U.S House Rep. Darren Soto, D-9. Credit: Office of U.S. Rep. Darren Soto

Kissimmee Congressman Darren Soto joined just seven other Democrats in the U.S. House Tuesday to vote in favor of a resolution denouncing socialism and the Democratic Socialists of America, and voicing support for President Donald Trump’s controversial voter identification bill, which Soto previously voted against.

The resolution, H.Res. 1490, condemns and denounces socialism “in all its forms” and argues socialism is “incompatible with American values and the United States Constitution.” It also urges Congress to pass a voter-identification bill backed by President Trump — the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act — that critics claim is an attempt to “rig” the midterm elections and would create unnecessary obstacles to voting.

The resolution nonetheless passed Tuesday in a 220 to 192 vote, with all Republican U.S. House members voting in favor of it, along with eight Democrats: Reps. Soto (FL), Jared Golden (ME), Vicente Gonzalez Jr. (TX), Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA), Kathy Castor (FL), Henry Cuellar (TX), Don Davis (NC) and Gabe Vasquez (NM).

Two additional Democrats — neither from Florida — voted “present.” Most Democrats reportedly opposed it because of its controversial SAVE America Act language.

“House Resolution 1490 explicitly calls for enactment of the so-called SAVE America Act, which is the top legislative priority of far-right extremists. Accordingly, I will vote No on the latest MAGA effort to rig the midterm elections,” said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (a self-described capitalist) in a statement Tuesday.

Soto’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on his vote. A centrist Democrat representing parts of south Orlando and Osceola County in District 9, Soto previously voted against the SAVE Act last year. 

The legislation, championed by the Trump administration as a way to combat election “fraud,” would require proof of U.S. citizenship — either a U.S. passport, or a certified birth certificate and government‑issued photo ID — when registering to vote. It would also require voters to present a state-issued photo ID in order to cast a ballot. 

It’s already illegal for noncitizens to vote in state or federal elections, but federal law does not currently require mandatory proof of citizenship in order to register to vote. The National Urban League calls the SAVE America Act a “throwback to Jim Crow voter suppression.”

Under pressure

Soto, notably, is facing a steeper challenge to maintain his seat in Congress this fall, however, after redistricting pushed by Gov. Ron DeSantis earlier this year changed the boundaries of Soto’s district to make it more favorable to Republicans. “It’s tough, but winnable,” Soto told Central Florida Public Media in May. He was first elected to the U.S. House in 2016.

Soto will be facing off this November against Republican Dan Green, a U.S. Navy veteran endorsed by Trump. The only other Democrat from Florida to join Soto in voting in favor of H.Res. 1490 Tuesday was another vulnerable Democrat, Kathy Castor, a longtime Congresswoman from Tampa who similarly saw her district skewed into one more Republican-leaning by redistricting.

“Back home in Florida right now, folks are very concerned with the rise of socialism,” Castor told The Hill after the vote Tuesday. Castor, who also voted against the SAVE Act last April, described the SAVE Act provision in H.Res. 1490 to the Hill as “a joke.” 

“And thankfully, that’s not going anywhere,” she added.

The socialist boogeyman — levied once again by the Florida GOP this year — is no newcomer to Florida politics. Regardless of where a Democrat running for office actually falls on the political spectrum, the GOP has historically shown no shyness about declaring Democrats “socialist,” even if they’ve personally denounced socialist ideology or lean more toward the center or a moderate platform.

The resolution comes, however, at a time where more political candidates across the country who are members of DSA or who otherwise self-describe as democratic socialists are gaining traction at the polls — including in Florida. U.S. Senate candidate Angie Nixon, a progressive Democrat from Jacksonville, shocked political pundits with her upset victory in the August Democratic primary election over the more moderate candidate, Alex Vindman. 

Nixon, like other DSA candidates, is running on a platform that includes support for free universal healthcare through Medicare for All, universal childcare, a higher federal minimum wage, ending unconditional U.S. aid to Israel and abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Nixon, however, only recently joined DSA over the summer and has distanced herself from other positions on DSA’s political platform, such as defunding the police and abolishing prisons.

“What I have called for is a people’s budget and a people’s agenda, which is what I will continue to call for, because I believe that hard-working everyday people should get to shape what our communities look like and what our economies look like,” Nixon told hosts of the Tampa radio program “The Skinny” on WMNF 88.5FM Radio last month.

DSA-backed candidates so far this year have clinched victories in local, state and Congressional elections in New York, Colorado, Michigan and even Florida with the re-election of St. Petersburg City Council member Richie Floyd, who was the first open socialist elected in Florida in more than a century when he won in 2021.

The organization, boasting more than 120,000 dues-paying members nationwide, gained greater momentum through the presidential campaigns of Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders — a self-described democratic socialist — in 2016 and 2020, and more recently through the upset victory of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani against establishment Democrat Andrew Cuomo.

Florida, a once-purple state that has trended redder since the COVID-19 pandemic, isn’t New York. But it also isn’t the predictable ruby-red state it might be characterized as by national political pundits who forget that Florida voters approved a $15 minimum wage in 2020 and legalized medical marijuana in 2016. 

More recently in 2024, more than 50 percent of Florida voters voted in favor of ballot measures to legalize recreational marijuana and restore abortion rights in Florida by placing such rights into the state Constitution. Both ballot measures, however, fell just shy of the 60 percent threshold needed for them to pass.

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General news reporter for Orlando Weekly, with a focus on state and local government and workers' rights. You can find her bylines in Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, In These Times, and Facing South.