Skip to content
Project 2025
Donate to support
diverse voices
Search

Latest Stories

Follow Us:
Top Stories
Cargo containers piled on each other.

The Facts on U.S.–Canada Tariffs Nearly One Year Into Trump’s Plan

We Are Still Afraid to Name Them Because Nothing Happens When We Do

We Are Still Afraid to Name Them Because Nothing Happens When We Do

Why the GOP Needs to Help Prevent Pres. Trump from Interfering in the November Election

Why the GOP Needs to Help Prevent Pres. Trump from Interfering in the November Election

East Wing's Demolition Highlights U.S. Construction Waste Problem

East Wing's Demolition Highlights U.S. Construction Waste Problem

When Separation of Powers Becomes a Suggestion

When Separation of Powers Becomes a Suggestion

Celebrating Congressional Excellence: Democracy Awards 2025

News

Celebrating Congressional Excellence: Democracy Awards 2025
United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.
Photo by Alejandro Barba on Unsplash
Hugo Balta
By Hugo BaltaSep 16, 2025
Hugo Balta
Hugo Balta is a journalist, educator, and communicator. Hugo is the executive editor of the Fulcrum and a board member of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund, the parent organization of The Fulcrum. He is the publisher of the Latino News Network, a trainer with the Solutions Journalism Network, and an adjunct professor teaching journalism courses.
See More Writings by author

In a moment of bipartisan celebration, the Congressional Management Foundation (CMF) will honor the winners of its 2025 Democracy Awards, spotlighting congressional offices that exemplify outstanding public service, operational excellence, and innovation in governance.

The ceremony, scheduled for this Thursday, September 18, 2025, in Washington, D.C., will recognize both Republican and Democratic offices across multiple categories, reinforcing the idea that excellence in Congress transcends party lines.

“These offices demonstrate that excellence in public service is not only possible, it is already happening,” said CMF CEO Jen Daulby. “These winners remind us of what Congress can be at its best”.

Among the categories and winners are:

Best in Bipartisan Engagement & Collaboration

  • Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-CA-23)
  • Rep. Don Davis (D-NC-01)

These offices demonstrated that meaningful progress is possible through cross-party cooperation.

Best in Innovation & Modernization

  • Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-OK-05)
  • Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI)

Honored for implementing groundbreaking strategies that improved efficiency and responsiveness.

The full list of the 2025 Democracy Awards winners can be found on the CMF website.

The Democracy Awards are more than accolades—they’re a blueprint for what effective, citizen-centered governance can look like. Offices self-nominate and undergo a rigorous evaluation process, culminating in selection by an independent committee.

The Bridge Alliance Education Fund, which funds the Fulcrum, is a co-founder of CMF’s Democracy Awards.

Hugo Balta is the executive editor of the Fulcrum and the publisher of the Latino News Network.


Latest news

A person's hand holding a stamp above a vote deposit box.
Democracy

When Rivals Converge: Electoral Influence Beyond the Cold War

A display entitled 'The Dirty Business of Slavery' at the President's House on August 9, 2025 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Democracy

Trump's Perversion of U.S. History

Marco Rubio is the only adult left in the room
Ethics & Leadership

Marco Rubio is the only adult left in the room

Read More

Autocracy for Dummies

U.S. President Donald Trump on February 13, 2026 in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

(Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images)

Autocracy for Dummies

Everything Donald Trump has said and done in his second term as president was lifted from the Autocracy for Dummies handbook he should have committed to memory after trying and failing on January 6, 2021, to overthrow the government he had pledged to protect and serve.

This time around, putting his name and face to everything he fancies and diverting our attention from anything he touches as soon as it begins to smell or look bad are telltale signs that he is losing the fight to control the hearts and minds of a nation he would rather rule than help lead.

Keep ReadingShow less
Jesse Jackson: A Life of Activism, Faith, and Unwavering Pursuit of Justice

Rev. Jesse Jackson announces his candidacy for the Democratic Presidential nomination, 11/3/83.

Getty Images

Jesse Jackson: A Life of Activism, Faith, and Unwavering Pursuit of Justice

The death of Rev.Jesse Jackson is more than the passing of a civil rights leader; it is the closing of a chapter in America’s long, unfinished struggle for justice. For more than six decades, he was a towering figure in the struggle for racial equality, economic justice, and global human rights. His voice—firm, resonant, and morally urgent—became synonymous with the ongoing fight for dignity for marginalized people worldwide.

"Our father was a servant leader — not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world,” the Jackson family said in a statement.

Keep ReadingShow less
Hands resting on another.

An op-ed challenging claims of American moral decline and arguing that everyday citizens still uphold shared values of justice and compassion.

Getty Images, PeopleImages

Americans Haven’t Lost Their Moral Compass — Their Leaders Have

When thinking about the American people, columnist David Brooks is a glass-half-full kind of guy, but I, on the contrary, see the glass overflowing with goodness.

In his farewell column to The New York Times readers, Brooks wrote, “The most grievous cultural wound has been the loss of a shared moral order. We told multiple generations to come up with their own individual values. This privatization of morality burdened people with a task they could not possibly do, leaving them morally inarticulate and unformed. It created a naked public square where there was no broad agreement about what was true, beautiful and good. Without shared standards of right and wrong, it’s impossible to settle disputes; it’s impossible to maintain social cohesion and trust. Every healthy society rests on some shared conception of the sacred — sacred heroes, sacred texts, sacred ideals — and when that goes away, anxiety, atomization and a slow descent toward barbarism are the natural results.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Collective Punishment Has No Place in A Constitutional Democracy

U.S. Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem during a meeting of the Cabinet in the Cabinet Room of the White House on January 29, 2026 in Washington, DC.

(Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Collective Punishment Has No Place in A Constitutional Democracy

On January 8, 2026, one day after the tragic killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Kristi Noem, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, held a press conference in New York highlighting what she portrayed as the dangerous conditions under which ICE agents are currently working. Referring to the incident in Minneapolis, she said Good died while engaged in “an act of domestic terrorism.”

She compared what Good allegedly tried to do to an ICE agent to what happened last July when an off-duty Customs and Border Protection Officer was shot on the street in Fort Washington Park, New York. Mincing no words, Norm called the alleged perpetrators “scumbags” who “were affiliated with the transnational criminal organization, the notorious Trinitarios gang.”

Keep ReadingShow less
© Copyright 2026