U.S. House of Representatives
Elections |alt=An older man and an older woman raise their hands together on a small stage in front of three flags On April 19, 2015,
The Baltimore Sun and
The Washington Post reported that Raskin announced his campaign for Congress and said, in response to observations that his positions were notably left-of-center, "My ambition is not to be in the political center, it is to be in the moral center." The district's seven-term incumbent,
Chris Van Hollen, gave up the seat
to run for the
United States Senate. During the primary, Raskin was endorsed by the Progressive Action PAC, the political arm of the
Congressional Progressive Caucus, which grew from 72 members at the time of the endorsement to 92 members in early 2020. Raskin won the seven-way Democratic primary—the real contest in this heavily Democratic district—with 33% of the vote. He was viewed as the most liberal candidate in the race. During the general election, Raskin was endorsed by the
Bernie Sanders-affiliated political organizing network
Our Revolution, and the community organizing effort
People's Action. He defeated Republican nominee
Dan Cox with 60% of the vote.
Tenure Legislative Conference|alt=An older man with curly black hair speaking in front of an indoor lectern in front of a blue and yellow backdrop As one of his first actions in Congress, Raskin and several other members of the House objected to the certification of the
2016 presidential election in favor of
Donald Trump due to alleged ties with Russia, and
Russia's interference in the 2016 election, as well as voter suppression efforts. Then-
Vice President Joe Biden ruled their objection out of order because it had to be sponsored by at least one member of each chamber, and it had no Senate sponsor. Raskin questioned the legitimacy of the election, claiming it was "badly tainted by everything from cyber-sabotage by Vladimir Putin, to deliberate voter suppression by Republicans in numerous swing states". In April 2018, Raskin,
Jared Huffman,
Jerry McNerney, and
Dan Kildee launched the
Congressional Freethought Caucus. Its stated goals include "pushing public policy formed on the basis of reason, science, and moral values", promoting the "
separation of church and state", and opposing discrimination against "
atheists, agnostics,
humanists, seekers, religious, and nonreligious persons". Huffman and Raskin are co-chairs. He was the primary author of the impeachment article, along with Representatives
David Cicilline and
Ted Lieu, which charged Trump with inciting an
insurrection on the United States Capitol. During the Senate trial, Raskin recounted that after being there on January 6 as the mob was forcibly entering, his daughter said to him, "Dad, I don't want to come back to the Capitol". In February 2022, while his wife was under consideration for a position as the Federal Reserve's vice chair of supervision, it was reported that Raskin violated the
Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act by failing to properly disclose her share dealings. One instance was when his wife received stock for advising a Colorado-based financial technology trust company, and the other was when she sold stock in Reserve Trust for $1.5 million, but the sale was not disclosed for eight months. His wife had sat on the advisory board of the Federal Reserve when it "granted Reserve Trust unusual access to its master account", but it is not clear when she first acquired the shares.
Investigation into the January 6 attack on the Capitol officer
Harry Dunn On July 1, 2021, Raskin was one of seven Democrats appointed to the
House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack by Speaker
Nancy Pelosi. Following the announcement, Raskin said, "As Chair of the Oversight Committee's Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Subcommittee, I've helped lead the Oversight Committee's painstaking investigation into violent white supremacy over the last two years. The
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has declared
domestic violent extremism the number one security threat in the country. We saw that threat explode right in front of our eyes at the Capitol on January 6." On July 12, 2022, Raskin co-led the Select Committee's seventh public hearing with Representative
Stephanie Murphy. The hearing focused on the role the far-right extremist groups
Proud Boys and
Oath Keepers played in organizing the attack. It also discussed the importance of Trump's December 19 tweet "Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!" and how it spread to his supporters. To show the impact, the committee played recordings of its interview with an anonymous Twitter employee who worked from 2020 to 2021 and was on the team responsible for the platform's content moderation policies. During the interview, they said that the tweet served as a "call to action, and in some cases as a call to arms" to his supporters. According to his closing statement of the July 12 hearing, Raskin opened by emphasizing the importance of the December 19 tweet: "When Donald Trump sent out his tweet, he became the first president ever to call for a crowd to descend on the capital city to block the constitutional transfer of power." He later summarized the second focus of the hearing: "On January 6, Trump knew the crowd was angry. He knew the crowd was armed. He sent them to the Capitol anyway." Raskin concluded his statement, "We need to defend both our democracy and our freedom with everything we have and declare that this American carnage ends here and now. In a world of resurgent authoritarianism and racism and antisemitism, let’s all hang tough for American democracy." Raskin was nominated for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for his "defense of freedom and democracy," along with the other members of the January 6th Committee.
Committee assignments •
United States House Committee on the Judiciary (Ranking Member) • As Ranking Member of the Committee, Rep. Raskin is entitled to sit as an
ex officio member in all subcommittee meetings, per the committee's rules.
Party leadership and caucus membership •
Black Maternal Health Caucus •
House Democratic Caucus, Senior Whip •
House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, •
Congressional Progressive Caucus, Vice Chair and Liaison to New Members •
Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus •
House Pro-Choice Caucus •
House Public Education Caucus •
House Quiet Skies Caucus • House 115th Class Caucus •
House Baltic Caucus •
Congressional Freethought Caucus, co-founder and co-chair •
Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus •
Congressional Caucus on Turkey and Turkish Americans •
Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus •
Congressional Solar Caucus •
Medicare for All Caucus •
Congressional Caucus for the Equal Rights Amendment •
Congressional Taiwan Caucus •
Rare Disease Caucus Trump cryptocurrency report On November 25, 2025, Raskin released a report finding that following an investigation by Democrats on the
U.S. House Judiciary Committee, it was determined that the cryptocurrency policies of Trump were in fact used to benefit Trump and his family, with Trump in fact adding billions of dollars to his net worth through cryptocurrency schemes which were entangled with foreign governments, corporate allies, and criminal actors. The report, title
Trump, Crypto, and a New Age of Corruption, also found that Trump dismantled anti-corruption safeguards and pardoned people who were regarded as "corporate croonies" in order build his cryptocurrency empire. == Political positions ==