“Get the Creeps Out of Congress”: Angela Gonzales-Torres' Congressional Race Shows Challenging Sexual Violence is the Path Forward for the American Left

The American Left is experiencing an unprecedented wave of electoral victories. But in Los Angeles, a critical race is being overlooked. Democratic socialist community organizer and educator Angela Gonzales-Torres is running to represent California's 34th congressional district—and oust the incumbent, alleged sexual assaulter, Representative Jimmy Gomez.

Despite a platform centered on progressive, working-class issues like single-payer healthcare, climate action, immigration reform and an end to expensive foreign wars, the Gonzales-Torres campaign has gone under the radar in the national press. A Latina daughter of a deportee, she has received far less attention than white male candidates like California gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer, or Florida congressional contender Oliver Larkin.

But this race has profound implications for the future of our movement and the role of women in public life.

The contrast between Gonzales-Torres and her opponent shows that democratic socialism cannot be understood as just another political ideology — it is a moral movement in defense of human dignity.  The capitalist political establishment is not only willing to excuse violence against women, but is leveraging one of our culture’s most violent expressions of misogyny — sexual assault — to intimidate those who dare to question them. The Right has refined this tactic, but make no mistake: the Left must grapple with its own history of abusive political leaders.

Multiple recent sexual abuse revelations on the Left, especially the crimes of Cesar Chávez and Graham Platner, have made our task clear. Socialists must fight back against this regressive paradigm where the threat of sexual assault confines women to the domestic sphere. We must defend women’s place in public life.

In this moment, when the Epstein files have been relegated to background noise by the Trump Administration and the country faces the horror of the Cornell fraternity gang rape case, uplifting courageous women candidates like Gonzales-Torres — as she continues her offensive against the AIPAC-backed Gomez — strikes at a core pillar of the fascist project and helps redefine the Left’s legacy.

The Right & Political Rape Culture

The normalization of sexual violence has served as a structure test for the MAGA movement ever since the release of Trump’s infamous “grab ‘em by the pussy” quip during the 2016 presidential race. Despite the expressions of shock and horror on both sides of the aisle, what should have been damning evidence of his poor character ultimately failed to prevent his victory.

This was only the beginning.

Trump’s time in office has been hallmarked by the regular and public promotion of documented abusers to prominent positions within the federal government. These appointees have gone on to aid in the administration’s elimination of DEI and Affirmative Action programs, rollback of progressive Title IX interpretations, obstruction of women’s military promotions, termination of gender affirming care, and much more. It is clear that Trump was not elected despite being a perpetrator of sexual violence–but that sexual violence is itself a plank of the right’s political project.

The end of the universal right to abortion in the United States is the clearest example of this connection between the normalization of sexual assault and the attack on women’s rights. Two of the six Supreme Court Justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh, were credibly accused of sexual assault during their confirmation hearings — the former by Anita Hill, the latter by Christine Blasey Ford. Their victims were subjected to grueling trials in the court of public opinion, while the people they accused have risen to the highest possible position in the legal profession.

Despite testifying decades apart, Anita Hill and Christine Blasey Ford were subjected to the same hostile questioning, victim blaming and death threats when they shared their stories of assault. Not only were they retraumatized in a public setting–they were traumatized by the American public in entirely new ways for telling the truth about the horrible things that had happened to them.

As Anita Hill put it in her 1991 Senate testimony: “Telling the world is the most difficult experience of my life, but it is very close to having to live through the experience that occasion this meeting.”

Hill and Blasey Ford’s testimonies were considered, belittled, and then disregarded. The men who attacked them, however, were defended, justified, and rewarded. Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh were appointed to the Supreme Court–a position they then used to rewrite the law to harm women as a legal class. The public acceptance of these men’s merit as arbiters of justice, despite their crimes, was a critical step for the rise of an administration that pursues a policy agenda limiting women’s role in society.

Mainstream acceptance of abusive men in positions of power is essential for the MAGA project because the threat of sexual violence is one of the American Right’s most effective tools, especially for digital age organizing.

For many on the far-right, their radicalization began with anti-feminist communities and campaigns on the Internet. The 2014 hate campaign, “Gamergate”, laid the groundwork culturally for Trump’s ascendance–and helped develop the tactic of mass coordinated rape threats against opponents.

Operators from these “anti SJW” culture war battles, like Steve Bannon (another accused abuser) and Milo Yiannopulos, went on to play important roles as political fixers and right-wing pundits during Trump’s first term. The very same people who made careers manufacturing hate against feminism became the leading intellectuals and staffers of the Trump campaign and administration.

The Left are not the only ones talking about this. Bannon himself recognized the connection between unaccountable sexual violence and the Right’s political power acutely, warning his allies on the right that movements seeking justice for sexual assault like TimesUp and #MeToo posed “an existential threat” to the MAGA movement. He was right–and MAGA radicalized further against women.

After the Silicon Valley billionaire boys’ club rallied behind Trump in 2024, the organized pro sexual-violence coalition became even more important. The "Manosphere"—an online antifeminist cultural movement led by convicted traffickers like Andrew Tate and platformed by resentful misogynists like Elon Musk—was one of the most important building blocks of Trump's second term election campaign and the fulfillment of his Project 2025 agenda.

The exact reach of the Manosphere is impossible to calculate, but it is undoubtedly vast. Clavicular, the right-aligned ‘Looksmaxxing’ streamer and accused rapist, at time of last reporting, is estimated to receive 10,000 viewers per stream, which is further amplified by nearly a thousand clippers and an extensive media reach that goes far beyond his immediate platform. He is one of countless examples of influencers building mass audiences by broadcasting an exploitative and transactional world view of gender relations.

The message sent to women by this coalition is clear: as said by white supremacist pundit Nick Fuentes, "your body, my choice." The Right’s message to women is simple. Step out of line and you’ll lose your job, your reputation, your dignity and — more.  

The threat of unanswerable sexual violence is designed to intimidate women and those who care about us from defending our political interests. This attack on women's political participation clears the way for MAGA’s anti-women policies. When we allow misogyny and sexual violence to be an expected feature of American politics, we harm and undermine women as a class. Socialists must directly challenge this tactic to build a mass movement capable of removing the Right and the capitalist class supporting it from power. Only by defending and activating women as political agents can the Left muster the army necessary to win elections and implement our policies.

The Left and the Legacy of Chavez & Platner

Sexual violence in politics is not solely a right-wing phenomenon. This year, the American Left has had to face its own legacy of misogynist abuse, past and present.

In March, the country was shocked by the revelation that the renowned Chicano labor & civil rights leader Cesar Chávez had assaulted and unconsensually impregnated fellow activist Dolores Huerta. This was uncovered in the course of an investigation into a pattern of abuse the deceased organizer had enacted against young women and girls throughout his decades long leadership in United Farm Workers.

Huerta’s revelation about Chávez’s conduct was all the more painful because, as reported in the New York Times, "her accusation shatters what was a widely celebrated — and seemingly egalitarian — bond between two of the most influential Hispanic activists in U.S. history."

The consequences, especially in El Movimiento’s homeland, California, were swift. United Farm Workers, the organization co-founded by Huerta and Chávez, declined to participate in Cesar Chávez day. Other movement organizations followed suit. Chávez’s name was removed from landmarks, public institutions, and even holidays.

The Chávez reckoning prompted many women on the Left, especially in California, to share their stories of misogynist abuse. Democratic socialist & Los Angeles City Councilmember, Eunisses Hernandez, spoke to why so many victims stay silent before introducing a motion to rename city assets associated with Chávez: “I’ve seen the repercussions when you speak out against a man in power, and you are blamed for the repercussions."

This is why Dolores Huerta had not come forward earlier. At 95 years old, she said: “I carried this secret for as long as I did because building the movement and securing farmworker rights was my life’s work.” But no one should have to make that kind of sacrifice to participate in the movement they love. The “repercussions” of harassment, shame, and isolation towards victims of assault destroy lives–whether or not those women even choose to testify to what happened to them. Despite the efforts of organizers and civic leaders, justice was too little too late for those harmed by Chávez’s abuse.

Chávez faced no consequences for his crimes when he was alive. Instead, his victims, like most survivors of assault, were left to shoulder the trauma he had caused them alone. Several of the now-adult women he groomed as children still suffer from panic attacks, depression, and even addiction resulting from the abuse he inflicted decades ago.

But sexual violence on the Left is not a thing of the past. In the summer, after a string of other red flags about his personal conduct were raised in the press, Politico released an exclusive revealing that then Maine Senate candidate and progressive favorite Graham Platner had sexually assaulted Jenny Racicot, a former girlfriend.

In return, Racicot faced the “the repercussions” named by Councilwoman Hernandez during the Chavez reckoning. The campaign reiterated Platner’s denial and accused her of being “coached and coordinated by out of state establishment operatives.” Many supporters of Platner were quick to repeat these lines, insisting that Racicot’s claims were inauthentic or politically motivated.

Despite “categorically” denying Racicot’s accusations, Platner ultimately dropped out of the race, leaving little time for Maine Democrats to find a replacement. His Republican opponent, Susan Collins, is currently favored to win.

Men in politics who have committed sexual violence often go unpunished, both because assault is an effective way of intimidating opponents, and because allies do not want to undermine their shared cause by naming abusers. Victims past and present, of both Chávez and Platner, expressed deep internal conflict about calling out the men who assaulted them as undeserving of power. As Jenny Racicot put it, “One of the reasons I didn’t come forward sooner was, the huge moral conflict that I had between supporting his politics, but not supporting him as a person”.

To create an environment where women can participate in politics without intimidation or contradiction, the Left must pursue a zero tolerance policy towards sexual violence. This is not just a moral issue–it is a key element of our mass politics strategy. Sexual violence by political leaders must be treated as what it is: a political act that demobilizes and hurts the very people necessary to a liberatory movement.

Gender-based violence cannot be understood as a matter of subjective character flaws. It must be contextualized within the whole of American politics. When we look at it this way, we see sexual misconduct as the visceral outgrowth of a worldview that believes that at least half of the human population does not deserve respect. It bolsters the Right culturally and electorally, and reinforces existing structures of oppression. It undermines the cohesion and moral authority of the Left, and hampers our ability to meaningfully challenge those who are in power.

Those who committ sexual assault cannot, categorically, be credible leaders of our movement. Lifting up abusers is a losing strategy for the Left–defeating them is our path to victory.

The Fight for CA-34

For Angela Gonzales-Torres and her supporters, this necessity is not abstract. On the surface, Angela Gonzales-Torres’s opponent, Jimmy Gomez, is a personable progressive. He supports labor. He co-sponsored Medicare For All. He fought for renters. He even co-founded the Congressional Dads Caucus.

But in his personal and political conduct, he is a man who follows his progressive principles inconsistently.

In August of this year, the House Ethics Committee opened an investigation into allegations that Gomez engaged in sexual misconduct, potentially including misconduct with a House staffer. Gomez denied the allegations of misconduct by confessing to consensual “personal mistakes outside [his] marriage”–seemingly, adultery.

The legal team representing Gomez's alleged victim rejected that characterization of his relationship to their client and shared that Gomez was being investigated for sexual harassment and assault.

We believe Gomez’s accuser. Despite the fact that these allegations are still under investigation, it is undeniable that Gomez has demonstrated a tolerance for aligning with elements that strategically use sexual violence to achieve political ends. And even the most charitable reading of the account provided by Gomez shows gross misconduct that is unacceptable in an elected official.

Gomez co-chaired former California Representative Eric Swalwell’s gubernatorial campaign before Swalwell’s own history of assault and harassment caught up with him. While Gomez described the revelations of sexual misconduct as “shocking information” in his resignation announcement from Swalwell’s campaign, it is doubtful that it was the first time he was aware of his friend’s behavior.

Gomez would not be the first politician to have looked the other way while espousing progressive values. It was an open secret around Washington, D.C. "not to let any young staffer around Swalwell". California Democratic leader Willie Brown attested to the press, “there have been rumors after rumors after rumors, his colleague in Washington pretty much said that. That's what Adam Schiff said, that's what Nancy Pelosi said."

If so many other California Democrats knew about Swalwell’s proclivities, how likely is it that a close confidant like Gomez was truly in the dark? How do his own accusations reframe his relationship to Swallwell?

There is truth in the feminist adage: “the personal is political”. While the profession of  progressive politics and upstanding personal morals aren't inherently correlated, an individual's interpersonal behavior is often reflective of the same worldview they use to make policy. Gomez’s personal conduct matches his political record–he is willing to make excuses or exceptions rather than pursue justice for the victims of the “ugliest and most serious” crimes.

While Gomez has positioned himself as a voice for peace and advocate for civilian rights, he has repeatedly voted to continue the flow of funds to Israel. Israel is not only a genocidal apartheid state, but a state with a well-documented record of systematically weaponizing sexual violence against dissidents, civilians, and prisoners of war. It bears mentioning that Gomez has accepted over two million dollars from the pro-Israel lobby.

Gomez is a prime example of the hypocritical establishment politicians voters are tired of. He frames himself as a champion of progressive values but is willing to condone, and allegedly even enact, the most heinous of crimes so long as he does not face personal political blowback.

But now the blowback has arrived, and her name is Angela Gonzales-Torres.

Gonzales-Torres is not the first person to challenge Gomez from the Left. Many before her have tried and failed. But, in addition to her extensive organizing experience and visionary platform, including her strong stance for a Free Palestine, Gonzales-Torres has something her predecessors lacked: the unequivocal moral high ground against the incumbent because of the revelations about his sexual misconduct. Campaigning on the idea that Jimmy Gomez is disqualified as a progressive politician because of his actions against women is Gonzales-Torres’s path to victory–and the Left’s path to redefine politics in this country.

Angela Gonzales-Torres has called out Gomez's behavior and the system of oppression it supports over and over again with the clear call to action: “We need to get the creeps out of Congress”. This is the commonsense leadership needed to mobilize mass amounts of voters to defeat the capitalist political establishment. We must follow her lead.

What Angela Gonzales-Torres shows us is that democratic socialists are the party of the people–all of the people. In a political climate where both Republicans and Democrats have renounced the struggle for gender equality as woke excess, Gonzales-Torres’s commitments to liberation and justice are a breath of fresh air, and her willingness to call out the establishment’s decrepit culture is desperately needed in Congress.

There are many political reasons to prioritize this race–if you believe in a foreign policy based on peace instead of war, social services instead of austerity, diversity instead of supremacy, Gonzales-Torres is undoubtedly a candidate you should support.

But, just as the personal is political, the political is personal. Sexual assault is a profoundly traumatizing personal experience. No victim or survivor should have to see their abuser rewarded with more power by the American public.

Somewhere out there, there is a woman who says she was assaulted by Representative Jimmy Gomez.  Because we believe her, we must fight like hell to remove him from his Congressional seat.

Angela Gonzales-Torres’s victory would be a blow against the project to intimidate women out of public life. Let's send a clear message–it's Gomez today, Trump tomorrow.

As democratic socialists, we know the power of the battle at the ballot box. We know that an attack on one or some of us is an attack on all of us. We speak about building a better world–there is no “better world” where sexual violence is acceptable. To achieve our vision, we must defend human dignity.  We must challenge misogyny the way we challenge other dehumanizing ideologies–we must democratically defeat rapists, the same way we democratically defeat fascists.

To learn more about Angela Gonzales-Torres, you can visit her campaign website here.