Martin Falbisoner, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
On April 7, 2025 600 people sent 600 emails to 435 members of Congress, asking every single representative from every single district to pursue impeachment. Three weeks later, the article of impeachment we provided was brought to the House floor. That’s how fast Congress can move when it wants to. That glimpse of how much impact a coordinated, citizen-led movement can have has powered Citizens’ Impeachment for the last year. We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Congress CAN move to hold this administration accountable. They’re simply choosing not to.
Since then, Citizens’ Impeachment has grown to nearly 13,000 members and sent over 16,000 emails to congressional staff. We’ve helped more than 50 constituents meet their representative’s staff, sometimes for the very first time, and coordinated district office visits with other grassroots organizations. As Executive Director, I’ve moved to DC to continue the lobbying work in person, sitting down with staffers to emphasize that their boss holds the power to reign in this administration and choosing not to is a dereliction of duty.
We know they are listening because their leadership has shifted from refusing to take up the question of impeachment in June of 2025 to simply standing aside and voting “PRESENT” in a December 2025 vote that saw a 77% surge in support for impeachment. In January, leadership moved even further towards accountability when Minority Leader Jeffries told CNN how and why each member of the House has both the privilege and the responsibility to bring articles of impeachment to a vote.
Make no mistake, Jeffries hates the idea of impeachment and will do everything in his power to prevent it, especially if he is not the one to coordinate the effort. But he can no longer deny that impeachment is a constitutional power he and every other representative has, and that is a start.
The single most infuriating part of this work is learning deep in my bones how little members of Congress respect the oath they took and the citizens they serve. I have heard constituents pour out their hearts only to be stonewalled by staffers patently uninterested in them. Sometimes, staffers can barely contain their disdain for their oath and their constituents. Offices have even told constituents that “the representative sleeps well at night.” (Rep. Peters, CA-50; DeLauro, CT-03).
As the Trump administration celebrates is 3,000th undemocratic action, this Congress continues to believe they are doing enough. I have watched as the smug dismissiveness of these offices radicalizes their constituents into my boldest volunteers: our constitutional scholar joins us from Rep. Raskin’s district; Rep. Peters’ constituent is celebrating one year with our organization; and Rep. DeLauro’s constituent Andrew Rice, is now one of our Courage Candidates, running to replace a complacent member of Congress that sees nothing, does nothing, and says nothing except “send me $5.”
Andrew is not the only Courage Candidate in Connecticut – there are Courage Candidates in all five Connecticut districts and the Governor’s race. In fact, Courage for Democracy is home to more than 120 pro-impeachment, pro-democracy Courage Candidates running in 38 states and more than 105 districts. Every single one of them has pledged to introduce articles of impeachment on Day 1 of their term.
Just one year after Citizens’ Impeachment started pushing Congress to act, establishment Democrats worried about these younger primary challengers are introducing articles of impeachment. And guess what? As of last week, Congress apparently ALSO has a plan to begin impeachment proceedings on Day 1.
The Courage Candidates didn’t need 18 months to decide that the Trump administration had to be held accountable. This Congress has chosen not to uphold their oath of office. They are only starting to change their tune because the Courage Candidates are coming for their job.
Congress and their staffers apparently see their work as outlasting this administration rather than outfighting them.
While Congress waits, we die.
We die from lack of healthcare and from filthy conditions in detention centers. We are shot in broad daylight and on camera. Our soldiers die overseas as part of the abject strategic failure that is Trumps’ Iran War.
Every single issue voters are concerned about – affordability, threats to democracy, taxes and spending, the actions of ICE and immigration raids, and the clawback of benefits programs – stem from specific impeachable actions of this President, actions that Congress has failed to meaningfully address in any way, shape, or form. The usurpation of War Powers a second time to bomb Iran? Impeachable. The usurpation of the power of the purse to claw back benefits? Impeachable. Repeated violations of the first and fifth amendments and most recently an effort to subvert the 14th amendment? Impeachable. Tariffs, now deemed illegal by the Supreme Court? Violates Article 1, Section 8, Clause 1. Impeachable. The deployment of paramilitary forces to American cities to harm American people? Treason: impeachable, and one of the only crimes the Constitution names in the impeachment clause.
We cannot debate policy while our democracy is in crisis.
After a surreal week in which the President threatened genocide, picked a fight with the Pope, and posted images of himself as Jesus on social media, it seems that there has been a change in the conversation. Liberal pundits are coming around.
Robert Reich said he’s leaving the Democrats’ sanctioned message of affordability, endorsing impeachment in a column titled “How to impeach the bastard, for real.” Elie Mystal thinks that while impeachment might not make Trump a normal president, it would probably stave off the vaporization of an entire people. And Ralph Nader, the eternal champion of the people, has called for exactly what my organization is here to do; a citizens’ impeachment movement to galvanize our spineless Congress and hold their feet to the fire.
We couldn’t be prouder of our volunteers, our candidates, and our members. In April of 2025, the atmosphere was one of intense fear. Folks were worried they’d be punished for speaking their mind, and they worried about being “put on a list.” They showed up anyway to call for accountability. They met the moment in a way that members of Congress – the people charged by the Constitution with removing an unfit president – have repeatedly failed to do.
In the space of a year, Citizens Impeachment has changed the accountability conversation so dramatically that members of Congress are filing articles of impeachment on their own (even if they aren’t ready or willing to force a vote on those articles). This is due in no small part to the Courage Candidates: firefighters, social workers, teachers, and healthcare professionals willing to leave theri careers to replace this do-nothing Congress. These are the impeachment midterms, and our primary challengers are forcing even long-time incumbents like John Larson (CT-01) to take action.
The question now is not if, but when impeachment will happen. That means our job is to focus on the next step: conviction and removal. We need to go after the Senate.
Just as we did with the House, we will put the Senate on the record as to whether or not they support the impeachment, conviction and removal of Donald Trump. Just as we did with the House, it will be constituents that carry this message to their electeds. And just like the House, Citizens’ Impeachment will force the Senate to take notice and take action to hold this government accountable.
Citizens’ Impeachment and Courage for Democracy are the foundation of a new kind of politics. We do not follow the crowd, we lead it into the future we want to see. We work with people who have integrity, who can say what they mean, and who know how to commit to a course of action and see it through. And most importantly, we show up. We show up in every race, in every representative’s inbox, and in every district across the nation.
Every single member of Congress swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution.
We will hold every single one of them responsible for and accountable to that oath.
And if they fail the American people, we will replace them.
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