By Ashlee Banks
Special to the AFRO

With President Donald Trump back in the Oval Office and his administration rolling out sweeping changes to federal agencies, civil rights protections, and public health programs, Democratic lawmakers reassure Black voters that they are advocating on their behalf.

In candid interviews with the AFRO during a roundtable discussion at the U.S. Capitol in June 2025, key U.S. senators laid out actions they say they are taking to resist Trump’s policies and push for progress.

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Democrats are waging battle on multiple fronts.

“We are fighting every day and we know how terrible President Trump is for our democracy, for working families, for people of color. He’s just the worst president we’ve ever had,” Schumer told the AFRO.

“We’re fighting on every front in the courts, where we have a huge amount of success. The previous two years we put in 235 new judges, two-thirds of which are women and two-thirds of which are people of color,” he added. “They’re our first line of defense when Trump breaks the law – which he does many times a day – we’ve been going to court. We have over 220 cases that we have filed.”

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U.S. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) said Democrats are working both publicly and behind the scenes to block key elements of the Trump agenda, particularly when it comes to federal appointments.

“Democrats are on the cutting edge when it comes to diversifying our ranks and fighting for the issues that matter to everyday people,” Alsobrooks told the AFRO. “The public doesn’t always see it, but we’ve been actively challenging [Trump’s] nominees. It’s absolutely unbelievable the people he’s nominated. Our role is to push back against these dangerous nominees.”

She also stressed that lasting change depends on grassroots movements, not just elected officials.

“The power comes from the people. The elected have a role to play. We’re going to play that role. But, the truest power comes from the people,” Alsobrooks said.

“When we think about the impacts that we’ve seen, we think about people like John Lewis; the real change happens because it rises from the people,” she added. “It’s not the elected people. We have roles to play, but the movements are the true act of resistance.”

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) acknowledged the discontent many Black voters feel toward the Democratic Party. He said that dissatisfaction has always existed and that it should be used as fuel and not a reason to walk away.

“Dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party is in the DNA of Black people. Fannie Lou Hamer said ‘I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired,’ and yet she leaned into the Democratic Party,” Booker told the AFRO.

“I would be concerned if I didn’t walk into a Black barbershop, a Black church and didn’t hear frustration,” he continued. “[But] let’s not abandon the Democratic Party, but grab [it] by the scruff and drag it forward as a vehicle with which to deliver advancement for this country and African Americans in general.”

Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) described his own efforts on the ground, including recent protests against Trump administration cuts to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“CDC is based in Atlanta, and so not only have I challenged the administration on these reckless cuts, I have literally been on the street corner with other protesters,” Warnock told the AFRO.

“We have seen some of these CDC employees rehired. Hundreds of them were rehired as a result of me making noise,” he added. “We are seeing that we do get results.”

From legislation to litigation to grassroots organizing, Senate Democrats say they are mobilizing across institutions in response to a political landscape that, for many Black voters, feels increasingly urgent.

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132 years ago, we were covering Post-Reconstruction when a former enslaved veteran started the AFRO with $200 from his land-owning wife. In 2022 we endorsed Maryland’s first Black Governor, Wes Moore. And now we celebrate the first Black Senator from Maryland, Angela Alsobrooks!

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