A myth of the 2026 elections is the radical left is dominating the Democrats.
The reality is the left, mainly socialists, won a handful of primaries in overwhelmingly Democratic districts. With the possible exception of a couple contests in Michigan, they don’t win in the competitive venues that shape American politics.
By contrast, there are very impressive mainstream House challengers -- call most of them Barack Obama or Nancy Pelosi Democrats -- running in Republican held districts. On our podcast, “Politics War Room,” James Carville and I have interviewed nineteen of these candidates who will determine the size of the Democratic House next year and the shape of the Democratic party.
Not a radical or socialist among them, they include prominent Navy veterans, a rear Admiral, one of the first women on a combat ship; a NASA chief of staff; several prosecutors; mayors of medium size cities like Scranton, PA; a Latin Grammy Awards winner; union leaders and several successful small entrepreneurs.
Most will win Nov. 3; here’s a look at a few:
MANNY RUTINEL
The 31 year old challenger is a two term state legislator, with a masters in economics from John Hopkins and a Yale law degree. The son of a single mother, raised on Medicaid and food stamps; as a kid, he had to sell blood to make ends meet.
He’s running in a Colorado district that goes from the Denver suburbs up to Greeley. Both Trump and the incumbent Republican, Gabe Evans, narrowly carried it last time.
A big issue is artificial intelligence and data centers; Rutinel favors a regulatory system with “strong guard rails,” more transparency and community involvement. He’s against both the Republicans’ hands-off approach and a total moratorium like Denver and others have embraced.
The charge that he’s a socialist is, as he says, absurd. (He probably would be the only member of the House with an advanced degree in economics and a law degree.)
Rutinel wants to restore Medicaid cuts and the Affordable Care Act tax subsidies and advocates for a public option in health care, not a mandatory government-run program. He adamantly opposes the Trump war in Iran and his “corrupt tariffs.”
CAIT CONLEY
Challenging a strong New York incumbent in her native Hudson Valley, she is seen as a potential political super star.
A West Point graduate, Conley served sixteen years in the Army, her six tours of duty included war zones like Afghanistan and Iraq. For most of that time she was a special operations commander.
On the campaign trail, she places blame for some of the burdensome cost of living on “corruption and greed” in Washington. She’s pro-Israel, anti-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and favors a two-state formulation for the Palestinians. The highly decorated combat veteran opposes the “reckless and haphazard” Iran war.
She considers Defense Secretary Hegseth a disaster who by “politicizing the American military,” firing our best generals, is “making America less safe.”
The incumbent Mike Lawler shrewdly paints himself as independent although, with rare exceptions,he’s a reliable Trump supporter; he even attended the Trump clown show convention in Dallas last month. He criticizes Conley as a carpetbagger “who just parachuted into the district.” She actually was off fighting in some of the most dangerous spots so Lawler and others could flourish in the Hudson Valley.
SARAH TRONE GARRIOTT
A state senator -- she was the Democratic whip -- Garriott is running in a district that stretches from Des Moines to small rural towns in southwestern Iowa. She’s a Lutheran minister who openly and proudly talks about her faith.
Republicans have attacked her as a faux pastor and left winger, which, based on her successful state senate runs, seems a losing argument. “My ministry and leadership in the community is my strength,” she answers.
She stresses “pragmatic” solutions to restore health care cuts, and help Iowa’s struggling farmers. Garriott opposes the Iran war which she charges has been “particularly devastating for agriculture.”
Her opponent, incumbent Republican Zach Nunn voted for the Iran War on multiple occasions until seven weeks before the midterms. Sudden Road to Damascus conversions shortly before an election usually don’t work.
JOANNA MENDOZA
Republicans painting Democrats as soft better stay away from Tucson, Arizona where the challenger was a Marine drill instructor. (She still does the cadence call perfectly.) Mendoza would be the first woman Marine ever elected to Congress.
In the campaign she has opposed the Iran war but her priority is the cost of living and health care. She ridicules the GOP’s “Big Billionaire Bill” and calls opponent, Juan Ciscomani “spineless” for never standing up to Trump.
With a district on the border, she favors tough restrictions, but is very critical of out of control ICE agents, personalizing her concern: “I’m a Brown woman who lives in a rural area, drives a truck and takes my daughter to school.”
Rather than the left, she’s courting the other party: “There are two types of Republicans in Arizona, MAGA and McCain Republicans.” She’s going after the latter.
SAM FORSTAG
If successful, he’ll probably be the first smoke jumper in the House of Representatives. After graduating from the University of Montana, where he was student body president, he spent eight years as a firefighter, the last four parachuting out of a plane from 3,000 feet to dig a ditch to suppress the spread of wildfires. Asked if that wasn’t dangerous, he says “not quite as dangerous as politics.”
He was also a union leader and got into this congressional race when Trump and Elon Musk slashed 360 jobs in one day from the firefighting service in his western Montana district: “About 85% were making $19.70 an hour or less.”
He is running in an open seat in a district Trump carried by eleven points. He wants to tackle the skyrocketing increases in energy, restore the DOGE cuts and the health care cuts from the Big Beautiful Bill, noting the rise in Montanans without health insurance and that a rural health clinic in Seeley Lake is about to close.
He has been endorsed by Bernie Sanders and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez; Republicans charge he’s a radical socialist. But he also has been endorsed by the moderate Blue Dog Democrats and by former Montana Governor and Republican National Chair Marc Racicot, who praised him for having the “right priorities,” his values and character and “belief in the constitution.”
The smokejumper is summed up by former Montana Senator, Jon Tester: “He’s the real deal.”
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” - Aristotle