Fellow Patriots Standing Up for Democracy
Patriotism isn’t a slogan. It’s showing up when the Constitution is on the line. These leaders took the fight to court, to the House and Senate floor, and to the streets.
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Photo: Office of the Governor of California, Public domain Gavin Newsom
Governor of California
When Trump federalized California’s National Guard and sent troops into Los Angeles in June 2025, Newsom took him to court. In September 2025 a federal judge ruled the deployment broke the Posse Comitatus Act. He also led Proposition 50, which California voters passed with 64% in November 2025 to answer Texas’s mid-decade redistricting.
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Photo: U.S. Department of Defense, Public domain JB Pritzker
Governor of Illinois
Called Trump’s plan to send troops into Chicago an “unconstitutional invasion” and sued to stop it. In December 2025 the U.S. Supreme Court kept the deployment blocked, finding the administration had “failed to identify a source of authority” for it.
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Photo: California Attorney General’s Office, Public domain Rob Bonta
California Attorney General
Has filed dozens of lawsuits against the Trump administration to protect Californians’ health care, schools, public-health funding and civil rights, often leading coalitions of attorneys general from across the country.
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Photo: United States Congress, Public domain Hakeem Jeffries
House Democratic Leader
Held the House floor for 8 hours and 44 minutes in July 2025, the longest speech in House history, to fight Trump’s tax-and-spending megabill and its cuts to Medicaid.
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Photo: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0 Cory Booker
U.S. Senator, New Jersey
Spoke for 25 hours and 5 minutes on the Senate floor from March 31 to April 1, 2025, protesting the Trump administration’s agenda. It is the longest speech in Senate history, breaking Strom Thurmond’s 1957 record.
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Photo: United States Congress, Public domain Bernie Sanders
U.S. Senator, Vermont (Independent)
An independent who votes with Democrats, he took his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour across 15 states in 2025 and drew more than 200,000 people, including about 36,000 in Los Angeles, the biggest crowd of his career.
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Photo: U.S. House Office of Photography, Public domain Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
U.S. Representative, New York
Co-headlined the Fighting Oligarchy tour with Sanders, packing rallies in red and blue states alike, from 9,000 people in Missoula, Montana, to 26,000 in Folsom, California.
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Photo: U.S. Senate Photographic Studio, Public domain Alex Padilla
U.S. Senator, California
On June 12, 2025, he tried to ask Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem a question about immigration raids in Los Angeles. Federal agents forced him to the floor and handcuffed him. He was not arrested, and he kept speaking up for his constituents.
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Photo: U.S. Senate Photographic Studio, Public domain Chris Van Hollen
U.S. Senator, Maryland
Flew to El Salvador in April 2025 to check on Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man the administration admitted it deported by mistake. Turned away twice, he finally met with him on April 17.