The Jessie Awards to Democrats with Balls, er, Spines

By Jessie Seigel / November 13, 2025

Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at one of their Fight Oligarchy rallies

For decades, Democratic centrists have insisted, against all evidence, that they could negotiate with Republicans. Many remain under the misapprehension that conceding ground—which they call collegiality and bipartisanship--is the path to political survival.

They are wrong. Such short-term recipe for their own political survival in a red or purple state neither serves a Democratic agenda nor saves democracy.

Yesterday, seven Democratic senators (Jeanne Shaheen (NH), Dick Durbin (Ill), Tim Kaine (Va), Maggie Hassan (NH), Jacky Rosen (NV), Catherine Cortez Masto (NV), John Fetterman (PA)) and one Independent (Angus King (ME)) caved in to extortion and betrayed the American people by voting to help the Republicans end their government shutdown. Like Esau selling his birthright for a bowl of pottage, these senators have sold out the Democratic advantage in its fight against Donald Trump’s fascist regime for empty GOP promises.

Centrists deserve no prize for their failure of insight or nerve. At best, the only recognition they merit is a Sucker Born Every Minute Award. Enough said of them.

These Jessie Awards go to those who see the Trumpian danger and steadfastly stick their necks out to name it and act against it. Accordingly…

The TEAM DEMOCRACY AWARD goes to the following ensemble of progressive senators and representatives:

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (better known as AOC). In February 2025, this soap-box duo began their “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, rallying large crowds against Trump’s destructive agenda.

Criticizing them, centrist Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin griped: “I get it that it makes people feel good to see people yelling. But not one of those words is stopping the actual things that Donald Trump is doing, and I am about action, not words…”

But Sanders, an Independent, and AOC, a progressive Democrat, weren’t merely haranguing crowds. They were educating people—people in red states—waking them up to the menace of Trump’s regime. And moving them to action. The millions at last month’s No Kings rallies were, in part, a fruit of that work.

Jamie Raskin

Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin. A Constitutional scholar, Raskin was the floor manager in Trump’s impeachment for instigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection. He’s since been leading legal challenges to slow Trump’s agenda. As early as March 2025, the Democrats had won 14 temporary restraining orders or preliminary injunctions.

However, understanding that one can no longer rely on the Supreme Court to uphold established law, Raskin has set out a general must-do plan of action: short term, work daily to defeat and block every authoritarian, fascistic move against the rights of the people; mid-term, win back the House in 2026, “cutting this reign of terror in half;” and long-term, build international democratic solidarity to defend freedom.

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Warren has advanced a plan echoing Raskin’s, but more succinctly put: “fight every fight in Congress,” “fight Trump in the courts,” “focus on what each of us can do,” and “work with urgency.”

Unlike the centrists, Warren understands the need to fight. She’s written: “We won’t always win, but we can…sometimes limit Trump’s destruction… With every fight, we can build …the foundation for future wins.” Based on the enormous number of Democratic wins across the nation in the recent off-year elections, that building has begun.

New York Rep. Dan Goldman. Lead counsel on Trump’s first impeachment, Goldman is an expert prosecutor. He rightly maintains, "when [federal agents] are acting outside the scope of their legal authority, they are no different than anyone else and their conduct is subject to New York criminal laws, including felony assault." He’s requested that the New York Police Department intervene when federal agents break the law. Perhaps New York’s newly elected Democratic mayor, Zohran Mamdani, will put Goldman’s request into effect.

Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy. Murphy led protests outside USAID headquarters when Trump first began illegally using Elon Musk’s fake agency, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to gut real agencies. Murphy decried DOGE as “a smokescreen, a shell game, in order to turn this government over to a handful of unelected billionaires and corporate interests.”  Murphy warned, “We don’t have another year to fight this attempt to destroy democracy.” Centrists should heed him.

California Sen. Adam Schiff. House lead manager in the first impeachment against Trump, Schiff is in the crosshairs of Trump’s retribution campaign. That fact has not stopped the indomitable Schiff from pursuing sharp questioning of Trump’s chumps Pam Bondi and Kash Patel. Or from proposing the Protecting Our Democracy Act to limit Trump’s power. The Republican-controlled Congress won’t pass it. But it does build a foundation for the future.

These Progressive champions understand they won’t score a goal every time. But the public understands that risk and want our leaders—win or lose—to fight for what’s right.

Gavin Newsom and JB Pritzker

The FIGHTING GOVERNORS AWARD goes to California’s Gavin Newsom and Illinois’ JB Pritzker:

California Gov. Newsom. Because Texas Republicans are rigging Texas district maps to keep Trump’s power intact, Newsom led—and won—an effort to redraw California maps to favor Democrats. He is fighting fire with fire. Understanding that democracy is at stake, Newsom said: “The biggest risk is not taking one.” He has been urging governors in other blue states to take this risk as well. Will they create a battalion of fighting governors?

Illinois Gov. Pritzker has staunchly opposed the Chicago nighttime raids and abductions by Trump’s ICE goons. He’s instructed his state’s Attorney General to file a lawsuit to block out-of-state troops from coming to Illinois. He’s also urged residents to record video of any federal agent activity and directed the Illinois State Police to keep people who are protesting “safe from ICE.”  Exposing Trump’s true motives, Pritzker predicts: “You’re going to see soldiers outside your polling place. That’s going to intimidate a lot of people, and especially… people who are not Republicans.”

These two feisty governors have been threatened with arrest (Newsom by Trump’s easily bribed Border Czar Tom Homan and Pritzker by the president himself). Given the political indictments of James Comey, Letitia James, and John Bolton, these are not idle threats.

Newsom’s defiant reply: “Come after me. Arrest me…I don’t give a damn; I care about my community.” And Pritzker’s: “If you come for my people, you come through me. So, come and get me.”

The GADFLY AWARD  also goes to California Gov. Gavin Newsom:

Gavin Newsom’s Colbertian parodies of the President’s pompous pronouncements have been getting under Trumps’s famously thin skin. Newsom even launched an online shop selling hats reading “Newsom was right about everything!” And a special edition $100 “Holy Bible,” which is “signed by Gavin Newsom, America’s Favorite Governor.” Newsom said mockingly: “Many people are saying this is the greatest merchandise ever made.”

MAGA declarations that Newsom is unbalanced have only emboldened the pugilistic politician. His apt rejoinder: “If you have issues with what I'm putting out, you sure as hell should have concerns about what he's putting out as President.”

The DEFENDER OF THE VOTE AWARD goes to Marc Elias, a gifted and outspoken anti-administration litigator:

Between 2020 and 2022, Marc Elias won 63 cases against Trump’s 2020 election challenges. Now, with an army of some 60 lawyers, Elias’s firm is bringing 63 election cases in 30 states, challenging laws passed to suppress voting in 2026.

Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg

The WE RISE AS ONE AWARD goes to Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg, co-founders of Indivisible and the No Kings Rallies:

Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg have brilliantly developed a nationwide movement, mobilizing people where they live. Indivisible’s non-violent pro-democracy protests have burgeoned in all 50 states. The October No Kings Rallies attracted over seven million people at about 2600 locations around the country.

Finally, THE HOPE OF THE NATION AWARD goes to the seven million people who attended the October 18 No Kings Rallies:

In March 2025, Jamie Raskin told NPR: “…people are feeling scared…You’ve got to feel the fear and then you keep going and that’s what courage is. …you’ve got to feel the weight of what’s taking place but keep going. Keep going. Don’t stop.”

At the October 18 No Kings rally in DC, I myself saw an older woman repeatedly raise her sign. It read: “I was afraid to come. So, I came.”

May we all show that courage in the battles ahead.

This article has been published simultaneously at The Insider.

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