What The Hell America!

Abughazaleh and Foxx represent a new wave of progressive leadership focused on community, accessibility, and authenticity. However, they’re also navigating the dark side of the digital era, facing heightened risks of online harassment and gender-based threats.

Katherine Long writes for Politico:

Last month, Kat Abughazaleh, a 26-year-old Washington, D.C., native who moved to Chicago last year, announced her bid to unseat Illinois Democrat Jan Schakowsky in a YouTube video.

Besides her age, her background is atypical for a congressional candidate. A former journalist, she covered far-right media and U.S. politics for Media Matters and Mother Jones before pivoting to content creation after she was laid off. Today, she holds a substantial following on numerous social media platforms including TikTok and X. Her reason for running echoes the concerns of other progressive voters she’s spoken to: Democrats aren’t doing enough.

“Trump is trying to install an authoritarian dictatorship, and we need people in power to be resisting loudly and publicly,” Abughazaleh tells Women Rule.

“What the party and what our leaders in general have been doing is not working,” says Abughazaleh, who attended Chicago’s “Hand’s Off” protest last weekend, where she spoke to attendees about their concerns. “That’s why we’re in this mess. And I think people are ready for something different.”

Deja Foxx, a 24-year-old Tucson native, is running in Arizona’s special election to replace Rep. Raúl Grijalva, who died last month at 77. A reproductive rights activist who served as the youngest staffer on former Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign, Foxx last week announced her entrance into an already crowded race (one which includes the late representative’s daughter Adelita Grijalva).

Foxx tells Women Rule it was imperative that she run now.

“Young people are hungry for candidates that they can get excited about,” Foxx says, “and if they don’t find them, we might lose them.”

Women Outperformed Expectations in Battleground Congressional Races

The Washington Post ran an exceptionally important piece on March 25 by Lakshya Jain and Harrison Lavelle of Split Ticket, an election data analysis firm. The authors debunk any suggestion that women and racial minorities are not electable:

“Two women, Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris, have now lost elections to Donald Trump. Many prominent Democrats worry that the candidates’ gender was part of the reason — that the country will not elect a female president. Recent research suggests that Democratic primary voters share this anxiety: They tend to view White men as more electable than women and minority candidates.

We lack the data to conclusively confirm or debunk their concerns — at least on the presidential level. But last year’s general election suggests that, when it comes to the district-by-district, state-by-state battle for Congress, they need not worry: In the 2024 House races, neither women nor non-White candidates appear to have paid any measurable electoral penalty… Across the nearly 200 House races in which women faced off against men, the margins were almost exactly where they should have been, given each district’s demography, political lean, distribution of campaign cash and other “fundamentals.” And of this set, in the 69 battleground races the Cook Political Report rated as “in play,” the female candidates actually did 1.2 points better on average than the fundamentals suggested they should have.”

Adam Grant: Leaders Who Give Have the Greatest Impact

I had a chapter on “Women and the Presidency” in The Best Candidate: Presidential Nomination in Polarized Times that explores the barriers women face when running for president and strategies to address those challenges.

Our nation has yet to elect a woman as president, and some suggest that it’s because Americans believe we need tough, “masculine” leaders. But that style of leadership is not as effective over time as an approach to leadership with qualities often (although of course not necessarily!) with women. Famed business writer Adam Grant has a thoughtful The New York Times oped “America Is Learning the Wrong Lesson From Elon Musk’s Success.”

Here are two excerpts:

“As an organizational psychologist, I’ve long admired the boldness of Mr. Musk’s vision, the intensity of his drive and the impact of his innovations in cars and rockets. But the way he deals with people would fail the leadership class I teach at his alma mater. For more than a century, my field has studied how leaders achieve great things. The evidence is clear: Leadership by intimidation and insult is a bad strategy. Belittling people doesn’t boost their productivity but diminishes it…

It’s a pattern I’ve seen time and again in my research: Givers add more value than takers. Studies show that tech companies are moreprofitable when servant leaders are at the helm. The competitive advantage comes from treating people better than they expect and earning their trust, which makes it easier to attract, motivate and retain talent. That doesn’t mean being soft on people. Servant leaders aren’t shy about dishing out tough love. But they put their mission above their ego, and they care about people as much as performance.”

Rep. Elise Stefanik Returns to Leadership Role in Male-Dominated U.S. House

Both the ruling Republicans and the minority Democrats in the U.S. House are heavily male in their leadership, with each party having only one woman leader in their five top positions. Katherine Clark (Mass) is the Democrats’ minority whip. For Republicans, Michigan’s Lisa McClain chairs the House Republican Conference, a role previously held by New York’s Elise Stefanik and is the primary forum for communicating the party’s message to Republican members.

Stefanik’s nomination to be ambassador to the United Nations was recently withdrawn. With her return to the House, Speaker Mike Johnson this week named her chair of House Republican leadership, which focuses on strategy and communications. 

Rep. Stefanik has devoted energy to growing Republican women in Congress. Here is an excerpt from an NBC News story last fall—underscoring challenges women face in our politics, Stefanik fell short of her goals in this piece, with Republican women down to 33 seats (including two non-voting delegates), as opposed to 189 Republican men.

“Rep. Elise Stefanik, the highest-ranking GOP woman in the House, is leading a charge to break the record for Republican women serving in the chamber, just six years after a blue wave wiped out their ranks. Stefanik, R-N.Y., who chairs the GOP conference, has been focused on boosting the ranks of Republican women in the House ever since she sounded the alarm about the “crisis level” after the 2018 midterms, when the number of GOP women dwindled to just 13.  n the nearly six years since then, Stefanik and others have worked to recruit and provide early support to women candidates. The number of Republican women in the House has tripled to a record 36, including two nonvoting members.”

Underscoring challenges women face in our politics, Stefanik fell short of her goals last year, with Republican women down to 33 seats, including the nonvoting members.

Iowa Gov. Reynolds Will Not Seek Reelection

Iowa’s first-ever woman governor, Kim Reynolds, surprised many observers when announcing she would not seek reelection in 2026. It didn’t take long for three Republican men to suggest they might run for governor, although Attorney General Brenna Bird and Rep. Ashley Hinson are also being mentioned. State auditor Rob Sand is favored as the Democratic nominee.

As Iowa’s lieutenant governor in 2017, Governor Reynolds assumed the office of governor when Terry Branstad was appointed to be ambassador to China. She was returned to office as governor in 2018 and 2022, growing her winning percentage from 50.3 percent in 2018 to 58 percent in 2022.

Upon becoming governor in 2017, she had this to say:

“Becoming Iowa’s first woman governor is both humbling and exciting. I will do my best to serve as a role model for others to follow and hope to emulate the finest qualities of those who led before me. However, it is my responsibility, my challenge, to do my best. To give them the opportunity to write much more than ‘she was Iowa’s first woman governor.’”

Will the 2024 Victory of North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Alison Riggs be Overturned?

The 2024 election is not yet over for North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs. Riggs won among the votes that determined every other statewide election in North Carolina, but has faced litigation ever since. A lower court raised the prospect of more than 60,000 votes being thrown out. In a partisan vote of 4-2, the Republican majority on the state supreme court overturned much of that ruling, but is allowing thousands of overseas and military votes to be challenged. The case has moved to federal courts on an emergency basis.

NC Newsline editor Rob Schofield lays out the stakes in this commentary focused on the four justices who would throw out the votes of military voters overseas:

“The object of Professor Nichol’s thoroughly justified ire, of course, was the group’s outrageous ruling that a large number of ballots legally cast in the November 2024 state Supreme Court election between incumbent Justice Allison Riggs and challenger Jefferson Griffin can be retroactively thrown out because they – the justices – disagree with previous unanimous and bipartisan rulings on managing those ballots rendered long prior to the election by the State Board of Elections. 

Think about that for a moment — it’s a stunning concept. 

Thousands of voters who cast ballots according to longstanding and duly adopted rules — rules not even controversial enough to have received a single dissenting vote on an election board that’s frequently divided on partisan lines – can now be disenfranchised months after the election in such a way that it will quite possibly overturn the result. The absurdity of the decision was even too much for conservative Republican Justice Richard Dietz. As he wrote in a passionate and on-the mark dissenting opinion: ‘By every measure, this is the most impactful election-related court decision our state has seen in decades. It cries out for our full review and for a decisive rejection of this sort of post hoc judicial tampering in election results.”

Albania Elections Will Test Growth in Women’s Leadership

I was impressed with the clarity and persuasiveness of a recent commentary by the United Nations’ Fiona McCluney and Michele Ribotta on women in the May 11th elections coming up in Albania. While far ahead of the United States in women’s leadership in its legislature, women’s representation advocates seek to build on their progress. The oped lays out five recommendations  summarized as: 

• Enforcing and Exceeding Gender Quotas
• Ensuring Political Party Support for Women Candidates
• Addressing Financial Disparities in Campaign Funding
• Countering Gender Bias, Harassment, and Violence in Politics
• Increasing Women’s Voter Turnout and Electoral Influence

The authors conclude powerfully:

“Globally, as well as in Albania, women have fought for – and won – the right to vote, to work, to lead. This year international Women’s Day marks 30 years from the historic world conference on women and the plan of action that emerged from the Beijing Summit, where the world made a promise: women’s rights are human rights. The next Parliamentary elections are an opportunity to show the country’s resolve not to step back on gender equality, but instead to march forward for all women and girls.Ensuring women’s full participation in politics is not just a women’s issue: it’s a societal and democratic imperative! Advancing women’s leadership in decision making and elected bodies is key to Albania’s democratic development and progress towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Women and men alike must reject the notion of women as passive spectators and work together to create a political system built on equal opportunities. By sustaining and advancing women in decision-making, we actively contribute to a more just and equal country for all Albanians.”

Threats and Harassment Aimed to Deter Women in Power Continue 

Ayaka Yoshida, a 27-year-old Japanese assemblywoman, faced intense online harassment, including nearly 8,000 death threats, after suggesting free sanitary pads be provided in public toilets. The threats, all from a single email address, aimed to silence her activism and reflect a broader trend of gender-based abuse toward outspoken women in Japan. These attacks are a persistent issue for women politicians, especially when discussing women’s health.

Julian Ryall writes for the South China Morning Post:

“We are seeing similar things happening time and time again,” she told This Week in Asia. “Any time that a statement is made or a proposal is written by a female politician, they are almost always attacked.”

According to Kitanaka, topics that trigger the online assailants range across the entire spectrum of issues that are important to Japanese women, including support for working mothers, women’s health, shortages of places at kindergartens, sexual violence in Japanese society, domestic violence and others.

“It is not a large proportion of men who behave like this, but probably a few men who are very active online,” Kitanaka said, adding that such individuals tended to use online tools and social media to preserve their anonymity.

Many of the messages were “creepy” and made women feel stressed, Kitanaka said.

SAVE Act Causes Legal Concerns for Married Women

Last week, the SAVE (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility) Act passed the United States House of Representatives. This legislation will impact any Americans who changed their name, including the millions of women who changed their last names when getting married. Getting the necessary legal documents to comply with SAVE Act requirements (like marriage certificates) is costly and complicated, adding unnecessary stress to already full plates for women and creating additional barriers to casting a ballot. 

Juiliana Kim of NPR writes:  

Legal experts also worry that the ambiguity in the bill will lead to uneven policies across the country, meaning some states and municipalities will enforce stricter document requirements than others.

“ Will marriage certificates be accepted equally across all jurisdictions? We don’t know because some marriage certificates have different types of information on them, depending on the jurisdiction,” said Keesha Middlemass, a professor in the department of political science at Howard University.

Middlemass, who is also a fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution, added that if the bill passes, it will take some time to identify where and how married women are being affected.

“ The disenfranchisement — we won’t know about it until after the fact,” she said.

It’s not unusual for voting laws to take time to iron out issues and identify those affected. But the prospect of sweeping changes to voter registration also comes at a time when elections have been competitive, Middlemass notes.

Arkansas Senate Moves to Eliminate Quotas for State Boards 

In 2024, Arkansas ranked 34th in the nation in our Gender Parity Index and received a D grade overall on its proximity to parity for local, state, and federal elections. But, gender parity is needed in more than just elected and appointed positions; state boards and commissions (paid and unpaid) also need to reach parity to ensure those government functions are representative as well. On Wednesday, the Arkansas Senate passed legislation removing racial and gender quotas for state boards, committees, and councils that have been determined by law. 

Michael R. Wickline writes in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette:

The Arkansas Senate on Tuesday voted to send to the governor a bill aimed at removing racial and gender quotas for certain state boards, committees and councils.

The Senate voted 24-6 to send House Bill 1365 by Rep. Karilyn Brown, R-Sherwood, to the governor.

The bill would remove language from state law that states, “The membership of the state board (of education) shall reflect the diversity in general education.”

Former U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo Models Transparency About Mental Health

I have observed an uptick in younger women leaders experiencing challenges serving in office due to online vitriol and political toxicity. We should confront this challenge to help all public servants, and as part of that, embrace the fact that mental health should carry no more stigma than other health concerns.

I wanted to lift up this Downballot political newsletter account of Colorado’s Yadira Caraveo, who seeks to regain her Denver area congressional seat next year—one of the nation’s few genuine swing seats:

Former Democratic Rep. Yadira Caraveo announced Tuesday that she’d run to reclaim Colorado’s most competitive House seat from Republican Rep. Gabe Evans, who narrowly denied her a second term last year…Caraveo, a pediatrician whose 2022 win made her the first Latina to represent Colorado in Congress, spoke about her mental health struggles ahead of her comeback campaign. Late last month, she told Colorado Public Radio’s Caitlyn Kim that she’d been hospitalized twice last year, including after one incident when she said she’d struggled to fall asleep with the aid of sleeping pills.

“I remember going online and—ever the doctor—looking up the dose that would land me in the intensive care unit and then taking just shy of that,” Caraveo recounted. She said she texted an aide, “If I don’t wake up tomorrow, tell everybody that I’m sorry.” That staffer called 911, and Caraveo went to the hospital, where she was placed on a mental health hold.

While the former congresswoman revealed during her last campaign that she was being treated for depression, she told Kim she was now talking about her experience in detail “so that I can be one more little chip on that wall of trying to take down the stereotypes and the stigma that exists around mental health care.”

Caraveo later told the Denver Post’s John Aguilar in an interview for her campaign launch, “Now that I’m getting that proper treatment and that I’m on the right medications—that I’ve really taken care of issues that I had been ignoring for a long time because I was putting other people ahead of myself—I’m in an even better position to represent this district.” She added, “As long as you seek help, you can get better—you can still do hard things.”

I was in NYC this last weekend and my husband and I enjoyed several shows and a Hudson River tour that included a stop at the Statue of Liberty which was a powerful reminder of the core values of our nation that are captured in the preamble to the United States Constitution: 

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

Very fragrant jasmine is blooming in my garden this week.

Thats all for this week!