The Congressional Management Foundation (CMF) announced the finalists for the sixth annual Democracy Awards, CMF’s program recognizing non-legislative achievement and performance in congressional offices and by Members of Congress.
“Americans usually only hear about Congress when something goes wrong. The Democracy Awards shines a light on Congress when it does something right,” said Bradford Fitch, CMF’s President and CEO. “These Members of Congress and their staff deserve recognition for their work to improve accountability in government, modernize their work environments and serve their constituents.”
The 2023 Democracy Awards finalists announced on May 16, 2023 by category are:
Constituent Service
Rep. John Curtis (R-UT) – who created a “Business Crawl” listening tour to visit and support local businesses during pandemic shutdowns; conducted opioid roundtables; facilitated the Rural Business Summit; and convened an annual Conservative Climate Summit.
Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) – who conducts town halls with constituents, both in-person and virtually, including "Drive-Thru Dusty Town Halls,” with the congressman addressing constituents on the back of a pick-up truck, answering constituent questions as a safe alternative to meet with constituents during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) – who established a casework metrics system that are shared in a memo each week with office staff and the senator. Since 2009 35 percent of case opened are constituents who contacted the office multiple times for assistance.
Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-IL) – who in less than four years in office has closed nearly 5,000 constituent cases, recovered millions of dollars on behalf of constituents, and hosted almost 20 virtual workshops on a variety of topics for solving problems in working with executive branch agencies.
“Life in Congress” Workplace Environment
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) – who, among other novel practices, limits his after-hours calls and emails to staff to only the most time sensitive matters.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) – who created a robust time-off policy. Staff receive 30 days of total paid leave per year - 15 days of vacation + 15 days of sick leave which can be used for Mental Health Days at any point during the year, in addition to 1-2 weeks of office closure in the last 2 weeks of December.
Rep. Barry Moore (R-AL) – who, having been sworn in at the height of the pandemic in 2021, created a telework policy that empowers staff to coordinate schedules so that the office remains staffed, and every staffer can periodically work from home. The office also immediately provided lightweight laptops, iPads and iPhones, so every staffer can easily continue working outside of the office, whether from home or other locations.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) – whose office rewrites manuals and documents and revisits goals often. They created a continuity of operations plan at the beginning of the pandemic and update it quarterly. The office conducts staff retreats both virtually and in-person, and does performance reviews annually, as well as weekly check-ins between managers and their staff.”
Constituent Accountability and Accessibility
Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL) – who regularly holds in-person and telephone town hall meetings on general issues and specific topics including: the Senate filibuster, inflation, gun reform, infrastructure funding in Illinois, and a meeting on his decision to vote in favor of impeaching President Trump.
Rep. John Curtis (R-UT) – who has held more than 300 constituent service or town hall-style events since coming to Congress in 2017.
Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA) – who instituted a policy of never leaving a town hall meeting until the last constituent attending has had an opportunity to ask a question.
Rep. Barry Moore (R-AL) – who holds regular themed small meetings with constituents over meals, naming them "Breakfast with Barry," "Burgers with Barry," and "Buffet with Barry."
Methodology:
CMF created a detailed process to identify and recognize the best congressional offices. House and Senate personal offices self-nominated in late 2022/early 2023 using an online questionnaire. In early 2023, CMF followed up with offices to conduct interviews and assess the office's adherence to the established criteria using a detailed checklist to determine a list of nominees that would advance to the Selection Committee phase of the process.
In July, a Selection Committee comprised primarily of former Members of Congress and former congressional staffers will select two winners (one Democrat and one Republican) for each category using the nomination forms, interview notes, and supporting material provided by the office.
Details on the finalists’ accomplishments can be found here. Winners for the staff and Member Lifetime Achievement Democracy Award will be announced at a later date.
The Founding Partner for the Democracy Awards is the Bridge Alliance, which provided a generous grant to launch the program. Bridge Alliance is a diverse coalition of more than 100 organizations committed to revitalizing democratic practice in America.
The Congressional Management Foundation (CMF) is a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan nonprofit founded in 1977 dedicated to strengthening Congress and building trust in its work with and for the American people. CMF works to revitalize Congress as an institution; promotes best practices in congressional offices; and helps Congress and the people they represent engage in a constructive and inclusive dialogue toward a thriving American democracy.
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner speaks to voters at a town hall at the Elks Lodge 188 on June 7, 2026, in Portland, Maine.
McConnell and Platner both feel entitled
The two men could not be more different. One, a Republican, octogenarian, seven-term Southern senator, the other a progressive, millennial Maine oysterman who’s never spent a day in elected office.
But Mitch McConnell, the senior senator from Kentucky who’s been MIA for the past few weeks and Graham Platner, the Maine Senate candidate who’s facing calls to drop out of his race against Sen. Susan Collins, apparently do have something in common: an outsized sense of entitlement.
McConnell, who is 84 and not running for reelection, has been hospitalized for three weeks, and yet we still don’t fully know what he was admitted for or what his condition is. Per CNN, “his office has not disclosed a medical reason for the hospitalization or provided specifics on his health status beyond saying last week that he ‘continues to improve’ and ‘is working closely with his staff on Kentucky and Senate matters.’ ”
While several legislators have said they’ve talked to him and insist he sounds strong, others have said they are completely in the dark. One MAGA influencer, Laura Loomer, posted ”High level source close to the White House tells me ‘Mitch McConnell is officially brain dead. He’s not coming back.’ ”
Meanwhile, up in Maine, Platner has been artfully dodging calls from his own party to drop out of his race after several allegations of misconduct from women, including a sexual assault allegation from a former girlfriend, came to light. While Platner, who has managed to survive a Nazi-tattoo scandal, a sexting scandal, and several old tweets scandals, denies the allegations, he has not quit.
High-profile Democrats including Sens. Bernie Sanders and Chuck Schumer, the latter of whom had unsuccessfully hand-selected Maine Gov. Janet Mills to face Collins instead of Platner, have urged Platner to drop out, while other Dems have accused him of trying to influence the picking of his replacement.
Maine Democratic Party Executive Director Devon Murphy-Anderson released a statement Tuesday, which said in part:
“Unfortunately, Graham Platner’s team has repeatedly reached out to us in an attempt to put their thumb on the scale of what this process looks like. We have repeatedly reiterated to Graham Platner’s team that they have no role in determining our next Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate nor in determining what this process looks like.”
Both incidents show a deep lack of accountability to voters, who in one case deserve to know whether their senator is capable of performing his duties, and in another deserve a candidate who isn’t being accused of crimes, bigotry and deception.
The offensive and odious entitlement of both McConnell and Platner stands out not because it is particularly unique among today’s political class. Tom Kean, the New Jersey GOP congressman, missed more than 100 votes, only sharing after a three-month mystery absence that he was dealing with depression.
Former President Joe Biden’s Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin failed to disclose a hospitalization for prostate cancer surgery, flouting the established rules for Cabinet members and senior U.S. officials.
From Biden’s insistence on running for reelection despite his obvious cognitive and political weaknesses to Trump’s brazen flouting of laws and norms, few politicians seem to appreciate that their public service job comes with responsibilities to constituents, including transparency and honesty.
But both parties increasingly justify the chicanery, because the stakes of winning elections and keeping power are simply too high. But that’s no excuse. If we’ve learned anything over the past decade, it’s that character and accountability do, in fact, matter. And when we, the voters, stop caring about it, well, so do they.
S.E. Cupp is the host of "S.E. Cupp Unfiltered" on CNN.