获得两个全国知名左翼团体——美国民主社会主义者组织（DSA）或“正义民主党人”——背书的众议院候选人中，约三分之二在本次初选胜出。其中三人成功击败现任议员，五人在开放式席位的初选中获胜，另有两人在两轮制初选中与民主党现任议员一同晋级大选。
在这10人中，预计有7至9人将于明年进入国会，且全部代表深蓝选区。
这波胜利浪潮首先在纽约6月的初选中引起关注，纽约市三名反叛候选人的获胜引发了人们对民主党未来的广泛猜测。
获得“正义民主党人”和纽约市长佐赫兰·曼达尼背书的达里亚利扎·阿维拉·舍维耶尔，在第13选区以压倒性优势击败众议员阿德里亚诺·埃斯帕伊拉，爆出大冷门。获得同样背书的州议员克莱尔·巴尔韦德在第7选区获胜。（另一位曼达尼背书的候选人、前DSA成员、进步人士布拉德·兰德也在第10选区的初选中胜出。）
在纽约市选举凸显出民主党左翼阵营的活力之时，其他几个州获得左翼团体背书的候选人已经赢得了初选。
在5月关注度较低的选举中，获得左翼团体背书的候选人——德克萨斯州第30国会选区的弗雷德里克·海恩斯和宾夕法尼亚州第3选区的克里斯·拉布——赢得了初选。6月初，安吉拉·冈萨雷斯-托雷斯和迈·旺分别在加利福尼亚州第34和第7选区晋级大选，亚当·哈马维在新泽西州第12选区的初选中获胜。当月晚些时候，民主社会主义者梅拉特·基罗斯在科罗拉多州第1选区击败任职15届的现任议员，这场胜利令人侧目。
这一趋势在本月初的密歇根州延续，民主社会主义者多诺万·麦金尼击败了底律律地区第13选区的现任议员。与此同时，阿卜杜勒·埃尔赛义德在民主党参议院初选中的胜利引发广泛关注——尽管其获胜优势小于预期。虽然埃尔赛益德并非民主社会主义者，但他的政策观点与之重叠，且曾与佛蒙特州参议员伯尼·桑德斯等知名自称为民主社会主义者的人士一同竞选。
密歇根州选举过后，作为“田纳西三人组”枪支管制抗议成员而获得全国关注的州议员贾斯汀·皮尔森，在该州第9选区获得民主党提名。而在周二的一系列胜利中收尾的是，佛罗里达州州议员安吉·尼克松爆冷获胜，拿下佛罗里达州参议院竞选的民主党提名。
尽管不同选区的情况各不相同，但这些候选人普遍宣扬 populist、反建制的信息，聚焦经济议题，动员其基础选民，并克服了严重的资金劣势。在许多竞选活动中，医疗保健是核心议题，而在其他一些竞选中，人工智能和数据中心、打击政治腐败等问题则成为焦点。
但在其他竞选中，进步左翼遭遇了失败，这些参选同样受到了任何竞选都可能面临的各种因素影响。
前众议员科里·布什在密苏里州第1选区的初选中失利；在伊利诺伊州，朱奈德·艾哈迈德和卡特·阿布加扎莱在第8和第9选区的初选中落败，北卡罗来纳州第4选区的尼达·阿拉姆也未能成功。在加利福尼亚州第11选区，众议员亚历山德里亚·奥卡西奥-科特茨的前幕僚长赛义卡特·查克拉巴蒂未能晋级大选，该席位将接替前众议院议长南希·佩洛西。周二，尽管尼克松在佛罗里达州的选举中获胜，但民主社会主义者奥利弗·拉金在佛罗里达州第25选区败给了众议员贾里德·莫斯科维茨。
尽管国会候选人的情况喜忧参半，但公众对民主社会主义者候选人及其理念的好感度可能正在上升。周日发布的一项CBS新闻民调显示，约一半的民主党人对民主社会主义者标签持正面看法，58%的人对社会主义抱有好感。上月发布的《华盛顿邮报》-益普索民调发现，四分之三的民主党人表示，他们愿意支持一位民主社会主义者候选人竞选总统。本月发布的CNBC另一项调查显示，近一半的18至34岁美国人对民主社会主义持有好感或非常好感。
又一场茶党运动？
一些人将近期左翼候选人的造势活动与2010年的茶党运动相提并论，当时反叛的共和党人赢得了63个席位中的多数，帮助共和党拿下众议院控制权。
茶党运动的规模要大得多，当年有138名茶党候选人参选众议院和参议院。如今，由于选区划分不公，竞争席位更少，众议院中仅有约40个席位被视为摇摆选区。
“与茶党运动和进步左翼之间的区别相比，那（茶党运动）更多是风格上的，而非真正以将权力从政治建制派转移到当时感到不满的众多美国人的方式改变政治，”美国民主社会主义者全国政治委员会联合主席阿什克·西迪基说道。
德拉富恩特将今年的胜利与2018年的四名首次任职的进步派女议员的胜利相比较，其中包括奥卡西奥-科特茨——她们被称为“ squad”（国会进步党团），当时正值特朗普总统第一任期的最后两年。
“你会看到茶党宠儿们真正将选区从蓝色翻转为红色，”他说。“我很难指出任何一位‘正义民主党人’或DSA成员能够将选区从红色翻转为蓝色。”
德拉富恩特表示，如果民主党在2028年赢得众议院、参议院和白宫的控制权，这将对进步反叛者构成考验。
“像基罗斯和（阿维拉·舍维耶尔）这样的议员会试图破坏民主党总统的议程吗？我认为这将是最大的未知数，”他说道。
在更近的未来，左翼民主党人将如何影响国会仍有待观察。在参议院方面，罢免参议院少数党领袖、纽约州议员查克·舒默的呼吁在进步左翼中获得了支持。现已成为密歇根州参议院民主党候选人的埃尔赛益德，就是呼吁更换领导层的人士之一。
在众议院方面，进步左翼候选人似乎不太可能挑战少数党领袖哈基姆·杰弗里斯的领导地位，但他们可能会让杰弗里斯维持党内团结的努力变得复杂。
现年56岁的杰弗里斯如果民主党在11月的选举中拿下众议院多数席位，有望成为美国首位黑人众议院议长。这位代表布鲁克林选区的纽约民主党人比舒默更为进步，也没有遭到针对其领导地位的同样反对，尽管有些人尚未承诺支持杰弗里斯。
上周在亚特兰大举行的全美黑人记者协会大会上，杰弗里斯承认“我们正处于代际变革的重要时刻”。当被问及选票上的DSA候选人时，一贯支持现任议员的杰弗里斯表示，“我们将看看中期选举结束后核心小组会是什么样子。”
杰弗里斯在周日的NBC新闻《与媒体见面》节目中表示，他不支持DSA的议程，尤其是那些废除警察经费、开放边境和废除参议院的主张。但他承认，如果DSA背书的候选人在11月当选，他们“将成为众议院民主党核心小组的一部分”。
“这将是一个广泛的核心小组，”杰弗里斯补充道。
但奥卡西奥-科特茨——她所在地方DSA分会的成员——本月早些时候在ABC新闻《本周》节目中表示，这些反叛候选人“不向任何主子效忠”。
“他们不依附于任何企业利益或任何党魁，他们完全独立，这使他们能够对自己的社区和选举他们的人民负责，”她说。“从很多方面来说，这让我们的运动更加强大。”
西迪基表示，近年来众议院的投票优势越来越小，即使是少数进步左翼议员也可能在关键投票中改变局势。
“这是一个可靠的群体，他们可以在众多投票中发挥决定性作用，尤其是如果民主党最终在国会获得多数席位，或者优势席位达到7名以上候选人就能改变局面的话，”西迪基说道。“这将带来很大的影响力。”
安德拉比指出，这取决于民主党可能获得的多数席位优势。
“如果优势席位规模与我们群体的人数相近，那么看起来我们群体将拥有足够的权力来要求或 dictate民主党更多政策方向，”安德拉比说道。
当被问及如果民主党获得多数席位，左翼人士是否会像众议院自由党团给共和党领导人添乱一样，成为民主党领导层的眼中钉时，西迪基仅表示，“我们希望人们推进帮助我们这些民主社会主义者候选人当选的政策。”
“这可能意味着鼓动，”他说，“也可能意味着与任何希望推进共同目标的人合作。”
How progressive wins in Democratic primaries are shaping the midterm landscape
August 19, 2026 1:41 PM EDT / CBS News
By Caitlin Yilek Politics Reporter
Caitlin Yilek is a politics reporter at CBSNews.com, based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked for the Washington Examiner and The Hill, and was a member of the 2022 Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellowship with the National Press Foundation.
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Washington — A series of victories by leftist congressional candidates — from New York to Colorado to Michigan, and now, Florida — have punctuated the Democratic primaries and defined the midterm campaigns so far, raising questions about the reach of their influence and viability of the progressive-left’s movement as Democrats seek to take control of the House and Senate in November.
As Democrats look to capitalize on the president’s low approval rating, an unpopular war with Iran and pervasive affordability issues this fall, they’re also engaged in a pitched battle over different visions of the party. And although the progressive-left momentum has featured prominently in that storyline so far, the movement may be overstated, falling well short of widespread efforts like the Tea Party, which gripped Republican races in 2010.
David de la Fuente, deputy director for politics and research of Third Way, a centrist Democratic think tank, called the far-left’s ability to defeat three incumbents this cycle an “impressive feat,” but added that “in the big scheme of things, it’s turning blue places even bluer.”
“In the vast majority of districts that will determine who actually controls the speaker’s gavel, these candidates are not running, and they’re certainly not winning,” he said.
It’s a dynamic that may be by design. For one prominent leftist group, Justice Democrats, its focus is on deep-blue districts, not pouring resources into races where “the Democratic Party has an entire infrastructure to flip purple seats,” a spokesperson said.
“Our focus is on ensuring that the representatives of the deepest, most Democratic districts actually represent the base of this party and are actually the ones leading this party forward,” Justice Democrats’ communications director Usamah Andrabi said. “Before we go and try and chase every purple voter in this country — which, obviously, we need to win purple voters to flip Congress — we need to win our base back.”
Whether in deep-blue enclaves or beyond, the congressional hopefuls are part of a larger story about a newly emboldened kind of progressive candidate, some of whom are self-identified democratic socialists, representing an emerging generation of energized voters who are pushing the envelope on issues from healthcare to workers’ rights to U.S. support for Israel — and may move the needle for the party going forward.
Tracking the progressive left’s rise
By one measure of categorizing the insurgent Democrats, the progressive-left candidates have been winning in the bulk of their races. About two-thirds of House candidates endorsed by two prominent national leftist groups — the Democratic Socialists of America or Justice Democrats — won their primaries this cycle, according to a CBS News analysis. Three were able to oust incumbents, while five won their primaries for an open seat. Two others advanced to the general election alongside the Democratic incumbent in a top-two primary.
Of those 10, seven to nine are expected to make it to Congress next year, all representing deep blue districts.
The wave of victories first came to the forefront with New York’s June primaries, where a trio of wins by insurgent candidates in New York City prompted widespread speculation about the future of the Democratic Party.
Darializa Avila Chevalier, a Justice Democrats and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani-backed candidate, defeated Rep. Adriano Espaillat in a huge upset in the 13th District. State Assemblywoman Claire Valdez, another candidate with the same backing, came out victorious in the 7th District. (Another Mamdani-backed candidate, progressive Brad Lander, a former DSA member, also won his primary in the 10th District.)
By the time the New York City contests highlighted the energy on the party’s left flank, candidates backed by leftist groups in a handful of other states had already won their primaries.
In less closely watched races in May, candidates backed by leftist groups, Frederick Haynes in Texas’ 30th Congressional District and Chris Rabb in Pennsylvania’s 3rd District, won their primaries. In early June, Angela Gonzales-Torres and Mai Vang advanced to the general election in California’s 34th and 7th Districts, respectively, and Adam Hamawy won his primary in New Jersey’s 12th District. And in a head-turning victory later that month, democratic socialist Melat Kiros defeated a 15-term incumbent in Colorado’s 1st District.
Supporters of Melat Kiros, a democratic socialist, celebrate her victory at an election-night watch party on June 30, 2026, in Denver, Colorado. Michael Ciaglo / Getty Images
The trend continued earlier this month in Michigan, where democratic socialist Donavan McKinney ousted the incumbent in the Detroit-area 13th District. Meanwhile, Abdul El-Sayed’s win in the Democratic Senate race garnered widespread attention — despite a smaller-than-expected margin of victory. While El-Sayed isn’t a democratic socialist, his policy views overlap, and he has campaigned with prominent self-described democratic socialists like Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
After Michigan, State Rep. Justin Pearson, who gained national attention as a member of the “Tennessee Three” gun control protest, secured the Democratic nomination in the state’s 9th District. And rounding out the series of victories on Tuesday, Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon pulled off an upset victory to secure the Democratic nomination in the Florida Senate race.
Though the picture has differed from race to race, the candidates have generally espoused a populist, anti-establishment message focused on economic issues, mobilizing their base and overcoming serious funding disadvantages. In many races, healthcare is at the center, while in others, issues like AI and data centers or taking on corruption in politics are center stage.
But in other races, the progressive-left has fallen short, the bids being subject to the same forces that can beleaguer any campaign.
Former Rep. Cori Bush lost her primary bid in Missouri’s 1st District, while in Illinois, Junaid Ahmed and Kat Abughazaleh lost their primaries in the 8th and 9th districts, as did Nida Allam in her race to represent North Carolina’s 4th District. In California’s 11th District, Saikat Chakrabarti, a former chief of staff to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, failed to advance to the general election in the race to replace former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. On Tuesday, while Nixon pulled off her victory in Florida, democratic socialist Oliver Larkin fell to Rep. Jared Moskowitz in Florida’s 25th District.
Though the picture is mixed for the congressional hopefuls, general sentiments toward democratic socialist candidates and ideas may be warming. The democratic socialist label is viewed positively by about half of Democrats, and 58% have a favorable impression of socialism, according to a CBS News poll released Sunday. A Washington Post-Ipsos poll released last month found that three-quarters of Democrats said they would be open to supporting a democratic socialist candidate for president. Another survey released this month by CNBC found nearly half of Americans ages 18-34 hold favorable or very favorable views of democratic socialism.
Another Tea Party movement?
Some have drawn comparisons between the recent energy around leftist candidates and the Tea Party movement in 2010, when insurgent Republicans won a majority of the 63 seats that delivered House control to the GOP.
The scale of the Tea Party movement was much broader, with 138 Tea Party candidates running for the House and Senate that year. Today, there are fewer competitive seats, thanks to gerrymandering, meaning there are only about 40 seats in the House viewed as in-play.
“It was much more stylistic than meaningfully changing politics in ways that transferred power from the political establishment to many Americans who were agitated at the time,” Ashik Siddique, a co-chair for DSA’s National Political Committee, said of the distinction between the Tea Party movement and the progressive left.
De la Fuente compared this year’s wins to the victories of a group of four first-term, progressive congresswomen, including Ocasio-Cortez — known as “The Squad” — in 2018, during the last two years of President Trump’s first term.
“You saw Tea Party darlings actually flip districts from blue to red,” he said. “I would be hard-pressed to point to a single Justice Democrat or DSA member who’s going to flip a district from red to blue.”
If Democrats were to win control of the House, Senate and the White House in 2028, that would present a test for progressive insurgents, according to De la Fuente.
“Do members like Kiros and [Avila Chevalier] try to tank a Democratic president’s agenda? I think that’s going to be the big question mark,” he said.
In the more immediate future, how the leftist Democrats will impact Congress remains to be seen. On the Senate side, a push to oust Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York has found legs among the progressive left. El-Sayed, now the Democratic nominee in the Michigan Senate race, has been among those calling for new leadership.
On the House side, progressive-left candidates don’t appear poised to challenge Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ leadership. But they could complicate his ability to keep the party united.
Jeffries, 56, is poised to become the first Black speaker of the House next year if Democrats secure a majority in the chamber in November. The New York Democrat, who represents a Brooklyn-area district, is more progressive than Schumer and hasn’t received the same pushback against his leadership, though some have not committed to supporting Jeffries.
Speaking at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Atlanta last week, Jeffries acknowledged that “we are in an important moment of generational change.” Asked specifically about the DSA candidates on the ballot, Jeffries, who has generally supported incumbents, said, “I think we’ll see what happens in terms of what the caucus looks like on the other side of the midterm elections.”
Jeffries said on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Sunday that he doesn’t support the DSA agenda, pointing to planks like defunding the police, open borders and abolishing the Senate. But he acknowledged that should the DSA-backed candidates be elected in November, they “will be part of the House Democratic caucus.”
“It’s going to be a broad caucus,” Jeffries added.
But the insurgent candidates “do not answer to any master,” Ocasio-Cortez, a member of her local DSA chapter, said on ABC News’ “This Week” earlier this month.
“They are not beholden to any corporate interest or any party boss, and they are completely independent, which allows them to be responsible to their communities and the people that elected them,” she said. “In many ways, that makes our movement stronger.”
With increasingly narrow margins in the House in recent years, even a small number of progressive-left lawmakers could tip the scale on important votes, Siddique said.
“That’s a solid bloc of people who can make the difference on plenty of votes, especially if Democrats do end up with a majority in Congress, or a margin where seven-plus candidates could make the difference,” Siddique said. “That is a lot of leverage.”
Andrabi noted it depends on the margin of the potential Democratic majority.
“If it’s a margin that looks close to the size of our bloc, then it seems like our bloc will have ample amount of power to dictate or demand more of the Democratic Party,” Andrabi said.
Asked whether he expects leftists to be a thorn in the side of Democratic leadership if they have the majority, much like the House Freedom Caucus to GOP leaders, Siddique said only that “we expect people to advance the policies that helped elect our candidates as Democratic socialists.”
“That can mean agitating,” he said, “or it can mean collaborating with whoever wants to advance shared goals.”