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Angela Gonzales-Torres is running for Congress in a year when many progressive candidates are avoiding the socialist label to appeal to moderate voters.
In Michigan, Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed has said he is "not technically or practically DSA." Gonzales-Torres, who is backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, has not distanced herself from it.
The 31-year-old has been called "far left" by Fox News and by members of her own party in California. She told Newsweek she understands why, adding that she won't spend her time fighting it.
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"Fox News will call me that, and that's one thing, but also California Democrats will say it's far left to not take corporate PAC money," Gonzales-Torres said in an interview. "I just don't understand that, but…that's not my fight."
She is challenging California Representative Jimmy Gomez, a Democrat seeking his sixth term, in the state's 34th Congressional District in Los Angeles. The safely Democratic seat includes Boyle Heights, Chinatown, downtown, Eagle Rock, Little Tokyo and Pico-Union. Under California's top-two primary system, both Democrats advanced to the November 3 ballot.
If Gonzales-Torres wins, she would join a group of democratic socialists headed to the House after DSA-backed challengers defeated Democratic incumbents in New York and Colorado this year. She is already thinking about how that group would use its votes.
"We're organizers," Gonzales-Torres said. "I'm so proud to already be thinking about our bargaining power."
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Jimmy Gomez Ethics Probe and the CA-34 Poll
Gomez won nearly 46 percent of the vote in the June primary, more than 15 points ahead of Gonzales-Torres. In August, the House Ethics Committee announced it was investigating him over allegations of "inappropriate sexual contact with a House staffer." Lawyers for a woman the committee interviewed later said she had accused him of sexual harassment and assault. Gomez has acknowledged "personal mistakes outside my marriage" and says his actions were consensual and did not break the law or House rules.
A USC Democracy and Fair Elections Lab poll released Tuesday, the first independent survey of the race, found the two tied at 34 percent among likely voters. When undecided voters were asked which way they leaned, Gonzales-Torres led within the margin of error. Voters asked what they associated with Gomez most often mentioned the ethics allegations, according to Politico, which first reported the poll.
"People are excited to vote for an advocate for justice, not someone under investigation for ethics violations, you know?"
The Gomez campaign questioned the survey’s method. “An email-only poll risks missing voters who don’t regularly use email or aren’t on the lists used to contact them,” a spokesperson told Newsweek.
She accused Gomez of being "nearly fully funded by corporate super PACs," and said her campaign takes no corporate money and its average donation is about $30. Outside groups are still spending to help her. The Guardrails Alliance, a super PAC that wants stricter regulation of the tech industry, has spent more than $1 million supporting her, and the Working Families Party has spent six figures.
Bold America and Nuestro PAC, two groups focused on Latino voters, have spent more than $447,000 combined supporting Gomez and attacking her.
Gomez, first elected in 2017, has campaigned on his record. He was among the House Democrats who successfully sued the Trump administration after he was blocked from entering an immigration detention facility. He chairs the Congressional Renters Caucus and supports Medicare for All and the Green New Deal. His campaign has called on Guardrails to return contributions from tech executives and has pushed allied groups to highlight Gonzales-Torres' appearance on the stream of left-wing commentator Hasan Piker.
A Gomez campaign spokesperson pushed back, telling Newsweek that Gomez is the only candidate in the race endorsed by End Citizens United because he rejects corporate PAC money. The spokesperson said Guardrails Alliance is funded in part by wealthy AI and cryptocurrency donors and accused Gonzales-Torres of only pretending to campaign against “Big AI.”
“If Gonzales-Torres wants to raise concerns about outside money in politics, she should address the substantial independent spending benefiting her own campaign,” the spokesperson said.
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Who Is Angela Gonzales-Torres?
Gonzales-Torres grew up in Highland Park. Her father was incarcerated and then deported when she was 14 or 15, she said, a process that "didn't just happen overnight."
"As someone who's experienced my own father's deportation, I take that very seriously because families belong together," Gonzales-Torres said. Since the Trump administration's immigration crackdown reached Los Angeles, she added, parts of her district have become "unrecognizable," and people are afraid to leave their homes.
Gonzales-Torres calls herself a Chicana and has lived her whole life in Northeast and East Los Angeles. She understands Spanish but is not fluent. In this, she is like many U.S.-born children of Latino immigrants whose families came from somewhere else but for whom the United States has always been home.
"I really love the history of our city and particularly my people being the Chicanos here in East LA, Northeast LA," she said, "but I love also what connects all of us as humans."
Gonzales-Torres studied Chicano and Central American studies and anthropology, and later worked as a counselor for formerly incarcerated students at Pasadena City College. Her only elected position was two years on the Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council, including one as president.
Yet, several former board members told the Los Angeles Times her leadership was chaotic. The Gomez campaign has pointed to an open letter criticizing her for missing meetings. "Voters should ask themselves: if she can't handle a position on her neighborhood council, how on earth does she think she's ready for Congress?" a campaign spokesperson told Politico. In 2025, Gonzales-Torres finished last of 23 candidates running for an at-large seat on the same council.
Gonzales-Torres said she was focused on the campaign. "While I can see the frustration of three or four of our neighborhood council members, I am so focused on what's resonating with voters right now," she said. She pointed to support from State Senator Sasha Renée Pérez and local business owners.
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Not Running Away From the Far-Left Label
With Congress within reach, candidates such as Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed have kept their distance from the DSA label. Gonzales-Torres is leaning into it.
She openly describes "this democratic socialist chapter that I’m part of here in Los Angeles." On the label, Gonzales-Torres said: "People call me far left all the time, but we just want health care."
Asked what she would tell Americans who are worried about the movement she represents, she said change "might be scary for some," and then talked about money in politics. To her, being progressive means "we will fight for progress, and that starts right now by who we’re beholden to."
Gallup found in August that 43 percent of Americans view socialism positively, the highest share in the 16 years it has asked the question. Capitalism still polls higher, at 55 percent. Among Democrats, 65 percent view socialism positively, as do 57 percent of adults ages 18 to 34.
Asked which issues she would not compromise on in Washington, Gonzales-Torres started with immigration, a moratorium on AI data centers, a Green New Deal for public housing and blocking weapons shipments to Israel, which she called the "bare minimum" for her first day in office.
Gonzales-Torres wants ICE funding redirected to housing, healthcare, education and job security. She says any overhaul must include accountability, including "prosecution of ICE agents and Trump." Her campaign, Gonzales-Torres said, is "tracking every incident of ICE misconduct, murder, attempted murder, because there will be a point where we will hold them accountable."
But, as progressives and democratic socialists have gained traction during this election cycle, not everyone reads those numbers as a turn to the left. Jim Kessler, a senior political adviser at the centrist think tank Third Way, told Newsweek the Gallup results reflect frustration with the economic status quo more than support for socialism.
DSA itself is less popular. In a September NBC News poll, 22 percent of registered voters viewed the group favorably and 50 percent unfavorably. A Marquette Law School poll found 24 percent favorable and 54 percent unfavorable.
In CA-34, likely voters view socialism much more favorably than capitalism, the USC survey found. Forty-five percent view DSA positively, close to the 47 percent who view the Democratic Party positively. Gonzales-Torres believes her pitch is already paying off.
"What we have proven already, regardless of what happens November 3rd, is that it's possible to win a primary election standing with working people, not taking a dime of a PAC or crypto or big AI money," Gonzales-Torres said. "What I hear from voters here in the heart of Los Angeles is, we're done buying the political scraps that the establishment is trying to sell us."
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How DSA Candidates Would Work With Hakeem Jeffries
DSA won its biggest congressional primaries in years this cycle. Darializa Avila Chevalier defeated New York Representative Adriano Espaillat, chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Melat Kiros beat Colorado Representative Diana DeGette, a 15-term incumbent. In Brooklyn, Claire Valdez won the primary to replace retiring Representative Nydia Velázquez.
The question for the new class is what happens once it gets to Washington. Many progressive voters left the Biden years frustrated that a Democratic trifecta did not deliver more. Some blame the party for not being aggressive enough before Donald Trump returned to the White House.
Asked how she would work with House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and moderate Democrats if the party wins the House, Gonzales-Torres pointed to the Squad. She named New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar, Michigan Representative Rashida Tlaib and Pennsylvania Representative Summer Lee as examples of "what a real fighter looks like, but also someone who's willing to work with others to get the job done."
"I'll speak for myself as part of this Justice Democrat slate. We're organizers," Gonzales-Torres said. "I'm so proud to already be thinking about our bargaining power."
Gonzales-Torres said her cost-of-living message reaches beyond the left, and that homeowners in the district "are really resonating with that." The USC poll suggests that remains a challenge. Gomez does best among voters who call themselves moderate or only somewhat liberal, as well as homeowners and older voters, who tend to turn out at higher rates. Gonzales-Torres's support is strongest among younger voters and renters.
"I've proven that over the past 10 years, working on a local level," she said, "and really excited to see what we can get done over the next 10 years in Congress."
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Jason Lemon and James Debens
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