In a nation where the lights of government have dimmed and the machinery of state grinds to a halt, another kind of campaign is roaring to life — one born not of power, but of people.
From church basements and living rooms, from the soft glow of laptops and the hum of phone banks, Americans are taking up the fight for their neighbors’ right to health care. And standing at the forefront, clear-eyed and unyielding, is New Jersey’s own Lisa McCormick.
McCormick, a veteran organizer and lifelong Democrat unafraid to scold her own party when it drifts from its conscience, has joined forces with a national coalition of more than 200 groups — including Indivisible, MoveOn, and the Working Families Party — to pressure congressional Democrats to “hold the line.”
The grassroots message is simple: Do not give one vote, not one inch, until Affordable Care Act subsidies are preserved and Medicaid funding is restored.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren argues that Trump is using the government shutdown crisis to threaten to lay off more federal workers.
“To me, that is a place to stop and say, ‘Then we’re ready to fight about this,’” Warren said.
Senator Bernie Sanders has been outspoken against the Republican stance on the budget, particularly highlighting its impact on healthcare.
“We’re putting it all on the line because Americans simply cannot afford to see their premiums go up or lose health care access altogether,” said Britt Jacovich, spokesperson for MoveOn Civic Action. “Trump and Republicans created this mess and have refused to put working families’ health and economic well-being over the interests of billionaires. Democrats who resisted caving will hear loud and clear from their constituents this week that they have their backs.”
The stakes could hardly be higher. Those enhanced premium tax credits — the backbone of recent health care stability — are set to expire at the end of the year. Without them, 24 million Americans could see their premiums double, and as McCormick warns, the consequences could be deadly.
“If 24 million people lose their health insurance coverage, 50,000 of them will die,” she said flatly, invoking the research that ties coverage gaps to mortality. “It is only because of such unrelenting greed that we cannot meet the needs of all Americans.”
Her words, sharp as glass, echo through a political landscape grown calloused to moral language. McCormick has never been shy about naming villains, whether they wear red ties or blue.
“The Trump Republicans are counting on Democrats to fold, but the political cost of this shutdown falls squarely on them,” she said. “It is obvious that these bullies only recognize strong-arm tactics, and saving Medicare and Medicaid are fights worth fighting.”
Her credentials are hard-earned. In 2018, she challenged disgraced Senator Bob Menendez in a Democratic primary.
Eight years earlier, she helped lead a slate of insurgent candidates who captured nearly half the countywide vote against New Jersey’s political establishment. Her running mate, Derek Armstead, went on to become mayor of Linden — a testament, perhaps, to the power of standing up to entrenched machines.
McCormick has always made health care and economic equality the twin pillars of her politics. To her, this shutdown is more than a partisan struggle — it is a moral trial for the Democratic Party itself.
“We cannot abandon the fight to protect healthcare for millions of Americans,” McCormick said. “This is about choosing tax cuts for billionaires over healthcare for working families.”
Her coalition has issued a clear directive to Democratic leaders: do not yield. In a letter to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, MoveOn urged them to block any deal that doesn’t reverse Republican cuts.
Katie Bethell, MoveOn Civic Action’s executive director, made the charge unmistakable.
“As the party in power, President Trump and Republicans’ priorities are clear: slashing our health care, eliminating cancer research funding, gutting Medicaid, and our entire government to give away tax cuts to billionaires. The blame for this shutdown rests squarely on Trump and Republicans’ shoulders. Democrats should keep their commitment to use the leverage they have to fight for our country and save our health care.”
Even some in Congress have picked up the cry.
“This Republican-manufactured shutdown is threatening the lives and livelihoods of millions of families by ripping away essential healthcare,” said Rep. Ayanna Pressley.
“This moment is a test,” added Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “Donald Trump wants us to blink first and hand him over power. We have too much to save to give in.”
McCormick, whose voice carries the weight of conviction and experience, sees no room for retreat. “Republicans control the House, Senate, and the White House,” she said. “This shutdown — and the devastating consequences that come with it — are entirely on them.”
Outside Washington, the pressure builds. Thousands of volunteers are lighting up switchboards, knocking on doors, sending messages by the thousands.
Their tools are simple; their resolve is not. The battle for the nation’s conscience, waged through fiber optics and faith, may yet determine whether millions keep their doctors or join the ranks of the uninsured.
The government’s lights may be off, but across the country, another fire burns — one fueled by conviction, by solidarity, and by the unyielding belief, shared by Lisa McCormick and her allies, that the measure of a nation is how it cares for its people when power falters.