Senator Reverend Warnock accepted the bipartisan Congressional Management Foundation’s (CMF) 2025 Democracy Award for Best Constituent Correspondence & Outreach Services

This honor was awarded to Senator Warnock to recognize his office’s constituent communication on disaster response and recovery resources during and after Hurricane Helene, which made landfall in Georgia in September of last year

Senator Warnock: “I often say that I’m not a Senator who used to be a pastor. I’m a pastor in the Senate. I’m used to walking with people even as I work for them. Sometimes we can’t solve these really big problems […] on a dime, but in the meantime, we do get to walk alongside people and just solve everyday issues”

Above: Senator Warnock at the 2025 Democracy Awards

Washington, D.C. – This week, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) accepted the Congressional Management Foundation’s (CMF) 2025 Democracy Award for the best Constituent Correspondence & Outreach Services. The award follows the Senator and his office’s outreach efforts to communicate disaster response and recovery resources following Hurricane Helene’s Georgia landfall in September of 2024. The Senator accepted the award at the CMF’s Democracy Awards ceremony. In addition to Senator Warnock, the bipartisan CMF also recognized Congressman August Pfluger (R-TX-11) for his correspondence & outreach services.

“I often say that I’m not a Senator who used to be a pastor. I’m a pastor in the Senate. I’m used to walking with people even as I work for them. Sometimes we can’t solve these really big problems […] on a dime, but in the meantime, we do get to walk alongside people and just solve everyday issues,” Senator Warnock said in his acceptance remarks. 

Below are just a few of the Senator’s efforts providing constituent correspondence and outreach services around the time of Hurricane Helene:

• Alerted Georgians of the deadline to apply for FEMA assistance. 
• Hosted community resource clinics across the state, helping connect 200 Georgians in rural communities to in-person federal resources and representatives.
• Participated in a community roundtable following Hurricane Helene’s landfall in Georgia.
• Created a website as a one-stop shop of resources to help Georgians recover. 
• Visited farmers in Ray City with President Biden to survey damage and hear from residents.

Above: Senator Warnock is presented with his 2025 Democracy Award by Randy Ford, President of National Write Your Congressman, Inc.

The CMF is a bipartisan non-profit foundation that has provided hands-on support and essential resources to Members and their staff to help govern effectively and better serve their constituents for nearly 50 years. Focusing on real-world solutions that drive congressional modernization, advance public service skills, and foster a culture of collaboration on Capitol Hill.

A transcript of the Senator’s remarks can be found below:

Good morning, everybody. First, let me thank the Congressional Management Foundation for this recognition and for all the work that you’ve done for nearly half a century to help public servants and their staff better serve the American people. 

Let me say that I am incredibly and deeply honored to receive the 2025 Democracy Award for Constituent Correspondence and Outreach Services for my office’s work in the wake of Hurricane Helene last year. I have to say, I’m a little bit embarrassed to receive this award. This is a perfect example of members getting credit for stuff their staff does. But you all give my staff a round of applause, please. They’re the ones who do the work, not just my staff, but all of our staff. 

One of the great things about this work is constituent services. Let’s face it, we live in a time in which our nation is deeply divided, and we’re so consumed with the culture wars. There’s not much focus, not enough focus, on the real problems that confront us. And I think we could get together, if we would get together, focus on the real issues that we all have in common. If we would recognize that at the end of the day what we want is for all of our children to do well. 

The amazing thing about constituent services is that it transcends partisan differences. I can’t tell you how many Republicans have walked up to me and said, “You know, I didn’t vote for you, but I called your office, and you solved the problem for me.” I said, “Well, you gonna vote for me the next time?” “No.” Occasionally I get a taker. I’ll take that. But listen, I didn’t run for the Senate to win awards. I ran to serve Georgians. 

I often say that I’m not a Senator who used to be a pastor. I’m a pastor in the Senate. I’m used to walking with people even as I work for them. Sometimes we can’t solve these really big problems, health care, you know, issues around creating opportunity in our changing economy. We can’t solve these big problems on a dime, but in the meantime, we do get to walk alongside people and just solve everyday issues. 

And so I want to thank and congratulate my staff, the ways in which they responded in the wake of Hurricane Helene, hosting community resource clinics across the state, helping connect 200 Georgians and rural communities to in person federal resources, the way they arrived early on the scene to distribute water, food, and supplies. I was there with them for a little while, but they really did the work creating a digital one stop shop of resources to help Georgians recover, alerting Georgians of the deadline to apply for federal assistance, meeting with community leaders and frontline responders, and traveling with President Biden to South Georgia to hear directly from impacted farmers. 

When I was on the ground in Georgia, just trying to do the work, trying to connect folks with services, I was really taken by the spirit of the people of Georgia, their resilience, their commitment to one another. I was inspired by Wayne Lanier, owner of Lanier’s Fresh Meat Market, a barbecue joint. And he sells his food every day. But he was out there just giving it away, giving it away, making sure that the most marginalized members of that community were well taken care of. And I can cite example after example after example like that, the Tabernacle Baptist Church and others standing up and just creating a response unit right in real time to respond to their neighbors. The man I ran into on my way to that area had a generator, and his neighbors didn’t have a generator, and he just started cooking for everybody. And so this is the spirit, the American spirit, and at the end of the day, we need more of that. So thank you very much for this award. God bless all of you. Keep the faith.

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