WASHINGTON—It is normal in the leadup to elections for lawmakers to put up for vote a variety of so-called “messaging bills,” allowing them to stake out positions on issues in the public eye. As the midterm elections rapidly approach, the GOP finds itself in trouble on the messaging front because it has done nothing to address the major concerns of voters.
Facing that situation, they have resorted to the time-tested tactic of red-baiting. On Sept. 1, after returning from their August recess, Republicans put forward a resolution condemning socialism to deflect attention from the fact that they are absent when it comes to dealing with the affordability crisis crushing Americans right now.
But the resolution was not just a message—it was a trap, and its lead advocate, Rep. Jeff Crank, R-Colo., did not hide it.
“I keep hearing people like [Minority Leader] Hakeem Jeffries and others in the Congress saying that they oppose the DSA [Democratic Socialists of America],” Crank told reporters ahead of the vote. “Let’s see if they’re willing to vote for a resolution that would oppose them.”
Republicans sharpened the snare by folding their long-sought SAVE Act voter ID legislation into the same resolution, so that any Democrat who voted for the socialism condemnation would also be on record backing the GOP’s voter-suppression bill—and any who voted no could be branded soft on socialism, whatever their actual reason for opposing it.
The non-binding resolution attacked the DSA by name, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani without naming him, and linked the Democrats in general to socialism and communism while pitching the GOP’s voter repression bill as a remedy.
Crank described the resolution as “providing for the condemnation and denouncement of socialism in all its forms, and for other purposes.”
The House approved it on a 220-192 vote, with eight Democrats joining all 211 voting Republicans and a GOP-leaning independent for it. All the “no” votes were Democrats, though two also voted “present.”
The Democrats who supported the resolution included Reps. Kathy Castor of Florida, Henry Cuellar of Texas, Don Davis of North Carolina, Jared Golden of Maine, Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, Darren Soto of Florida, and Gabe Vasquez of New Mexico. Those who voted present were Reps. Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania and Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire.
“The DSA is a threat to the American values that make our nation great. This evening’s vote shows who stands for freedom, and others who stand with socialism,” Crank declared during debate on Sept. 1.
“Socialism is one of the most destructive ideologies in world history, and the DSA have permeated elections across the country and have co-opted much of the Democratic Party,” Crank later when explaining the supposed need for his red-baiting resolution.
“Freedom-loving citizens across the country know socialism is the first step to communism, and every communist regime has brought only oppression, murder, and starvation,”
He accused “the highest levels of Democrat leadership” of refusing to denounce DSA “for fear of political retribution among their ranks.” He justified attaching the SAVE Act to the resolution because DSA wants, he charged to “allow noncitizens and incarcerated criminals to vote in American elections.”
Most Democrats refused to play along with the trap. Instead, they pointed out the GOP was spending its floor time on a non-binding messaging exercise rather than tackling the affordability crisis and blasted the resolution’s built-in endorsement of the GOP’s voter-suppression SAVE Act, which the House had approved on a party-line vote earlier this year.
A handful of centrist Democrats tried a different tack, attempting to find a way to still join in on attacking socialism while not signing up for the assault on voting rights. The day before the floor vote, Reps. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, Hillary Scholten of Michigan, Jared Moskowitz of Florida, and Tom Suozzi of New York introduced their own resolution condemning the DSA, stripped of Crank’s SAVE Act language, which Gottheimer called a “poison pill.”
“If you actually want to take on socialism instead of playing political games, you don’t slip in the SAVE Act as a poison pill that you know no Democrat will vote for,” Gottheimer said. Scholten said the point was to “expose this fraudulent, insincere attempt by Republicans” to use socialism as cover for the voting bill.
The Republican-controlled House Rules Committee blocked the Democrats’ amendment from getting a vote, sending Crank’s original combined resolution to the floor intact.
Other Democrats chose to challenge the resolution head-on. Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., dismissed the GOP’s framing outright: “They can put lipstick on a pig, it’s still their voter suppression bill.” Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., a member of the Painters union, labeled the resolution “stupid.” Rep. Tlaib declared, “I say as a member of DSA: Tax the rich.”
Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., had some of the most-pointed criticism.
“As long as they and their bosses profit from the policies of racism, colonialism, capitalism, imperialism, white supremacy, and patriarchy, they don’t care if you are sick, starving, deported, detained, or even dead,” she said of the Republican Party and MAGA.
“I bet they take issue with those of us who are standing in their way. Bottom line, my colleagues are afraid of the American people seeing through their cowardice, greed, and lust for power.”
Observers outside of Congress also saw the resolution for what it was. “This is red meat for the GOP base,” said Joe Sims, co-chair of the Communist Party USA. “They’re trying to motivate their base to turn out in November. But try as they might, the U.S. people aren’t buying their red-baiting—that’s been proven in primary after primary, East, West, North and most recently in the deep South.” Sims also had a warning for the Republicans behind the maneuver. “Watch out MAGA, we’ll remember in November. Your time is coming.”
Crank’s resolution almost didn’t make it to the floor but was saved by two of the anti-socialist Democrats. Before the House can consider any measure, it must adopt a “rule” to govern debate. Votes on rules are considered mandatory to follow party lines and defections can bring intraparty retribution, especially in the GOP.
But this rule vote was 210-208, with Democratic Reps. Gluesenkamp Perez and Golden joining the Republicans. Had the duo voted with their party, the rule would have failed and the anti-socialist statement wouldn’t have come up at all.
John Wojcik and C.J. Atkins contributed to this article.
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