What This Moment Requires of Us: Women, Voting Rights and the Battle for Representation
Weekend Reading on Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation in politics, on boards, in sports and entertainment, in judicial offices and in the private sector in the U.S. and around the world—with a little gardening and goodwill mixed in for refreshment!
This Week
Milestones:
Birthdays for notable women:
- Ellen Malcolm, founder of EMILY’s List;
- Meredith Sumpter, CEO of FairVote;
- Chelsea Terrell;
- Jessica Byrd, Three Point Strategies;
- Betty Friedan, feminist author;
- Rosa Parks, civil rights activist;
- Jennifer Granholm, former U.S. secretary of Energy;
- Shahana Hanif, New York City Council member;
- Gwen Young, Women Business Collaborative;
- Courtney Hill, political consultant;
- Jean Stothert, former mayor of Omaha;
- Simone Ross, president and CEO of Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce;
- Laura Thornton, director of Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund;
- Maura Healey, governor of Massachusetts;
- Ann Kempski;
- Judith Nicholson.
What Does This Moment Require of Us?
In recent weeks, I have found myself asking the same question again and again: What does this moment require of us?
This week, as part of Gender on the Ballot’s New Year Resolution Series, we shared ours, and I want to start here, because it sits at the heart of everything we’re building at RepresentWomen this year:
“In 2026, as we mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, RepresentWomen resolves to honor Abigail Adams’ call to ‘remember the ladies’ by designing a democracy that finally harnesses women’s full participation and power. Women make up half of the population, yet remain underrepresented in elected office — a gap that persists when electoral rules fail to fully reflect the diversity and collaboration voters want. This year, we commit to addressing the barriers women face by expanding ranked-choice voting and supporting legislative rule changes that translate women’s leadership into lasting representation.”
That resolution isn’t symbolic. It’s personal, practical, and it’s already shaping how we show up this year; in the research we’re publishing, the partnerships we’re deepening, and the reforms we’re working to advance. It’s guiding how we think about power, not as something women are granted someday, but as something women are already exercising when the rules finally allow it.
One of the clearest ways we live out that commitment is by creating spaces where women’s expertise isn’t sidelined or qualified, but centered.
Six years ago, I started planning what would become our annual Democracy Solutions Summit after realizing that far too many conversations about democracy were happening without women. I was attending panels where the expertise was real, and the stakes were high, yet the voices were overwhelmingly male. I kept thinking about how different those conversations might look and how much stronger our democracy could be if women were consistently trusted to lead them. So we created one.
What began as a small but intentional space has grown into an annual gathering of women leaders, organizers, philanthropists, researchers, and reformers from across the country—and around the globe. Each year, the conversations have deepened, our Women Experts in Democracy Directory has grown, the urgency has sharpened, and the stakes have become clearer. This isn’t just a convening; it’s a place where women come together to share what’s working, challenge what isn’t, and imagine what democracy could look like if it truly reflected our communities.
Now, as we enter our fifth year, this work feels more urgent than ever. As February begins and we mark Black History Month, I’m reminded that the fight for a more representative democracy has always been carried forward by women who refused to accept exclusion as inevitable. Women whose leadership shaped the systems we rely on today, even when those systems failed to fully recognize their power. Their voices—past and present—continue to guide this work.
That lineage is part of what we’ll be honoring at this year’s Democracy Solutions Summit. Our 2026 gathering is grounded in the theme Women’s Power by Design, and over three days, we’ll explore Where We’ve Been, Where We Are, and Where We’re Going. From the women who laid the groundwork for reform to those organizing and governing today to the leaders imagining what comes next, this Summit is about understanding how power has been built—and how it can be redesigned to finally reflect the people it serves.
On Day 1, as we reflect on Where We’ve Been, we’ll be joined by April Albright of Black Voters Matter. Her work, and the work of so many Black women organizers, is a powerful reminder that progress is never accidental. It is shaped by people who show up, who organize, and who insist on being counted, again and again.
This is why the Democracy Solutions Summit matters. Not as a moment, but as a practice. A place to listen, to learn, to challenge our assumptions, and to carry forward the lessons of those who came before us while equipping today’s leaders with the tools they need to shape what comes next.
This year’s resolution is not something we set aside after January. It is something we return to, build on, and live out through the work we do together to shape a more representative democracy where women hold an equal seat at the table.
Register for the 2026 Democracy Solutions Summit.
“MEGA-lomania” Bill on Elections Is War on Voting Rights, Voter Choice and Women
House Republicans have introduced the so-called “Make Elections Great Again” (MEGA) Act, a bill that Democracy Docket called perhaps the greatest threat to voting rights our country has ever seen.
Part of this bill would ban any use of ranked-choice voting—and indeed, any alternative voting system—for federal elections, which would overturn adoptions in states like Alaska, Maine and Washington, D.C.
Stephen Richer, recently the Republican election clerk of Arizona’s largest county, wrote for the Cato Institute in an article titled, “MEGA” Bill Supersizes the Federal Government’s Role in Election Administration, about how the bill gets into issues that should be left to the states.
Democracy Docket issued an analysis, “New GOP anti-voting bill may be the most dangerous attack on voting rights ever,” that included:
“Republicans in Congress have unveiled a new bill that would impose the most extreme voting restrictions ever proposed at the federal level. The new bill goes far beyond even the SAVE Act, which the House passed last year and which one historian called “the most extraordinary attack on voting rights in American history.”
Harvard professor Danielle Allen took on the bill in The Renovator:
“Last week, Republicans in Congress introduced the MEGA bill. They call it the Make Elections Great Again Act. I call it the Megalomania bill. This bill moves forward an agenda that the president had tried advancing as an executive order to extend further federal control over state election systems.
Perhaps the most important provision of the MEGA bill is a ban on the use of ranked-choice voting for federal elections. Both Alaska and Maine already use RCV for federal elections, and one reason they do that is to ensure that the people as a whole — not a small partisan base — determine who represents them in office. Because when the people as a whole control elections, and when a majority winner is required, the election system cannot be anywhere nearly so easily captured by corrupt or hyperpartisan interests, as has occurred across the many states without RCV.
Grassroots advocates who work on RCV have always understood that their measure was a counterweight to the forces of corruption. No surprise, then, that the forces of corruption are now taking it on. They understand its power, too. But this isn’t a fight between a megalomaniac President and another branch of government. This is a fight between the president and the people.
Good news: The people are ready. Here is Meredith Sumpter, CEO of FairVote, with a message to all Americans about why we need to stand up for our power to choose an election system that puts power back in our hands: FairVote Reacts to the MEGA Bill.
FairVote’s Meredith Sumpter also issued a statement last week that included:
“Republicans in the U.S. House have introduced a major new elections bill that is full of unfunded, unworkable, and anti-voter mandates. Among other things, the bill would prohibit ranked-choice voting in federal general elections – even though it’s already used in some form in several states.
“This raises fundamental questions. Why sabotage a party-neutral reform that works for voters? Why would Washington D.C. override the American people who’ve chosen ranked-choice voting for their elections? Why are politicians in D.C. more focused on trying to control elections than actually competing for votes? 9 out of 10 Americans say our Congress is not working or listening to them. Yet, these members want to ban the reform that could get our elected representatives back to work for voters. The only path to a strong, functioning republic is to respect voters and empower our elected leaders to work for them.”
RepresentWomen for years has worked with women’s and electoral reform groups to showcase the positive impact of RCV for women, including playing a key role in electing Maine’s first woman governor, Alaska’s first Native Alaskan woman to Congress, and women to a majority of seats on city councils elected by RCV. It is deeply troubling that Republicans want to shut down our states’ advancement of this reform.
As I wrote on Ranked-Choice Voting Day earlier this month:
“Building a thriving democracy in the United States requires strategies that address the root causes of the imbalance of power. That power imbalance cannot be addressed by trying to “win” the next election cycle for “our” side. Adopting better voting systems, campaign finance rules, and election processes are necessary ingredients to give us all real power to elect the candidates who represent us and the ability to hold them accountable.”
Forthcoming Memoir by Former First Lady of Iceland, Eliza Reid: The First Lady Next Door
Finding your voice often matters most when you feel least prepared to use it. That idea sits at the heart of The First Lady Next Door, the forthcoming memoir by Eliza Reid, the former first lady of Iceland, and is one RepresentWomen will explore next month at the Democracy Solutions Summit.
Reid will join RepresentWomen for a featured conversation on Wednesday, March 11, at 3 p.m. EST, bringing a global perspective on leadership, democracy, and the often unseen realities women face as they navigate power.
Before her life took an unexpected turn, Reid was a writer, entrepreneur, and mother of four, focused on meeting deadlines, growing writers’ retreats and managing the daily rhythms of family life. Politics was not part of the plan. But in early 2016, her husband ran for president of Iceland and won.
Almost overnight, Reid’s life changed forever. As is written in the overview of her forthcoming book:
“Suddenly, Canadian—born Eliza was catapulted into a new life as First Lady of her adopted country, with the eyes of a nation watching her every move—as someone’s wife. Absent an instruction manual (she Googled how to curtsey before meeting the Queen of Denmark), she decided to do what she’d always done: figure it out on her own terms.
Part fish out—of—water story and part fairy tale, The First Lady Next Door takes readers from rural Ontario to Timbuktu, and from the White House to Buckingham Palace. Eliza shows how embracing authenticity in all its messiness can become our greatest strength, even when the world expects polished perfection. After all, our everyday moments are what create the roadmap for making the unexpected count.”
At its core, Reid’s story is not just about public life. It’s about what happens when ordinary women are thrust into extraordinary circumstances, and how leadership often emerges not from ambition, but from necessity.
These themes were front and center last fall when RepresentWomen’s Katie Usalis interviewed Reid at the Reykjavik Global Forum. Standing in a hall surrounded by women heads of state and global leaders, Reid resisted the idea that progress belongs to those with titles. Instead, she emphasized what she called “the collective power of individuals.”
“We can’t just have a trickle-down approach,” she says. “Even when we have these great women leaders … we don’t say, ‘Oh look, we have women leading in so many top positions, therefore I, who am not in one of those positions, don’t need to do anything.’”
The conversation, later published in Ms. Magazine, featured Reid alongside Washington State Representative Liz Berry and Irish Senator Alison Comyn, examining democracy reform, the power of women’s leadership, and the structural barriers shaping women’s political power nationwide. Reid’s insights — grounded, candid, relatable, and globally informed — underscore why her voice is such a powerful addition to this year’s Democracy Solutions Summit.
For those interested in following her work more closely, Reid also publishes thoughtful, short monthly reflections on her Substack, which you can access here. Additionally, her memoir will be released this spring and is available for pre-order now.
Eleanor Holmes Norton Stepping Down as D.C. Embraces Ranked-Choice Voting
Washington, D.C.’s legendary delegate to Congress, Eleanor Holmes Norton, will not run for re-election this year after 35 years in office. From PBS News:
“An institution in Washington politics for decades, Norton is the oldest member in the House. She was a personal friend to civil rights icons such as Medgar Evers and a contemporary of other activists turned congressional stalwarts, including Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C, and the late Reps. John Conyers, D-Mich., and John Lewis, D-Ga….
As the district’s delegate, Norton does not have a formal vote in the House. But she has found other ways to advocate for the city’s interests. Called the “Warrior on the Hill” by her supporters, Norton was a staunch advocate for D.C. statehood and for the labor rights of the federal workers who called Washington and its surrounding region home.
She also secured bipartisan wins for district residents. Norton was the driving force behind the passage of a law that allows them to attend any public college or university in the country at in-state tuition rates or be eligible to attend any private university with up to a $2,500 annual grant. In the 1990s, Norton played a key role in ending the city’s financial crisis by brokering a deal to transfer billions of dollars in unfunded pension liabilities to the federal government in exchange for changes to the district’s budget. She twice played a leading role in House passage of a D.C. statehood bill.”
After a landslide ballot measure won with 73 percent of the vote, backed by Grow Democracy DC, Washington, D.C., will introduce ranked-choice voting to its primary and general elections this year. With a crowded race for delegates and additional open seats for mayor and city council, this year will provide a terrific opportunity to showcase the incentives RCV creates for campaigns, leading to greater civility, voter engagement, and consensus-building.
RepresentWomen’s news release in December explained the value of RCV in such elections, including:
“Ranked-choice voting is tested and proven. Numerous cities and states across the country have implemented ranked-choice voting successfully, a trend well-documented by FairVote in its national tracking of ranked-choice voting’s growth and performance. These communities have shown that there is a clear playbook for strong voter education and effective election administration, and voters consistently report finding ranked-choice voting simple and easy to understand once they use it.
Importantly, ranked-choice voting elections have produced more diverse candidate fields and more representative outcomes, especially for women and communities of color — benefits that align with D.C.’s longstanding commitment to access and inclusion.”
Latinas for Trump Co-Founder Warns Fellow Republicans on Immigration
I join most Americans in reacting in horror to the heavy-handed tactics pursued by the Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security in Minneapolis and other Minnesota cities. Two American citizens have been killed by federal immigration officers with ICE and the Border Patrol, with appalling and now-discredited efforts to blame the victims for their deaths.
While leading administration figures like JD Vance and Stephen Miller have led in such attacks on the victims, one particularly reprehensible response to the murder of Alex Pretti came on Facebook from Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.):
“An armed seditionist attacked federal law enforcement today as they were rounding up foreign invaders in Minneapolis. The insurrection was put down. Well done. I stand with ICE as they fight these foreign invaders and their treasonous allies. “
Republican state Sen. Ileana Garcia, a Coral Gables resident who co-founded Latinas for Trump, sees it differently. As reported in The New York Times, Garcia is concerned about the overt racial profiling and indiscriminate aggression against citizens, legal immigrants, and undocumented people alike.
The Times story begins (emphasis added):
“The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown over the last year has gone from uncomfortable to untenable for Ileana Garcia, a Republican state senator in Florida.
A Transportation Security Administration officer at the Tallahassee airport overheard her speaking Spanish and asked whether Ms. Garcia, who was born in Miami, was an American citizen. She worried for the first time that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents might stop her son, a young adult, because he looks Hispanic. Constituents have asked her for help finding immigrant relatives arrested by ICE.
Ms. Garcia, 56, has had enough. The Republican Party is in trouble, she said in an interview, predicting that it will lose this year’s midterm elections if the White House does not soon reconsider its harsh immigration enforcement tactics.
“We should not be afraid as a party to speak up, to course correct,” she said.
That was before Saturday, when Border Patrol agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old I.C.U. nurse who was protesting in Minneapolis, and federal officials sought to portray him as a “domestic terrorist.” Ms. Garcia said she was “dumbfounded.”
Trump’s So-Called Board of Peace: “An International Body in Service to One Man’s Ego”
The Guardian profiles Donald Trump’s feckless attempt to create an alternative to the United Nations in its editorial “an international body in service to one man’s ego.” It writes:
“The charter of the board, formally launched in Davos on Thursday, suggests that this is less America First than Trump Always. It is not “the US president” but Mr Trump himself who is named as chair, for as long as he wishes. He can pick his successor, decide the agenda and axe whomever he chooses – even if they have coughed up the $1bn demanded for permanent membership. It is the institutional expression of his belief that he is bound not by law but “my own morality, my own mind”.
CNN’s coverage lists the nations—limited to autocrats and populist allies of Trump, with Hungary, led by Viktor Orban, the only Western European nation to attend. Only a single leader is a woman: Vjosa Osmani of Kosovo.
As a corrective, a bracing but important speech was given by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at Davos about the rupture in the international order, meaning that countries like Canada must disengage from any special relationship with the United States and forge new trade and political alliances.
In the same spirit, The New York Times included the chart below, recently published as “Trump and His Inner Circle Weave a Web of Power, Policy and Profits.” Of the 27 people lifted up in photos, only three are women: his daughters Tiffany Trump and Ivanka Trump, and his wife, Melania Trump.
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar Enters Governor Race as Favorite
After weeks of speculation and a surprising tweak to the political landscape in Minnesota, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar has announced her candidacy for governor in the 2026 election, stepping into a race reshaped by Gov. Tim Walz’s decision not to seek a third term and by intense national debates over immigration enforcement and state governance. In her campaign launch, Klobuchar framed her run as a response to the challenges facing Minnesota and its values, signaling her priorities while addressing the state’s recent struggles, from federal intervention to community trauma. As The Guardian reports on her campaign announcement on Jan 29th:
“Minnesota, we’ve been through a lot,” Klobuchar said in a video posted on X on Thursday morning, calling out political violence across the state, including the recent killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents dispatched to the area by Donald Trump.
She continued: “We cannot sugarcoat how hard this is, but in these moments of enormous difficulty, we find strength in our Minnesota values of hard work, freedom and simple decency and goodwill. These times call for leaders who can stand up and not be rubber stamps of this administration.”
She also emphasized: “I’m running for every one … for every Minnesotan who wants ICE and its abusive tactics out of the state we love.”
Klobuchar is already the frontrunner by double digits in November’s governor contest, as the best-known Democratic figure to declare their candidacy ahead of the primary elections. Republicans, meanwhile, have not won a statewide race since 2006.
Women Lieutenant Governors in Illinois and Minnesota Reach for U.S. Senate in 2026
It’s not always easy for lieutenant governors to step up successfully in elections for governor or U.S. senator, but women are making strong runs for Senate this year.
In Minnesota, Peggy Flanagan leads polls and just secured the endorsement of incumbent Sen. Tina Smith in her bid for the Democratic nomination, while in Illinois Juliana Stratton has the backing of Governor J.B. Pritzker in her bid.
Red Lake Nation News spoke with Sen. Smith about the importance of Flanagan’s support:
“I’ve worked as an organizer, at City Hall, as Lieutenant Governor, and as United States Senator. I know what this job takes, especially in this perilous moment,” said Senator Tina Smith. “We need leaders who have the courage to take bold action, challenge the status quo and fight for people, so they can be safe and afford their lives. That’s why I’m endorsing my friend Peggy Flanagan for United States Senate. Peggy has delivered for Minnesota, and she’s always stood strong for all of us. I’m proud to endorse Peggy and am ready to work as hard as I can to make sure Minnesota sends another progressive fighter to the U.S. Senate.”
Senator Smith’s endorsement adds to the growing support for Flanagan’s campaign as Minnesotans rally around a progressive fighter willing to confront Trump’s agenda head-on. Her endorsement underscores the clear choice in this race: whether to send a senator to Washington who will challenge Trump’s agenda, or one who enabled it. With more than 80 endorsements and thousands of volunteers across Minnesota, Flanagan is building a bold, people-powered campaign rooted in progressive values and a refusal to accept politics as usual.”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul Forms All-Women Ticket for Re-Election
We’ve had generations of all-male tickets for governor and president in the United States, making it a breakthrough for New York governor Kathy Hochul to pick recent New York City council speaker Adrienne Adams as her running mate this year. Adams was a late entrant into the New York City mayoral primary this year, where she finished fourth in first choices—but would have defeated second-place finisher Andrew Cuomo if pitted head-to-head. The Daily News reports:
Gov. Kathy Hochul Wednesday picked former NYC Council Speaker Adrienne Adams as running mate in her fall Democratic reelection campaign, forging the first all-female ticket in state history. Hochul tapped Adams as her lieutenant governor candidate to help her win over minority voters in New York City, lauding their shared working class roots.
“I need a fighter in my corner who’ll stand strong for New York families. Adrienne Adams is that fighter,” Hochul said in a statement. “We’re going to continue investing in public safety, bringing costs down, and making this state a place where all families can thrive,” Hochul added.
March 6 at Politics & Prose: The Life and Legacy of Jeannette Rankin, the First Woman Elected to Congress
I will be joining my friend and author, Lorissa Rinehart, at Politics & Prose next month for a special conversation on her new book, Winning the Earthquake, exploring the life and legacy of Jeannette Rankin, the first woman elected to Congress and a founding trailblazer for women’s representation today. Visit their website to learn more or to order your own copy of the book.
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