Progressive group targets Senate Democrats for backing Trump's judicial
nominees
[December 04, 2025]
By JONATHAN J. COOPER
A progressive group is targeting two Senate Democrats and an independent
senator who voted to confirm some of President Donald Trump's judicial
nominees, promising to spend more than $1 million in hopes of pushing
congressional Democrats to take a stronger stand against the Republican
president.
In a weeklong advertising campaign that began on Wednesday, Demand
Justice is targeting only senators who aren't up for reelection next
year: Democrats John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Maggie Hassan of New
Hampshire, along with independent Angus King of Maine, who caucuses with
Democrats.
But the group's president, Josh Orton, said the blitz is only an opening
salvo. He threatened an escalation targeting more imminently vulnerable
lawmakers and those with presidential ambitions unless they “find their
moral compass, and stand up to Trump.”
“We want to change Senate Democratic behavior so that they begin acting
in a more moral way and in a more politically expedient way,” Orton
said.
The push comes after eight members of the Senate Democratic caucus —
including Fetterman, Hassan and King — joined with Republicans to end a
government shutdown, a move that angered large swaths of the party's
base. The party is wrestling over the best strategy to fight what many
Democrats see as Trump's authoritarian ambitions while plotting to
bounce back from major losses in 2024.
In confirmation hearings, Trump's second-term judicial nominees have
avoided acknowledging that he lost the 2020 campaign or that the Jan. 6,
2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol was a violent insurrection. Democrats
shouldn't give bipartisan cover to judges who are not “able to answer
these simple questions of fact," Orton said.
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Trump's nominees have also angered many on the left for their views
on abortion. A review by The Associated Press found that roughly
half of them have revealed anti-abortion views, been associated with
anti-abortion groups or defended abortion restrictions.
The Democratic base is clamoring for its representatives to
aggressively challenge Trump, who has pushed the boundaries of
presidential power to new heights since returning to the White House
in January. Democratic leaders, meanwhile, are grappling with the
limits of their power in Washington, where Republicans control both
chambers of Congress and the White House.
Fetterman is a frequent target of the left over his staunch support
for Israel in the Gaza war and his willingness to buck the majority
of his party. He defended his voting record last month, telling CBS
News he's voted overwhelmingly with the rest of the Democrats.
“If Democrats have a problem with somebody that votes 91% of the
same times as you are — more than nine out of 10 times — then maybe
our party has a bigger problem,” Fetterman said.
Hassan said she voted to reopen the government, despite the backlash
on the left, because many of her constituents were suffering and it
was unlikely Republicans would agree to a better deal. She said she
supported some of Trump's executive branch nominees “who are
qualified or acting in good faith."
King was the lone member of the Democratic Caucus to vote to confirm
a federal judge in Missouri who, as a lawyer, had worked on cases
challenging abortion rights. He later said the vote was “a mistake."
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