2024 Elections

‘I Thought Only First Pregnancies Could Go Bad’: When Allie Phillips’ Lawmaker Dismissed Her, She Decided to Run for His Seat

PUBLISHED 4/22/2025 by

“I decided to meet with my district representative in the state legislature,” said Allie Phillips. Her idea was a bill she’d called “Miley’s Law”—named after the child she’d lost—which would create an exception in Tennessee’s abortion ban allowing for the termination of pregnancies when the fetus has a fatal diagnosis. 

She said the meeting with her lawmaker, Republican Rep. Jeff Burkhart, was disturbing. “I quickly learned that these [Republican] lawmakers don’t know anything about reproductive care. He was confused because I had had a healthy first pregnancy, and then lost my second one. He told me, ‘I thought only first pregnancies could go bad.’”

Burkhart, a 63-year-old father, told Allie he’d set up a meeting for her with the state’s attorney general—but never followed through. 

“After that, my mom said, ‘Maybe you should run against him,’” Allie said. “And then my TikTok followers started to say the same thing.”

This Week in Women’s Representation: Women Outperformed Expectations in Battleground Congressional Races in 2024; Gen Z Women Shake Up Congress

PUBLISHED 4/18/2025 by

Weekend Reading for Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation. 

This week: The 2024 election is not yet over for North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs; Kat Abughazaleh in Illinois and Deja Foxx in Arizona are redefining what it means to run for office; debunking any suggestion that women and racial minorities are not electable; and more.

A Historic Win in Wisconsin: What Susan Crawford’s Victory Signals

PUBLISHED 4/10/2025 by | UPDATED 4/11/2025 at 7:08 A.M. PT

In a record-breaking election, Wisconsin voters elected liberal judge Susan Crawford to the state Supreme Court, defeating right-wing candidate Brad Schimel in what became the most expensive judicial race in U.S. history. With over $100 million spent, the race became a referendum not just on abortion rights and union protections, but on billionaires like Elon Musk attempting to buy political power. 

Crawford’s win is more than just a victory for Democrats. It is a rebuke of President Trump, aggressive masculinity and right-wing efforts to strip away reproductive freedom. It also marks a turning point in organizing, as voters turned out in force to defend their rights and shape the future of the court.

North Carolina Is Asking People to Vote According to Rules the State Hasn’t Set

PUBLISHED 4/9/2025 by

Five months out, chaos continues in a state Supreme Court race that was counted, recounted and audited.

On Friday, a state appeals court reopened Pandora’s Box by calling into question more than 60,000 votes cast in North Carolina’s Nov. 5 general election. This gives the Republican candidate, Jefferson Griffin, new hope to close his 734-vote deficit, out of 5,540,090 total votes, against Democratic candidate Allison Riggs.

From Feminists, Messages to Young People Currently Living Through History

PUBLISHED 4/3/2025 by and

Here is a collection of inspiring words from the National Young Feminists Leadership Conference held last weekend in Washington, D.C.—for any young feminist who might need some inspiration and encouragement right now.

“Yes, this work will break your heart. Some days, it will exhaust you—and still, you must continue, because here’s what the research ultimately shows: When younger people lead, democracy doesn’t just survive; it thrives.”

“We are living in a time where fundamental rights are under relentless attack, but history has shown us that when young people show up, when we organize, when we mobilize, we have the power to change everything.”

“Progress we fought for is being rolled back, and it is exhausting. But extortion is not the same as defeat.”

Twenty-Nine States Have a Not-So-Secret Weapon to Fight for Democracy

PUBLISHED 3/27/2025 by

As the Trump administration’s attacks on women’s rights, reproductive access and LGBTQ equality continue in force, state executive leaders have emerged as potent frontline responders.

Among the tools in states’ arsenals are often underused state-level equal rights amendments (ERAs). Even as the federal ERA remains in limbo, an unlikely bulwark for the next four years—see professor Laurence Tribe’s Contrarian piece explaining its legal status—29 states have some form of an ERA (e.g., broader sex equality language than the U.S. Constitution) written into their constitutions. Several have already been used to advance abortion rights (Pennsylvania, Connecticut and New Mexico); many are broadly worded and inclusive of protection against pregnancy discrimination, age, disability and immigration status. Issues such as pay transparency and addressing gender-based violence also could be bolstered by a state ERA.

Break Things and Leave Them Broken: The Next Stage for Fired Federal Workers

PUBLISHED 3/26/2025 by

Federal judges ordered the reinstatement of workers terminated based on their probationary status—a blow to the Trump administration. But for many fired feds, this welcome news does not mean a return to work. For me and most of my colleagues in HHS’ Administration for Children and Families, for instance, we will continue to receive our pay and benefits, but we won’t be allowed to work. One might think that this is a pretty good deal—but only if you don’t know federal employees.

Some of my colleagues shared with me their stories of uncertainty, loss and an unfinished mission to serve the public.

—My first colleague, a change management specialist, was nervous about rumored changes to the federal workforce, but buoyed by the encouragement of his mentors who said, “This is your dream. The way you light up, this is the thing we want in federal employees. Roll the dice, go for it.”
—Another, a policy analyst specializing in children’s issues, said she was living out her dream job. When she found out she was fired, she was on bedrest for a high-risk pregnancy. In a cruel twist of fate, it was Valentine’s Day … and also the anniversary of her previous stillbirth.

Could Low-Wage White Workers Spark Trump’s Undoing?

PUBLISHED 3/13/2025 by

With time, the resistance movement against Trump’s dangerous agenda will grow to include low-wage white workers, a third of whom live in the South and were perhaps initially pro-Trump, according to a prediction from Bishop William Barber II.

“The only way a king becomes a king is if you bow. And we cannot bow,” Barber said. “Bowing is not in our DNA. We have to stand in this moment.”

Trump’s Speech to Congress Shows the Working Class Is on Their Own 

PUBLISHED 3/10/2025 by , and

President Trump’s first seven weeks back in office have been spent abandoning the American people—tearing apart vital programs, withholding funds that save lives and purging the federal workforce. Last Tuesday, he addressed a joint session of Congress for the first time in his second term. Throughout the speech, he boasted about abandoning international agreements, expediting environmental deregulation and gutting federal resources.