Party leaders have blamed progressive left policies for disappointing electoral results. A close examination of winners and losers suggests otherwise.

Candidates promising to remake Southern California’s legal system, won major races for DA, county supervisor, and City Council, among others while overcoming significant spending by pro-law enforcement groups.

Los Angeles County, with the country’s largest jail system and largest local prosecutor office, is considered a crown jewel in a nationwide push for criminal justice reform.

The ideological change is a boon for the left, as states prepare for redistricting in 2021 and the challenges that may come with it.

The LA County supervisors are poised to tackle a wide range of criminal justice reforms, including moving children and people struggling with mental health issues out of the criminal legal system, and redirecting millions of dollars away from law enforcement and back into communities.

Current law mandated that the city have at least 1,971 full-time police officers.

Jones has vowed to support expansion of the Supreme Court, back the Green New Deal, and push for criminal justice reform.

The chef and restaurant owner says she plans to support the fight for a $15 minimum wage and other reforms that will make ‘Wisconsin work better for more people.’

“I have always had a focus on public service, always a desire to make sure that I’m using my skills and talents to help people and to make the community around me a little bit better,” she said.

Hollins’s ‘very personal’ decision to run was sparked in part by the Trump administration ‘catching everything on fire.’ Now she wants to advocate for subsidized child care, police reform, and more.

Houston area voters re-elected Gonzalez after he supported bail reform, cleaned up the county jail, and provided aid to incarcerated people living with opioid use disorder.

The ballot initiative would have bloated prisons and jails in the state and undone important criminal legal reforms, advocates say.

Members of The Squad are already among the Democratic Party’s most influential voices.

Simmons, an attorney, is fighting to give people “a first chance so they won’t need a second chance later on in life.”

Minnesotans, Fateh said, “should be able to access the folks that are representing us and make sure that they’re partnering with the community.”

Leger Fernandez wants to pass universal healthcare and improve infrastructure in tribal and rural communities.

“This economy doesn’t work for everyone; it works for very, very few people,” Newman said.

Bowman has also advocated for an eviction moratorium and for rental payments to be cancelled for the duration of the pandemic.

Bush’s victory in Missouri’s First Congressional District makes her the first Black woman elected to represent Missouri in Congress.

Through rigorous reporting, commentary, and a live video show in partnership with NowThis News, The Appeal has covered Congressional races, statehouse races, city councils and county commission elections, District Attorney and sheriff races, and more in the 2020 election cycle. Up and down the ballot, we’ve focused our coverage on the candidates who are running […]

Grown adults have voted their way into the current morass in this country. Now is the time for a younger generation to lead the way.

First-time state Senate candidate Jackie Fielder’s housing plans are geared toward government investment, while incumbent Scott Wiener’s plans have relied on the construction of market rate housing with some affordable units.

A grassroots coalition is showing up at locations across the swing state to ensure Black and Latinx voters can cast their ballots safely.

If Democrats win control of the Senate, allowing this archaic tradition to survive will make everything of significance the party hopes to accomplish virtually impossible.

Trump’s presidency began with women marching in record numbers. Now it’s going to end with women voting in record numbers.

Sanchez is running for one of the state House seats that Democrats are hoping to flip.

If he wins his bid to represent the state’s Sixth District, Hoadley says he would reallocate police funding, improve health care, and invest in rural communities.

The Second District candidate, who has been endorsed by more than 50 Black leaders in Omaha, also wants to make investments in Black and Latinx neighborhoods.

She is running for a historically Republican-controlled seat, and if she wins, it could help turn the state House blue.

If she’s successful in her bid to represent Texas’s 24th Congressional District, Valenzuela will flip the district to blue and become the first Black and Latinx member of Congress.

The chef and restaurant owner is running for State Assembly in part to fight for a $15 minimum wage and other pro-worker reforms from within the halls of government.

If Chambers can unseat the Republican incumbent in her district, she said she’ll prioritize expanding Medicaid, improving public education funding, and lowering property taxes.

The state representative wants to pass paid family leave, repeal Arizona’s pre-Roe vs. Wade abortion ban, and increase access to the ballot through automatic voter registration and same-day registration.

Fatima Iqbal-Zubair, who seeks to represent South Central Los Angeles in the State Assembly, wants ‘clean air, clean water, and clean food’ for her constituents.

The party’s national director tells The Appeal about candidates in New York, Washington, D.C., and New Mexico that the WFP would like to see oust the establishment.

Leger Fernandez, whose district includes Navajo Nation and several Pueblo reservations, wants to pass universal healthcare and improve infrastructure in tribal and rural communities.

Corporate backers of a group opposed to Proposition 21 don’t match the protective image it portrays. And a nonprofit that has contributed to supporters has been accused of financial improprieties.

Newman, who is running for a U.S. House seat, wants Medicare for all, green jobs, and a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

Graybill’s experience with suing the state’s current AG, Tim Fox, to protect a land easement program “really pushed me over the edge,” he told The Appeal.

Quezada has supported progressive policies since starting out in the state legislature in 2012. He’s now running for his final term, which could be his most important, given the state’s changing power dynamics.