As Socialism Rises, Conservative Group Launches Effort to Track Candidates

Citizens for Free Enterprise, a fiscally conservative political group with a heavy presence in Arizona, Georgia, Nebraska and Wisconsin, is wading into the upcoming midterm races at the federal and state level.

The organization is launching a “Socialism is Spreading” map of what candidates are considered socialist, as many Democrats running this cycle have ties to the Democratic Socialists of America or have aligned themselves with socialist policies, Townhall has first learned.  

Currently the map covers 29 states, including 13 federal races and 58 state-level races – 71 candidates in total. The group decides whether someone goes on the list based on whether they have been backed by the national DSA or a local chapter, or if they have labeled themselves as such publicly. 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) as incumbents who are among the “most influential” socialists in U.S. government, but it also listed two candidates – Claire Valdez in New York and Melat Kiros in Colorado – as top influences. 

"Socialism is spreading across the country," Bud Synhorst, National Field Director of Citizens for Free Enterprise, said in a statement on Thursday.

"This is no longer a problem just in big cities like New York. Voters should know that socialism is on their doorstep. With Citizens for Free Enterprise's new Socialism is Spreading map, voters can identify where socialism is taking hold in their state, and they can take action to stop the socialists in their tracks,” Synhorst continued. 

So much of our daily life can be traced back to free enterprise and innovation — even something as simple as ice in our freezer. Don’t take it for granted. Make sure to vote your free enterprise values this November.

— Citizens For Free Enterprise (@Citizens4FE) October 8, 2026

CFFE is largely backed by Joe Ricketts, the father of Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE), who is currently running for re-election in the Cornhusker State. 

Republicans nationwide have used the contrast between socialism versus capitalism to make their case on the campaign trail, including in competitive races. 

Meanwhile, the DSA continues to expand its influence within the Democrat Party, as they have also explicitly endorsed dozens of candidates at all levels of government this cycle, according to the group’s national electoral commission. 

The endorsements include Kiros, Tlaib, former Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), Oliver Larkin in Florida and  Donovan McKinney in Michigan. The wave of further-left candidates comes amid criticism within the Democrat Party that the establishment is not doing enough to counter the Trump administration. 

"We cannot reckon with corruption in our government without recognizing how that corruption has seeped into our own party," Kiros posted last month.

"We need to get money out of politics and Democrats should be leading the way by disavowing donations from corporations and special interests directly responsible for the crises we face today," she added.

We cannot reckon with corruption in our government without recognizing how that corruption has seeped into our own party. We need to get money out of politics and Democrats should be leading the way by disavowing donations from corporations and special interests directly responsible for the crises we face today. We won our primary here in Denver with 13 points without taking a dime of it. If we get back to our roots of organizing the everyday people of our districts, we won’t just win, we’ll earn back their trust. Then we can finally get to the common sense work of passing wildly popular legislation like Medicare for All, a data center moratorium, and an end to our tax dollars funding genocidal wars. There’s far too much work to do for the working families of this country and they deserve leaders who are unbought and unafraid to stand up for them against the corporations and special interests that got us into this mess in the first place.

— Melat Kiros for Congress, CO-1 (@MelatKirosCO) September 2, 2026

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