Does the Communist Party USA field candidates for public office today?
Executive summary
The Communist Party USA (CPUSA) has resumed explicitly running or supporting electoral candidates after a decades-long hiatus and in recent years has fielded and helped advance local candidates, winning some municipal offices in 2025; however, the party still does not run a regular slate of national campaigns and has debated the trade‑offs of running candidates so as not to "spoil" progressive Democrats [1] [2]. The party’s official materials and internal leadership statements confirm encouragement of members to run for office as part of "mass work," even as splinter groups and other left parties pursue alternative electoral strategies [3] [4] [5].
1. CPUSA has explicitly returned to electoral activity, but cautiously
After a hiatus of over thirty years, CPUSA publicly announced in April 2021 that it intended to run candidates again, marking a formal policy shift toward electoral activity [1]. The party’s 2024 platform and public communications reiterate that members are expected to engage in "mass work," which can include running for elected office or helping others do so, signaling organizational approval of candidacies at local levels [6] [3].
2. Recent on‑the‑ground campaigning has produced local wins
Reporting and party sources indicate increased electoral activity in 2024–2025, including CPUSA‑affiliated candidates running for city councils in places like Ithaca and Northampton and at least one confirmed electoral victory in November 2025, when a CPUSA candidate in Ithaca, Hannah Shvets, won with 64% of the vote; another member, Daniel Carson, was elected to Bangor city council in a nonpartisan contest [1]. Wikipedia‑compiled election lists also show that, as of 2024–2025, a small number of CPUSA members have been elected to local and occasionally state office, but federal officeholders remain rare or nonexistent in recent decades [7] [2].
3. The party’s strategy weighs local activism against national realism
Historically the CP ran candidates broadly in the 1920s–1940s as part of a mass party strategy; today the organization describes a more selective approach, often avoiding running candidates that might split progressive votes in favor of Democrats — a strategic restraint reflected in current lists of CPUSA electoral activity that note the party "does not regularly field candidates" [8] [2]. Internal debates and public statements recorded by CPUSA leadership underscore this balancing act between building independent working‑class political presence and avoiding tactical losses for the left in high‑stakes races [4].
4. Official party organs and leadership publicly endorse running candidates as part of organizing
CPUSA’s own website and publications frame candidacies as one form of permitted mass work and include election platform materials designed for campaigning, indicating institutional support for electoral engagement even where the scale is limited [3] [6]. Party leaders such as Joe Sims have discussed the party’s national convention and "Campaign 2024" platform in public forums, reinforcing that electoral work is part of party priorities [9].
5. The landscape is plural and contested on the left — CPUSA is one actor among many
The CPUSA is not the only communist or socialist actor running candidates: other groups such as the Party for Socialism and Liberation and newer splits (the American Communist Party, ACP) have run or promoted explicitly leftist presidential and local tickets, sometimes provoking intra‑left disputes and organizational schisms over strategy and ideology [10] [5]. This fragmentation means that while CPUSA has reentered electoral work, its choices are shaped by competition, alliance calculations, and ideological disputes across the broader left.
6. Bottom line
Yes — CPUSA does field and support candidates today, primarily at the local level and with strategic caution, and has recorded electoral successes in recent municipal contests; nevertheless, the party does not yet run a regular national slate and continues to debate how electoral efforts fit into a wider organizing strategy amid a fragmented left [1] [2] [4]. Available reporting documents the party’s resumed candidacies and leadership messaging, while also showing that other communist groups pursue different electoral approaches [3] [5].