The fresh activism is coming with encouragement from Democratic lawmakers who are mired in the minority and have been mostly left to watch as Republicans struggle to reshape the nation’s laws to their liking. After starting the year on the defensive with their own base, party leaders and House and Senate Democrats are finally taking cues from these groups, believing that tactics honed far outside Washington could help scare Republicans into abandoning long-standing promises to upend Obamacare.

Ahead of the recess, while Republican senators toiled over details of their health-care overhaul behind closed doors, Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) did what’s become natural for Democrats lately: He lashed out on Twitter.

“This thing is a %#$@ sandwich,” he tweeted shortly after the release of the Congressional Budget Office’s report that estimated 22 million more Americans be uninsured under the Senate GOP’s plan. He tweeted later that the left’s fight against the legislation “is a test of the morality of our country. We have to win this one.”