Democrats pressed on socialist candidates after series of primary wins
correspondent Lucas Tomlinson speaks on recent Democratic socialist wins in primary elections. Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-Mass., also joins ‘ Sunday’ to address controversial comments made by socialist candidates and weigh in on why young Americans are open to embracing socialism.
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Jordan Herrera, an attorney, Air Force veteran and former Missouri assistant attorney general, won the Democratic nomination Tuesday in Missouri’s newly redrawn 4th Congressional District, defeating better-funded democratic socialist Hartzell Gray in a seven-way primary.
Herrera prevailed over Gray, the 33-year-old former Kansas City radio host and tenant organizer who drew national attention after appearing on Hasan Piker’s Twitch livestream and blasting “sell-out Democrats.”
The result puts a more conventional Democrat on the November ballot against Republican Rep. Mark Alford in the GOP-leaning district, rather than Gray, who had framed his campaign as a left-wing challenge to the party establishment.
Jordan Herrera is an attorney, Air Force veteran and former Missouri assistant attorney general. (Jordan J Herrera for Congress)
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The new 4th District takes in part of Kansas City before extending south through a broad swath of suburban and rural Missouri. While the map made Alford’s district less Republican than it had been, it remains a solidly GOP seat.
Gray emerged as the clear financial leader in the Democratic field. FEC records showed his campaign had raised about $250,000 through mid-July — more than six times the roughly $40,000 raised by Herrera and far more than Cass, the 2024 Democratic nominee who again sought the seat.
The Kansas City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America said its backing of Gray marked its first endorsement in a federal race. The group praised Gray’s refusal to take money from corporations, developers and lobbying groups, while pointing to his support for universal health care, tenant protections and more progressive taxation.
Then-Sporting Kansas City host Hartzell Gray pumps up the crowd in 2022 during a watch party for the announcement of the FIFA World Cup 2026 host cities at Power & Light District. (Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports)
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Gray, who has also called for rent controls, Medicare for All and ending the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, has framed his campaign as a rebuke of a Democratic Party he argues has become too closely tied to wealthy donors and corporate interests. The 2010 ruling allowed corporations and unions to spend unlimited sums independently to influence elections.
His appearance on Piker’s show helped turn an otherwise low-profile Missouri primary into a small test case for the party’s socialist left, which has increasingly relied on social media personalities, small-dollar donors and activist networks to build support outside traditional party structures.
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Gray’s campaign said viewers gave more than $30,000 after the Piker appearance. He later appeared on The Majority Report , another left-leaning online program, as his campaign sought to translate national attention into turnout in Kansas City.
Members of the Democratic Socialists of America gather outside a Trump-owned building on May Day, May 1, 2019, in New York City. (Getty Images)
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The primary also included former Democratic nominee Jeanette Cass, attorney and Air Force veteran Herrera, radio host Randy Miller, Ashleigh Rogers, Wayne Russell and G. Rick.
Gray’s nomination is a win for a local Democratic Socialists of America chapter that had not previously backed a federal candidate. But the general election will test whether the kind of coalition that powered him through a fractured Democratic primary can compete in a district intentionally drawn to favor Republicans.
