Rogues Gallery of Candidates

U.S. Capitol building, representing Congress and the political institutions examined in CIVPAC’s Rogues Gallery.

The Rogues Gallery: A Select List of Political Extremists

The Rogues Gallery of political extremists identifies current members of Congress and candidates for major office whose records place them well beyond the range in which the Centrist Independent Voter would ordinarily consider an endorsement.

This is not a comprehensive list of everyone with whom we strongly disagree. Nor did we begin with an arbitrary target of twelve names and then search for enough people to fill the available spaces. We have selected a relatively small group of conspicuous and influential offenders. The list is necessarily subjective, and we expect readers to argue with some of our choices.

The Gallery is also meant to remain current. As a general rule, House members who retire and are not seeking another major office will be removed rather than retained as historical exhibits. Sitting senators remain relevant even when they are not up for election in the current cycle, and a House member seeking another important office may remain in the Gallery as a candidate.

Had we constructed the Gallery in October 2020, many of the leading figures on the progressive left would have appeared for much the same reasons they do today. The Republican side, however, would have looked considerably different. The attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election had not yet occurred. Neither had the pressure campaign directed at state election officials, the organization of purported alternate electors, the attempt to misuse the Justice Department, or the January 6 attack on the Capitol.

Those events changed the meaning of political extremism. A politician who advocates confiscatory taxation, government control of much of the economy or the abandonment of important American allies may be far outside the broad American center. That is not precisely the same offense as attempting to overturn an election, but neither should attacks on property rights, economic liberty, national security or America’s alliances be dismissed as ordinary disagreements merely because they are advanced through legislation.

The offenses represented in this Gallery lie on a continuum. A reasonable case can be made, at least in moderation, for higher taxation, reduced foreign aid, aggressive use of congressional procedure, or even formal objections during the counting of electoral votes. But when such positions are pushed to extremes—when taxation approaches confiscation, isolationism becomes abandonment of allies, obstruction becomes paralysis, or electoral objections become an effort to overturn a legitimate election—they cease to be ordinary policy disagreements. The people included here have crossed that line.

Nor do we pretend that every person in the Gallery has committed an equally serious offense. Rejecting legitimate electoral votes attacks the means by which citizens can remove a government from power. Confiscatory taxation attacks the private property and independent economic power that help make political opposition possible. Abandoning allies damages both American security and the ability of other nations to trust our promises. These are different dangers, but all can be carried far enough to justify admission to the Gallery.

Democrats are not exempt from this criticism. In January 2005, Senator Barbara Boxer and 31 House Democrats voted to sustain an objection to Ohio’s electoral votes. We believe that vote was wrong. It was much narrower than the coordinated effort following the 2020 election, but it remains an important warning against treating electoral certification as an opportunity for partisan theater.

The Current Rogues Gallery

The Authoritarian and Obstructionist Right

Andy Biggs — Arizona Congressman and Republican Nominee for Governor

Biggs voted to reject certified electoral votes and was deeply involved in efforts to delay or prevent certification of the 2020 election. His record combines election denial, institutional obstruction and opposition to continued American support for Ukraine. Biggs is not seeking reelection to the House, but he remains in the Gallery because he is the Republican nominee for governor of Arizona.

Paul Gosar — Arizona

Gosar formally presented the House objection to Arizona’s electoral votes. His election denial, extremist associations, inflammatory rhetoric and hostility toward democratic institutions make him one of the clearest candidates for inclusion.

Scott Perry — Pennsylvania

The January 6 committee described Perry as a central congressional participant in efforts to use the Justice Department to advance unsupported election claims and keep Donald Trump in office. He also voted against certification.

Jim Jordan — Ohio

Jordan voted to sustain objections to certified electoral votes and participated in discussions about strategies for delaying or preventing certification. As one of the most powerful members of the House, he has used his influence to normalize conduct that would once have been considered disqualifying.

Ted Cruz — Texas

Cruz led the Senate objection to Arizona’s electoral votes and proposed delaying certification for a ten-day investigation after courts and election officials had repeatedly rejected the underlying claims. His intelligence and legal training make his willingness to legitimize the effort more troubling, not less.

Josh Hawley — Missouri

Hawley announced that he would object to certification and formally challenged Pennsylvania’s electoral votes. He continued with the objection after the Capitol had been attacked, helping convert unsupported allegations into a continuing test of partisan loyalty.

Ron Johnson — Wisconsin

Johnson promoted unsupported claims about the 2020 election, and his office became involved in an attempt to deliver purported alternate-elector documents to Vice President Pence. His long record of conspiracy-minded politics and accommodation toward Russia adds to the case for inclusion.

Tommy Tuberville — Alabama

Tuberville voted to sustain objections to certified electoral votes. He later used an individual senator’s procedural power to hold up hundreds of military promotions for months, subordinating military readiness and the careers of serving officers to an unrelated policy dispute.

The Illiberal and Confiscatory Left

Bernie Sanders — Vermont

Sanders is not merely a conventional liberal. He remains the country’s most influential advocate of democratic socialism. His recent proposals include an annual 5 percent tax on billionaire wealth and a one-time 50 percent tax, payable in stock, on the largest artificial-intelligence companies, with the shares transferred to a federal sovereign wealth fund. At those levels, taxation is no longer simply a means of financing government; it becomes an instrument for deliberately transferring private ownership to the state.

Elizabeth Warren — Massachusetts

Warren belongs in the Gallery because she has become the leading Senate architect of a program that would greatly expand federal direction of the economy. Her annual tax of 2 percent on wealth above $50 million and 3 percent above $1 billion approaches or exceeds the long-term safe real return on capital, substantially preventing affected wealth from accumulating in real terms.

The So-Called Squad

“The Squad” is an informal label rather than an organization with official membership rules. We use it here to describe the four original members who remain in Congress and three newer representatives commonly associated with the group.

The individual cases are not equally strong. Some have longer and more consequential records than others. Taken together, however, they represent the most visible congressional faction supporting sweeping government intervention in the economy, extensive debt cancellation, sharp reductions in American military commitments and policies toward Israel that frequently extend well beyond criticism of a particular Israeli government.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — New York

Ocasio-Cortez is the most prominent House advocate of the democratic-socialist program and the leading public voice of the Squad. Her importance lies not in one vote but in her influence over the direction of the Democratic Party and her advocacy of an economic and governmental transformation far beyond conventional liberalism.

Ilhan Omar — Minnesota

Omar combines far-left domestic policies with a foreign-policy record that is frequently hostile to Israel and deeply skeptical of American power. She is now deputy chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and remains one of the most influential organizers of its left wing.

Rashida Tlaib — Michigan

Tlaib is the House’s most uncompromising opponent of the American relationship with Israel and has supported positions incompatible with maintaining Israel as a secure Jewish state. Her foreign-policy record, economic views and continued identification with democratic socialism place her clearly outside the centrist range.

Ayanna Pressley — Massachusetts

Pressley is one of the four original Squad members and an advocate of sweeping student-debt cancellation, expansive federal economic intervention and much of the broader democratic-socialist agenda. Her rhetoric is generally less inflammatory than that of some colleagues, but her substantive record remains firmly within the group’s far-left program.

Greg Casar — Texas

Casar is chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. His leadership position makes him institutionally important even though his congressional record is shorter than those of the original Squad members. He has become a principal organizer and national representative of the party’s progressive left.

Summer Lee — Pennsylvania

Lee is a prominent Working Families Party ally and an increasingly visible spokeswoman for the congressional left. Her record on Israel, economic policy and the role of government closely aligns her with the broader Squad agenda.

Delia Ramirez — Illinois

Ramirez is another newer member commonly associated with the Squad. Her support for its economic, immigration and foreign-policy program makes her a reasonable inclusion, although her relatively short congressional record makes her one of the more debatable names in the Gallery.

Check the Records Yourself

We do not ask readers simply to accept our judgments. The following lists, votes and primary sources allow voters to investigate members and candidates who interest them.

Current Officeholders and Candidates

Electoral-Vote Objections

January 6 Investigation

Progressive Affiliations and Endorsements

Wealth and Government-Ownership Proposals

Foreign Policy

Appearing on one of these lists does not automatically make someone a Rogue. A complicated vote may have several possible explanations. An endorsement from an outside organization does not prove agreement with every item in its platform. The links are starting points for investigation, not substitutes for judgment.

Argue With Us

This Gallery is a judgment, not a revealed truth. We invite disagreement.

Is someone included who does not belong? Tell us which person and explain why the conduct we cite does not justify inclusion.

Have we omitted someone worse? Recommend the person and identify the votes, proposals, affiliations or actions that make the case.

Are we treating similar behavior differently depending on party? Point that out as well. The 2005 Democratic electoral objection is included above precisely because standards that apply only to one party are not standards at all.

The most useful arguments will provide specific evidence and links to original sources. We will correct factual errors, reconsider debatable cases and revise the Gallery as records develop. Please post your contribution in the comment area below or on our Contact Us page.

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