Justice Democrats is an American

progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...

political action committee founded on January 23, 2017, by former leaders from the

Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign In the 2016 presidential campaign, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders sought the Democratic Party's nomination in a field of six major candidates and was the runner up with 46% of the pledged delegates behind former Secretary of State Hillary ...

Saikat Chakrabarti Saikat Chakrabarti (born January 12, 1986) is a political advisor and software engineer. He was formerly chief of staff to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the U.S. representative from New York's 14th congressional district representing portions of The ...

and Zack Exley, as well as political commentators Kyle Kulinski and

Cenk Uygur Cenk Kadir Uygur ( ; ; born March 21, 1970) is a Turkish-American progressive political commentator, media host, attorney, journalist, and politician. Uygur is the creator of '' The Young Turks'', an American left-wing, sociopolitical, progressi ...

of '' The Young Turks''. The organization formed as a result of the

2016 United States presidential election The 2016 United States presidential election was the 58th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. The Republican ticket of businessman Donald Trump and Indiana governor Mike Pence defeated the Democratic ticket ...

and aspires "to elect a new type of Democratic majority in Congress" that will "create a thriving economy and democracy that works for the people, not big money interests". The group advocates for

campaign finance reform Campaign finance reform may refer to: * Reform of campaign finance Campaign finance, also known as election finance or political donations, refers to the funds raised to promote candidates, political parties, or policy initiatives and referen ...

(reducing the role of money in politics) and endorses only candidates who pledge to refuse donations from corporate PACs and lobbyists. Kulinski and Uygur are no longer part of the group but remain active supporters. Alexandra Rojas became executive director of the organization in May 2018. During the 2018 elections, Justice Democrats ran 79 progressive candidates against Democrats, Republicans and Independents in local, state, and federal elections. The seven Justice Democrats candidates who won their electoral congressional races in 2018 were

Raúl Grijalva Raúl Manuel Grijalva (; born February 19, 1948) is an American politician and activist who has served as the United States representative for since 2003. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district, numbered as the 7th from 2003 to 20 ...

Pramila Jayapal Pramila Jayapal ( ; born September 21, 1965) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative from since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she represents most of Seattle, as well as some suburban areas of King County. Jayapal ...

Ro Khanna Rohit Khanna (; born September 13, 1976) is an American politician, lawyer, and academic serving as the U.S. representative from California's 17th congressional district since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he defeated eight-term incumb ...

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (; ; born October 13, 1989), also known by her initials AOC, is an American politician and activist. She has served as the U.S. representative for New York's 14th congressional district since 2019, as a member of ...

Ilhan Omar Ilhan Abdullahi Omar (born October 4, 1982) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2019. She is a member of the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party. Before her election to Congress, Omar served in the Minnesot ...

, Ayanna Pressley, and

Rashida Tlaib Rashida Harbi Tlaib (, ; born July 24, 1976) is an American politician and lawyer serving as the U.S. representative for since 2019. The district includes the western half of Detroit, along with several of its western suburbs and much of the ...

. The group endorsed considerably fewer candidates in 2020 than it did in 2018, a move its communications director defended as a strategy to focus the group's resources on the most promising candidates. Jamaal Bowman,

Cori Bush Cori Anika Bush (born July 21, 1976) is an American politician, registered nurse, pastor, and Black Lives Matter activist serving as the U.S. representative for . The district includes all of the city of St. Louis and most of northern St. Loui ...

, and Marie Newman were elected to the US House of Representatives in 2020. In 2022,

Greg Casar Gregorio Eduardo Casar (born May 4, 1989) is an American politician who is the member for Texas's 35th congressional district in the United States Congress since 2023. He served as a member of the Austin City Council from the 4th district from ...

and

Summer Lee Summer Lynn Lee (born November 26, 1987) is an American politician and community organizer serving as the U.S. representative for Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district since 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, Lee served as a member of t ...

were elected to the House, while Newman lost her reelection in the Democratic primaries.

History

After the 2016 presidential election resulted in a victory for

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of ...

, many progressives pointed to the perceived loyalty of politicians to large donors as a major contributing factor to Hillary Clinton's loss to Trump. These critics contend that a campaign finance model similar to that of Bernie Sanders, whose 2016 presidential campaign was funded by small individual donations, will increase public trust in politicians through increased accountability to their constituents. On January 23, 2017, Cenk Uygur and Kyle Kulinski founded Justice Democrats with ten others, including former staffers from the Sanders campaign such as its Director of Organizing Technology, Saikat Chakrabarti, and MoveOn.org fundraiser Zack Exley. According to the organization, it seeks to create a left-wing populist movement to support alternative Democratic candidates beginning with the 2018 midterm elections, in order to either defeat the incumbent Democrats or make them more accountable to their constituents. It requires its candidates to take a pledge to refuse financial contributions from billionaires and corporations. In addition, it hoped to rebuild the Democratic Party on a national level and defeat Trump in the 2020 presidential election. On March 20, 2017, Justice Democrats reported that they had received 8,300 nominations and raised $1 million. Also in March 2017, it teamed up with

Brand New Congress Brand New Congress is an American political action committee with the mission to elect hundreds of new progressive congressional representatives in line with the campaign's political platform. Background Brand New Congress is a volunteer-led ...

, a PAC established by former Sanders campaign supporters, to further their goals. By November 1, 2017, they had merged with fellow progressive group

AllOfUs AllOfUs was an American progressive political action committee founded om September 2016 by Yong Jung Cho, Max Berger, Waleed Shahid and former members of Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign. The organization formed with the goal of trans ...

. On May 9, 2017, Representative

California's 17th congressional district California's 17th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of California that is currently represented by Ro Khanna. It is located in the South Bay and East Bay regions of the San Francisco Bay Area. The distri ...

announced that he had become a Justice Democrat, the first sitting member of Congress to join the organization. Over the following year,

Arizona's 3rd congressional district Arizona's 3rd congressional district is a congressional district that contains the southwestern portions of the state, sharing the border of Mexico from Nogales to the California border. Much of the district's population lives in the western t ...

and

Washington's 7th congressional district Washington's 7th congressional district encompasses most of Seattle and Burien, and all of Vashon Island, Lake Forest Park, Edmonds, Shoreline, and Normandy Park. Since 2017, the 7th district has been represented in the U.S. House of Repres ...

also joined, bringing the number of sitting representatives in Justice Democrats to three. Khanna and Jayapal were first elected to the House in 2016 while Grijalva has been an incumbent since 2002. During the 2018 elections, Justice Democrats ran 79 progressive candidates against Democrats, Republicans and Independents in local, state, and federal elections. 26 of them advanced past the primary stage. All Justice Democrat candidates running for office were endorsed by '' The Young Turks'', who provided them with a media platform on their interview show ''Rebel HQ''. The seven Justice Democrats candidates who won their electoral congressional races in 2018 were Ayanna Pressley,

, and the three sitting members. All seven won districts already held by Democrats. In 2020, Justice Democrat Marie Newman defeated incumbent Representative Dan Lipinski in the 2020 primary for Illinois's 3rd congressional district. Jamaal Bowman defeated incumbent Representative Eliot Engel in New York's 16th congressional district's primary. Bowman was also endorsed by Justice Democrats. Another Justice Democrat-endorsed candidate won in Missouri's 1st congressional district, when

defeated Representative

Lacy Clay William Lacy Clay Jr. (born July 27, 1956) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative from from 2001 to 2021. His congressional career ended after he lost in a Democratic primary to Cori Bush in 2020, after successfully de ...

Uygur's resignation

On December 22, 2017, it was announced that Uygur had resigned from the organization, after the revelation of previously deleted but archived controversial blog posts he had written. The next day, Kulinski announced that he had stepped down from the organization as he disagreed with staff members who pressed for Uygur's dismissal. He said his decision came as a result of a personal dilemma as he saw the posts in question upon rereading them as satirical. Kulinski noted that the decision to ask for Uygur's resignation came from Justice Democrat staff, not the candidates, and asked his supporters to continue backing the organization's candidates. In mid-November 2019, Uygur filed to run for Congress in California's 25th district, a seat recently vacated by the resignation of Katie Hill. Uygur stated he would not run as a member of the Justice Democrats.

Ideology and political issues

According to Justice Democrats, its highest priority is to effectively eliminate the role of money and conflicts of interests in politics. As such, any candidate running with Justice Democrats must pledge to refuse donations from corporate PACs and lobbyists. Declining money from corporate PACs and supporting Medicare for All have both been described as litmus tests for the organization. Justice Democrats supports publicly funded elections, banning Super PACs, and banning private donations to politicians and campaigns. It also advocates for the reinstatement of provisions of the

Voting Rights Act of 1965 The suffrage, Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of Federal government of the United States, federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President of the United ...

and a ban on

gerrymandering In representative democracies, gerrymandering (, originally ) is the political manipulation of electoral district boundaries with the intent to create undue advantage for a party, group, or socioeconomic class within the constituency. The m ...

for partisan gain. Several members have voiced support for a constitutional amendment to remove money from American politics. To accompany its launch, Kulinski and Uygur published the following set of

founding principles for the coalition. Adjustments have been made since 2017, resulting in a slightly different platform appearing on the Justice Democrats webpage at a given time. *Creating a new infrastructure program called the "

Green New Deal Green New Deal (GND) proposals call for public policy to address climate change along with achieving other social aims like job creation and reducing economic inequality. The name refers back to the New Deal, a set of social and economic refo ...

" *Ending arms sales to countries that it says violate human rights such as

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries by area, fifth-largest country in Asia ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...

*Enacting a federal

job guarantee A job guarantee is an economic policy proposal that aims to provide a sustainable solution to inflation and unemployment. Its aim is to create full employment and price stability by having the state promise to hire unemployed workers as an empl ...

, which would promise all Americans a job paying $15 per hour plus benefits *Ending the death penalty *Ending the practice of unilaterally waging war, except as a last resort to defend U.S. territory *Ending the

War on Drugs The war on drugs is a global campaign, led by the United States federal government, of drug prohibition, military aid, and military intervention, with the aim of reducing the illegal drug trade in the United States.Cockburn and St. Clair, ...

in favor of legalization, regulation, and taxation of drugs, and pardoning all non-violent drug offenders and treating all drug addicts *Ensuring free speech on college campuses and supporting

net neutrality Network neutrality, often referred to as net neutrality, is the principle that Internet service providers (ISPs) must treat all Internet communications equally, offering users and online content providers consistent rates irrespective of c ...

*Ensuring universal education as a right, including free four-year public college and university education *Ensuring universal healthcare as a right *Establishing paid maternity leave, paid vacation leave, and free childcare *Expanding anti-discrimination laws to apply to

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term i ...

people *Expanding background checks on firearms and banning high capacity magazines and assault weapons *Funding

Planned Parenthood The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health care in the United States and globally. It is a tax-exempt corporation under Internal Reve ...

and other contraceptive and abortion services, and recognizing reproductive rights *Implementing

electoral reform Electoral reform is a change in electoral systems which alters how public desires are expressed in election results. That can include reforms of: * Voting systems, such as proportional representation, a two-round system (runoff voting), instant-ru ...

and publicly financed elections nationwide to make irrelevant and obsolete fundraising from large corporations and the wealthy *Implementing

instant-runoff voting Instant-runoff voting (IRV) is a type of ranked preferential voting method. It uses a majority voting rule in single-winner elections where there are more than two candidates. It is commonly referred to as ranked-choice voting (RCV) in the U ...

nationwide in an effort to make third-party and

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

candidates more viable *Implementing the Buffett Rule, ending

offshore financial centers An offshore financial centre (OFC) is defined as a "country or jurisdiction that provides financial services to nonresidents on a scale that is incommensurate with the size and the financing of its domestic economy." "Offshore" does not refer ...

, "chain ng the capital gains and income taxes, and increasing the estate tax *Making the minimum wage a

living wage A living wage is defined as the minimum income necessary for a worker to meet their basic needs. This is not the same as a subsistence wage, which refers to a biological minimum, or a solidarity wage, which refers to a minimum wage tracking labo ...

and tying it to inflation *Pardoning

Edward Snowden Edward Joseph Snowden (born June 21, 1983) is an American and naturalized Russian former computer intelligence consultant who leaked highly classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013, when he was an employee and s ...

, prosecuting CIA torturers and DoD war criminals, shutting down the

Guantanamo Bay detention camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp ( es, Centro de detención de la bahía de Guantánamo) is a United States military prison located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, also referred to as Guantánamo, GTMO, and Gitmo (), on the coast of Guant ...

and all other extrajudicial prisons, and ending warrantless spying and bulk data collection by the

National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collectio ...

*Passing the Paycheck Fairness Act *Abolishing the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) *Reforming police by mandating body cameras, establishing community oversight boards, eliminating

broken windows policing In criminology, the broken windows theory states that visible signs of crime, anti-social behavior and civil disorder create an urban environment that encourages further crime and disorder, including serious crimes. The theory suggests that pol ...

, ending stop and frisk, and appointing special prosecutors to hold police accountable in courts *Renegotiating CAFTA-DR and

NAFTA The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA ; es, Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte, TLCAN; french: Accord de libre-échange nord-américain, ALÉNA) was an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States that crea ...

, and opposing Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China and the

World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and ...

*Stopping any reductions to

Social Security Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...

, Medicare, and

Medicaid Medicaid in the United States is a federal and state program that helps with healthcare Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and ...

, and establishing single-payer universal healthcare *Stopping

anthropogenic climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

through an ecological revolution and upholding the United States' participation in the Paris Climate Agreement *Uncompromisingly rejecting President Trump's immigration proposals and policies, particularly

Executive Order 13769 Executive Order 13769, titled Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States, labeled the "Muslim ban" by critics, or commonly referred to as the Trump travel ban, was an executive order by US President Donald Trump ...

and deportation of illegal immigrants, and implementing comprehensive

immigration reform Immigration reform is change to the current immigration policy of a country. In its strict definition, ''reform'' means "to change into an improved form or condition, by amending or removing faults or abuses". In the political sense, "immigration ...

which will include giving non-criminal illegal immigrants a path to citizenship

Political activity

2018

Justice Democrats officially endorsed 79 candidates in the 2018 election cycle, seven of whom won general elections (three were incumbents). The four first-time officeholders in the U.S. House make up "The Squad".

Governor

Lieutenant Governor

U.S. Senate

U.S. House

2020

Justice Democrats endorsed 17 candidates in the Democratic primaries for president, Senate and House. Twelve House candidates made it to the general election (7 incumbents, 5 newcomers). All the incumbents and three newcomers won.

U.S. President

U.S. Senate

U.S. House

2021

U.S. House

2022

U.S. House

Summer for Progress

In July 2017, several progressive organizations, including Our Revolution,

Democratic Socialists of America The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is a Left-wing politics, left-wing Democratic Socialists of America#Tendencies within the DSA, multi-tendency Socialism, socialist and Labour movement, labor-oriented political organization. Its roots ...

, National Nurses United,

Working Families Party The Working Families Party (WFP) is a minor political party in the United States, founded in New York in 1998. There are active chapters in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Ne ...

, and

, announced a push to encourage House Democrats to sign on to a #PeoplesPlatform, which consists of supporting "eight bills currently in the House of Representatives that will address the concerns of everyday Americans." These eight bills and the topics they address are: #Medicare for All: H.R. 676, the Medicare For All Act #Free College Tuition: H.R. 1880, the College for All Act of 2017 #Worker Rights: H.R. 15, the Raise the Wage Act #Women's Rights: H.R. 771, the Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance (EACH Woman) Act of 2017 #Voting Rights: H.R. 2840, the Automatic Voter Registration Act #Environmental Justice: H.R. 4114, the Environmental Justice Act of 2017 #Criminal Justice and Immigrant Rights: H.R. 3227, the Justice Is Not for Sale Act of 2017 #Taxing Wall Street: H.R. 1144, the Inclusive Prosperity Act

Members

Congressional members

* Ayanna Pressley *

* Jamaal Bowman *

* Marie Newman (until January 3, 2023) *

(from January 3, 2023) *

(from January 3, 2023)

Announcements

*On May 9, 2017,

announced that he was a member of Justice Democrats and supported the organization's agenda. *On December 6, 2017, Justice Democrats announced that

had joined the group. *On April 16, 2018, Justice Democrats announced that

had joined the group. *On January 3, 2019,

New York's 14th congressional district New York's 14th congressional district is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives located in New York City, represented by Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The district includes the eastern part of The Bronx ...

of Minnesota's 5th congressional district, Ayanna Pressley of

Massachusetts's 7th congressional district Massachusetts's 7th congressional district is a congressional district located in eastern Massachusetts, including roughly three-fourths of the city of Boston and a few of its northern and southern suburbs. The seat is currently held by Democra ...

and

of Michigan's 13th congressional district were sworn in as members of the House of Representatives and as Justice Democrats. They have been dubbed " The Squad". *On January 3, 2021, Jamaal Bowman of New York's 16th congressional district,

of Missouri's 1st congressional district, and Marie Newman of Illinois's 3rd congressional district were sworn in.

Notes

References

External links

*
JD YouTube channelJustice Democrats Ballotpedia page Justice Democrats financial reports
from the

Federal Election Commission The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent regulatory agency of the United States whose purpose is to enforce campaign finance law in United States federal elections. Created in 1974 through amendments to the Federal Election Cam ...

{{TYT Network 2017 establishments in California 2017 in American politics Aftermath of the 2016 United States presidential election Anti-corporate activism Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign Democratic Party (United States) organizations Left-wing populism in the United States Organizations based in Los Angeles Progressive organizations in the United States The Young Turks (talk show) United States political action committees

History

Uygur's resignation

Ideology and political issues

Political activity

2018

Governor

Lieutenant Governor

U.S. Senate

U.S. House

2020

U.S. President

U.S. Senate

U.S. House

2021

U.S. House

2022

U.S. House

Summer for Progress

Members

Congressional members

Announcements

Notes

See also

References

External links