most liberal?

Just a random question:
Who has been the United States' most liberal (or leftist, if you like) elected politician?

I'd guess Kucinich? I don't really know, though.

Open to all of U.S. history, but of course, most of the issues that define modern liberals come out of the 20th Century...

with the exception of one vote (Patriot Act), Wellstone was the most liberal person ever elected.

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nt

Franklin D. Roosevelt? He started the New Deal.

In the context of his times, FDR wasn't very liberal at all. He just seems so by comparison to Hoover, Coolidge, et al and to most of today's politicians. Socialism wasn't completely discredited in the 1930's, and FDR was no socialist.

Of course it partly depends on how we define "liberal." The key to FDR's liberalism was his willingness to embrace non-conventional thinking in order to address the nation's massive problems at the time. He thought outside the box, and more importantly, accepted the advice of those who were less concerned with making political capital than actually finding solutions.

What elected office did he hold?

Eugene McCarthy was a US Senator from Minnesota--home of Hubert Humphrey and Paul Wellstone. Great Liberal tradition there. He challenged LBJ in the Dem primaries in 1968, before LBJ withdrew. He was a courageous man--ran against the war before RFK did. He also wrote poetry. A great American and Patriot.

voting record of Sen. John Forbes Kerry (D Ma.) is the most liberal.

Kerry's is much more moderate.

For years he voted with the Republicans on anti-abortion legislation and on issues like flag burning.

I always trusted he was a liberal at heart and for many years just put up with his more conservative leanings on some issues. I figured he'd come around.

Elected to any office anywhere in the US? Or just to Congress?

I ask because if it's "ever" "anywhere" then there were a number of bona fide socialists elected in the earlier part of the 20th century. In certain parts of the country, IWW (The Wobblies) support could put you in office. A certain faction of the Populist Party was also fairly leftist during the same era; this is the party with which Eugene Debs, certainly the most famous American Socialist, first associated himself.

The "electable left" today is not very leftist at all. It's a statement on the success of conservative rhetoric how "un-liberal" certain so-called liberals are.

Yeah, ever.
I know there was a strong socialist movement in the 10s and 20s. Did they actually elect representatives? I know Debs ran for president as a socialist, and I think actually got...no, let me go check...yeah he got %6 of the vote as a socialist in 1912 (the same year Teddy Roosevelt fot 27% on the Progressive ticket, more than the Republican)...Wilson won that year.

What about Jimmy Carter?

Berger, from Wisconsin, was the first Socialist elected to the US Congress. This was in 1910. He was put through holy hell during his tenure. After WWI, upon being reelected, Congress refused to seat him, and during a special election called to fill the seat, he was elected again, then refused his seat again. It was a horrid period of US Congressional history.

Many socialists were elected in local races, and some cities, for brief periods, had a majority of socialists.

OnEdit: Carter was not a liberal.

probably several member of the CBC. DK has voted for some pretty conservative legislation.

Russ Feingold, Only Senator to vote against Patriot Act

Sen Huey Long of Louisiana might at least be on the list.

Bless her heart, is pretty damned liberal. And she's had the guts to consistently vote against this stupid war from day one.

Bernie Sanders is also.

First, liberal means very different things to different people, and has an even broader meaning across the centuries.

Secondly, the issues that are important have changed over time. Thomas Jefferson was seen as a dangerous radical by many in his day, but nowadays would be just another Libertarian nutter in many ways. And how can any national politician today compare to someone like Charles Sumner, who was violently, physically, attacked for his condemnation of the machinations of the slave-holding large planters, and yet returned to the Senate as soon as he could?