Three organizations make up the organized socialist left in California today: the Peace and Freedom Party, which has held ballot access almost continuously since 1968; the Democratic Socialists of America, whose members run as Democrats or independents through twenty state chapters; and the Party of Socialism and Liberation, a smaller Marxist-Leninist group that works largely through coalition campaigns. All three are active in the 2026 cycle, and their platforms overlap on single-payer healthcare, publicly owned housing, a $30 statewide minimum wage, and tax increases on the wealthy to pay for them.
The Peace and Freedom Party
The Peace and Freedom Party describes itself as a “feminist socialist political party” and is the only openly socialist organization that qualifies as a political party on the California ballot. It grew out of the civil rights and anti-war movements of the 1960s and has appeared on every statewide ballot since 1968 except in 2000.1Peace and Freedom Party. Presidential Candidates Its official platform calls for socialism through “ownership and democratic control of the economy by the people,” universal free healthcare, free education, full immigrant rights, and housing for all.2California Secretary of State. Party Statements
A party keeps qualified status in California by either holding voter registration equal to at least 0.33% of the state total or clearing 2% in a statewide primary with a minimum registration floor.3California Secretary of State. Political Party Qualification Peace and Freedom candidates typically draw under one percent of the statewide vote; the party’s 2024 presidential nominee, Claudia De La Cruz, received 72,539 votes in California.1Peace and Freedom Party. Presidential Candidates
The 2026 Left Unity Slate
For the June 2026 primary, the Peace and Freedom Party joined the Green Party in a “Left Unity Slate” with shared candidates for seven statewide offices: Alice Stek for lieutenant governor, Gary Blenner for secretary of state, Meghann Adams for controller, Glenn Turner for treasurer, Marjorie Mikels for attorney general, Lalo Vargas for insurance commissioner, and Frank Lara for superintendent of public instruction. Each party ran its own gubernatorial candidate.4Peace and Freedom Party. Left Unity Has Begun for the June 2026 Primary Election
Ramsey Robinson for Governor
The party’s 2026 gubernatorial candidate was Ramsey Robinson, a mental health social worker who also belongs to the Party of Socialism and Liberation. He launched his campaign on Juneteenth 2025 and ran on free universal single-payer healthcare, a $30-per-hour minimum wage, housing capped at 20% of income, free childcare, abolition of ICE, full reparations for Black Californians, 1.4 million units of public housing, a publicly owned statewide energy system, and free public transit, with the whole package financed by taxing California’s billionaires.5Ramsey for Governor. Ramsey Robinson for Governor6Davis Vanguard. Billionaire Tax California Gubernatorial Candidate His campaign refused corporate and PAC donations and had raised $90,666 by primary season.7SD City Times. Primary 26: Robinson Introduction
Robinson polled at roughly 4% as part of a combined “other” category and did not advance under California’s top-two primary. Democrat Xavier Becerra finished first with 27.9% and Republican Steve Hilton second with 25%, taking the two general election slots.8Los Angeles Times. Becerra Heads Toward November Election
Democratic Socialists of America
The Democratic Socialists of America has over 95,000 members nationally and runs twenty California chapters under a statewide coordinating body called California DSA.9DSA. Democratic Socialists of America10California DSA. California DSA DSA is not a ballot-qualified political party. Its members openly identify as democratic socialists but run inside existing party structures, usually as Democrats or in nonpartisan municipal contests, and the organization endorses candidates and campaigns through its chapters.
DSA-LA and Los Angeles City Hall
The Los Angeles chapter, with more than 4,000 dues-paying members in 2025, is the most electorally active in the state.11DSA-LA. DSA-LA 2025-2026 Electoral Endorsement Roadmap In the June 2026 primary, DSA-backed City Council incumbents Hugo Soto-Martínez and Eunisses Hernandez won re-election, and Rocío Rivas was re-elected to the LAUSD Board, all appearing to clear 50% and avoid runoffs.12Democratic Left. Live Blog: Can DSA Breakthrough in California The chapter also endorsed Estuardo Mazariegos for Council District 9, Faizah Malik for District 11, and Marissa Roy for City Attorney. Roy drew 93.8% of DSA-LA’s internal endorsement vote and backing from SEIU 721, Teamsters Joint Council 42, UTLA, and the LA Federation of Labor.13DSA-LA. 2026 Primary Voter Guide
The most watched race involves Councilmember Nithya Raman, a DSA member who advanced to a November mayoral runoff against incumbent Karen Bass. DSA-LA recommended Raman but did not formally endorse her; three of her DSA colleagues on the Council endorsed Bass. Raman won her Council seat in 2020 on a platform that included defunding the police but has since voted to expand the LAPD budget, which drew a formal censure from DSA-LA in 2024.14The Intercept. LA Mayor Results: Raman, Bass, Pratt A UC Berkeley/LA Times poll showed Raman leading Bass 32% to 28% among registered voters heading into November.15Los Angeles Times. DSA Wrapup
DSA-LA describes its longer project as a six-to-eight-year effort to turn Los Angeles into a “democratic socialist region” by combining elected offices with non-electoral campaigns on housing, healthcare, transit, and labor, and has identified the 2028 Olympics as an organizing focus against displacement and the criminalization of homelessness.16DSA-LA. Democratic Socialist Program for Los Angeles
Statewide DSA Campaigns in 2026
California DSA ran its 2026 cycle under the slogan “Tax the rich to support healthcare and schools” and made its first-ever statewide endorsement for Oliver Ma, a civil rights attorney and Harvard Law graduate running for lieutenant governor as an open democratic socialist.10California DSA. California DSA Ma’s platform includes immigrant protection, rent stabilization, tuition-free public universities, UC divestment from companies tied to Israel, and single-payer healthcare, with endorsements from the United Auto Workers, the California Democratic Council, and multiple DSA chapters.17Oliver Ma 2026. Oliver Ma for Lieutenant Governor
Other 2026 endorsements included Chris Bennett, a disabled Army veteran running for Congress in California’s 3rd district, and Mai Vang, a Sacramento city councilor challenging longtime incumbent Doris Matsui in the 7th district. At the Board of Equalization level, the organization backed union organizer Sam Sukaton and school board trustee Cody Petterson, who as president of San Diego Unified adopted policies to protect students from ICE and launched an affordable housing program for teachers.18California DSA. Voter Guide
The Party of Socialism and Liberation
The Party of Socialism and Liberation is a Marxist-Leninist organization with a smaller California footprint. It operates a “Liberation Center” in San Francisco’s Mission District and runs college chapters called Students for Socialism at UCLA and UC San Diego.19ADL. Party for Socialism and Liberation The PSL does not have independent ballot access in California and runs most of its electoral activity through the Peace and Freedom line; Robinson holds membership in both organizations, and the PSL’s 2024 presidential candidate Claudia De La Cruz appeared on the Peace and Freedom ballot. PSL members also joined a March 2026 demonstration in Sacramento with the Peace and Freedom Party calling for public power to replace PG&E.20Peace and Freedom Party. PSL Tag
The Legislation Socialists Are Pushing
Two bills in Sacramento carry the clearest fingerprints of the socialist policy agenda.
Single-Payer Healthcare: AB 1900
Assemblymember Ash Kalra’s AB 1900, the California Guaranteed Health Care for All Act, would create “CalCare,” a state system providing comprehensive coverage to all California residents regardless of immigration status, with no premiums, copayments, or deductibles.21Assemblymember Ash Kalra. AB 1900: California Guaranteed Health Care for All Act A fiscal analysis estimated total state health spending at $731.4 billion annually under the program compared to a $717.5 billion baseline. The bill contains a trigger: its core provisions do not take effect until the state certifies sufficient revenue in the CalCare Trust Fund. It does not establish a revenue model, would require federal waivers for Medicaid, Medicare, and ACA funds, and could face federal preemption challenges under ERISA on self-funded employer plans.22CHBRP. AB 1900 Analysis No state has yet put a single-payer system in place, and AB 1900 follows unsuccessful attempts in 2007, 2011, 2017, and 2021.
Social Housing: AB 11
Assemblymember Alex Lee’s AB 11, the Social Housing Act, would create an independent California Housing Authority to build and own mixed-income social housing, financed through a revolving loan fund offering zero-interest construction loans and the power to issue revenue bonds. The Assembly passed the bill on June 2, 2025. A companion measure, AB 590, would place a $950 million bond on the November 2026 ballot for initial construction.23Assemblymember Alex Lee. Social Housing Act Passes Assembly An earlier bill, SB 555, commissioned a Terner Center for Housing Innovation study on scaling social housing in California, with final recommendations due in 2026.24California HCD. SB 555
Why Statewide Wins Stay Out of Reach
California’s top-two primary puts every candidate on one ballot and sends only the top two to November, regardless of party. In the 2026 governor’s race, that structure let two major-party candidates split the viable share while Robinson’s 4% left him well off the pace.25CalMatters. California Voter Guide 2026: Governor The Peace and Freedom Party’s platform calls explicitly for repealing the top-two system and moving to proportional representation.2California Secretary of State. Party Statements
DSA-backed candidates have made more progress by running inside the Democratic Party in local and nonpartisan races, where smaller, higher-turnout electorates reward grassroots organizing. The re-election of several DSA-aligned Los Angeles City Council members in 2026 and Raman’s advance to the mayoral runoff suggest the socialist foothold is strongest at the municipal level, with statewide offices still firmly held by the two major parties.
A Long California History
The current organizations stand on more than a century of socialist activity in the state. The Socialist Party of California grew out of the earlier California Socialist Labor Party and by 1902 ranked first in the country with 1,600 members, peaking around 1914 at 8,200 members across roughly 300 local chapters.26California DSA. History Its best-known figure, Job Harriman, was Eugene V. Debs’s vice-presidential running mate in 1900, and Christian Socialist J. Stitt Wilson was elected mayor of Berkeley in 1911.27PBS SoCal. Red Flags Over Los Angeles Part I: Socialism and the Election of 1911 The party fractured over World War I, lost members to the Communist Labor Party in 1919, and was effectively prosecuted out of existence under the state’s 1919 Criminal Syndicalism Act.
The high-water mark for socialist-aligned electoral politics came during the Great Depression. Novelist Upton Sinclair’s End Poverty in California campaign proposed state takeover of idle factories and farmland for worker cooperatives, a $50 monthly pension for the elderly, and a state income tax. Sinclair won the 1934 Democratic gubernatorial primary with more votes than all his opponents combined and received 879,000 votes in the general election, losing by about 11 points to Republican Frank Merriam after an opposition campaign that included fake newsreels produced by MGM.28PBS SoCal. The Socialist Who Won a Democratic Primary The EPIC movement captured much of the state Democratic Party, and in 1938 EPIC-aligned Culbert Olson became the first Democrat elected governor of California since 1894.29University of Washington. EPIC: End Poverty in California Sinclair’s own verdict on the result: “The American People will take Socialism, but they won’t take the label.”