Although Democrats have lost control of the House of Representatives, the party has gained a slew of lawmakers advocating for far-left policies.
Democrats lost the House by a razor-thin margin. But, despite the loss, the midterm elections were another victory for the progressive wing of the Democrat Party, with two newcomer lawmakers who support abolishing prisons joining the Democratic caucus in January.
House Representative-elect Summer Lee will replace longtime Democratic Rep. Mike Doyle to represent Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District.
Lee has been backed by Independent Senator Bernie Sanders (VT.) and Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren (Mass.).
Warren has been embracing more progressive-leaning policies and stances in a political career that is beginning to mirror Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.)
The incoming Pennsylvania lawmaker has expressed support for several socialist policies like redistributing wealth, in addition to progressive policies like abolishing prisons.
In a November 2020 tweet, Lee stated that rather than “‘thanking’ Black women, Black voters, and… Black organizers,” there should be policies enacted that “redistribute wealth, ends police violence, abolish the carceral state;” she also mentioned reparations as part of the tweet.
Maxwell Frost, a House Representative-elect for Florida’s 10th Congressional District, endorsed Dream Defenders, which is an anti-prison group, in 2020.
While endorsing Dream Defenders, Frost called for a “prison [and] police-free society.”
Frost, like Lee, has received endorsement from Sanders and Warren and has expressed endorsement for the Sunrise Movement, a radical environmental group that wants to “interrupt business” on a mass scale to implement the Green New Deal.
