Progressivism in the 21st century

If some of the lions of 20th-century progressivism (think Theodore Roosevelt, W.E.B. Du Bois, or Ida Tarbell) surveyed the key issues touted by 21st-century progressives, they could be forgiven for nodding knowingly and muttering, “Wonder where they got that idea?” That’s because the progressive political movement that grew up in the wake of the September 11 terror attacks is rooted in the same belief system that changed the United States fundamentally at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th.

Consider the comparisons:

Twenty-first-century progressivism may have its roots in its forebears, but its branches spread far and wide, raising questions about what the Democratic Party (with which modern progressivism most closely aligns) looks like in the 2020s and beyond.

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The events that shaped modern progressivism

Just as the Industrial Revolution helped bring about fundamental changes that led to the rise of the Progressive era, the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, served ultimately as a catalyst for the rise of 21st-century progressivism. The passage of the USA PATRIOT Act and the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that grew out of the U.S. response to the attacks were seen by progressives (and some others) as government overreach, leading to a national debate about the use of tax dollars at home versus abroad. The division sown during the first years of the 21st century was exacerbated by other events, including:

• 2007–08 financial crisis: The collapse of the U.S. housing market led to the Great Recession, the worst global economic crisis since the Great Depression. The subsequent federal bailouts of major financial institutions considered “too big to fail,” as millions of Americans lost their homes to foreclosure, sparked widespread dissent. The most famous example of that dissent was the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2011, which put the phrase the 1 percent into the lexicon, highlighting the extent of the wealth gap in the United States. (By the first quarter of 2025, the top 1 percent of Americans in terms of net worth held almost 31 percent of the country’s wealth. That is up from just over 20 percent in the early 1980s, reaching levels not seen since the Roaring Twenties.)
• Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling: In 2010 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that political expenditures by corporations and unions are protected under the First Amendment. The ruling invalidated spending limits and led to the rise of super PACs (political action committees) in federal elections. The ruling was widely seen by progressives as subjugating the role of the individual in the election process to that of the corporation. Some progressives do not take corporate super PAC money, and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has introduced legislation to limit contribution size.
• The Affordable Care Act: The passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly referred to as Obamacare, in 2010 represented a historic expansion of federal health care access. But for progressives the bureaucratic limits of the ACA led to calls for Medicare for All—that is, a federally funded universal health care system.
• Climate change: The Green New Deal is most closely associated with legislation introduced by New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2019, but the plan—intended to address climate change by transitioning the U.S. economy to 100 percent renewable energy within 10 years—actually has its roots in earlier progressivism. Columnist Thomas Friedman coined the phrase in 2007, and Pres. Barack Obama adopted some of Friedman’s proposals. Green Party candidate Jill Stein endorsed a Green New Deal in her 2016 presidential campaign, as did Sanders.
• Black Lives Matter and Me Too: Central to progressive ideology is the role of government in protecting the individual. The movements that arose out of the deaths of Black people at the hands of largely white police officers and the systematic abuse of women by powerful men were hallmarks of 21st-century progressive thinking. (Whatever the merits of progressivism in the 20th century, which was dominated by white leadership, racial equality was not one of its hallmarks: Pres. Woodrow Wilson oversaw the resegregation of the federal workforce, and a number of progressives, including Theodore Roosevelt, were adherents of eugenics.)
• The question of Palestine: The reaction of the Israeli government to the October 7, 2023, attack, in which some 1,200 Israelis were killed by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, has been a defining foreign policy issue for progressives. The Israel-Hamas War resulted in more than 70,000 deaths of mostly Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Progressives in the United States, as well as members of the international community, used the term genocide to describe the actions of the Israeli government. The war has made continued support for Israel a divisive issue among Democrats and a key one for some voters.

The faces of modern progressivism

If the leaders of 20th-century progressivism read like a who’s who of the day, the same can be said of their 21st-century counterparts. Because of the boldness of their political positions and doctrines, progressives can be seen as more charismatic than their more centrist counterparts. Some of progressivism’s best-known champions include:

• Bernie Sanders: The Vermont independent senator’s progressive roots date to the late 20th century. He founded the Congressional Progressive Caucus in 1991, his first year in the House of Representatives. Sanders captured national headlines with his surprisingly strong 2016 challenge to Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination for president. Despite more than three decades serving in Congress, he maintains the reputation of being a Washington outsider and has stalwartly advocated for Medicare for All.
• Elizabeth Warren: The Democratic senator from Massachusetts is a lawyer by training but is best known as a consumer advocate and was instrumental in the establishment of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is intended to protect people from fraud. She has repeatedly proposed imposing extra taxes on the wealthiest Americans, arguing that the economic system is skewed to favor the ultrarich.
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: One of the biggest stars of the progressive movement, AOC—as she’s commonly referred to—stunned the political world by winning a seat representing New York City in the House of Representatives in 2018, defeating the powerful Democratic incumbent, Joe Crowley, in the primary. Since then she has become a vocal advocate for a Green New Deal and has said that she is considering a presidential run in 2028.
• Zohran Mamdani: The movement got another superstar in 2025, when Mamdani defeated the highly favored former New York governor Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor. The charismatic Mamdani made the city’s affordability a cornerstone of his campaign that was fueled by social media. Less than a year after becoming mayor, he took the highly unusual step of campaigning for congressional candidates, endorsing three progressive long shots. When all three won, The New York Times dubbed Mamdani “a kingmaker.”

Modern progressivism’s worldview

The progressive agenda in the 21st century broadly addresses these key issues:

• Universal health care: Progressives use Medicare for All to describe a universal health care system that goes beyond the scope of the Affordable Care Act. The proposed Medicare for All Act, sponsored by Sanders, calls for a program that covers all basic medical needs, including reproductive and gender-affirming care, for Americans through a government-run program. Private insurance would be supplemental to the government program.
• Green New Deal: This sprawling proposed legislation recognizes the role of human behavior in climate change over the last century, characterizes climate change as a significant threat to U.S. national security, and calls for reductions in greenhouse gas production, with a goal of net-zero emissions worldwide by 2050.
• Economic reform: Key elements of creating what the Congressional Progressive Caucus calls “economic prosperity for all” include a livable minimum wage, preserving Social Security, and tax law changes impacting billionaires and corporations.
• National security: Progressives place an emphasis on diplomacy, aid to developing countries, and human rights over militarization, calling for an end to “forever wars”—a position shared by many on the right.
• Social justice and civil rights: Particularly in the wake of the 2020 murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minnesota, many progressives called for criminal justice reform that included abolishing prisons and gave rise to the “defund the police” movement. Some progressives, including Mamdani and Ocasio-Cortez, have backed away from their earlier support of police defunding.

The Democratic Party and progressivism

Although progressives have long been under the “big tent” of the Democratic Party, it has not always been a comfortable relationship. Sanders, for his part, is not a Democrat but rather an independent who identifies as a democratic socialist (more on that below). While the likes of Sanders and AOC have garnered headlines for proposals considered to be far left, more moderate segments of the Democratic Party have questioned whether those policies can secure votes not just in liberal bastions such as New York City, Massachusetts, and Vermont but also in the more rural heartland of the country. In short: Are progressives electable? It was a key concern during Sanders’s 2016 presidential campaign.

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A decade past that campaign, however, progressive candidates seem to be putting that orthodoxy to the test, even as they negotiate the political reality of needing to be able to win elections to create change. The lead-up to the 2026 midterm elections saw progressive Abdul El-Sayed win the Democratic Senate primary in Michigan over a moderate member of the House of Representatives. In Florida democratic socialist Angie Nixon defeated the highly favored moderate Alexander Vindman in the Senate primary. As noted, three progressives in New York supported by Mamdani won their congressional primaries over the incumbents.

In the Wisconsin governor’s race, however, moderate David Crowley defeated democratic socialist Francesca Hong, who had held a wide lead in the polls. Some of Hong’s positions—including a social media post advocating for canceling Thanksgiving—drew widespread criticism. Other positions of the Democratic Socialists of America party that have come under fire in the 2026 election cycle have included abolishing the Senate, closing prisons, and having corporations become owned by the government.

Even Ocasio-Cortez has indicated that some positions—including defunding the police—have gone too far or have become fodder to be used by conservatives to make the case that progressives are out of touch with American voters. “Woke 1 was crazy,” she said in a 2026 interview on ABC’s This Week, echoing sentiments expressed earlier in the year by a New York City Council member and referring to some of the progressive social justice positions popularized in 2020.

Perhaps the Democratic Party’s dilemma of “moderates vs. progressives” was captured in microcosm on November 4, 2025, when voters went to the polls in New York City and elected Mamdani. That same day voters in New Jersey picked moderate Democrat Mikie Sherrill as governor, and voters in Virginia also chose a moderate as governor in Abigail Spanberger.

Learn more: The icons of 20th-century progressivism

Teddy Roosevelt and the muckrakers

Woodrow Wilson’s complicated legacy

W.E.B. Du Bois and the start of a movement

Jane Addams, a reform lion

Upton Sinclair and The Jungle

Ida B. Wells’s uncommon courage