It started with a sea of “Pink Pussy Hats” in cities across the United States.
There were nonbelievers. Unsustainable, the right opined. Some even laughed and said none of the marches would ever make a difference on election day.
But the anger and frustration of women appalled at the Trump presidency sent hundreds of moms, teachers, CEOs, activists, and more of all races and creeds to join together in grass-roots efforts to learn how to run for, and win, political offices.
These former protesters turned their activism and anger into action and created boot camps to storm Congress in a big blue tsunami.
Becoming a force to be reckoned, these women went beyond the traditional Roe v. Wade and education issues. Their platform included immigration, the environment—andgun violence.
Gun violence moved to front and center of the platform when on Valentine’s Day, 2018, a lone shooter killed 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Now famous student activists kicked off a national voter registration drive and enlisted a new generation of voters to send anti-NRA candidates, many of them women, to DC.
The army gained momentum. Women’s rights became human rights.
“A woman’s place is in the House…and the Senate.” —Kristin Hannah, author
And on November 6, 2018, history was made.
- Americans elected more than 100 women to the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time in history—turning the house into a Democratic majority—essentially turning Trump into a lame duck president for his last two years.
- Two Muslim women will serve in Congress for the first time.
- Historically, two female Native American women were elected to Congress.
- New York’s 14th District will have two youngest woman ever elected to Congress representing them.
- Nine states now have women governors.
It is mind-boggling to think of the path women carved out of the women’s marches just two short years ago since President Trump’s inauguration. Wait until 2020.
“They marched, they ran, and on Election Day, they won.”—The New York Times
Photo Credit: cmcarterss Flickr via Compfight cc
Dori Owen
Dori Owen blogs on ArizonaGirlDiary.tumblr.com, is a columnist on FeminineCollective.com, a contributor/editor for The Lithium Chronicles, created the Facebook page Diary of an Arizona Girl, is an author on AskABipolar, was featured in the books FeminineCollective RAW&UNFILTERED VOL I and StigmaFighters Vol II, and is a zealous tweeter as @doriowen. She's a former LA wild child who settled into grownup life as a project manager, collecting an MBA and a few husbands along the way. Dori spent her adult years in Southern California, with a brief stay in Reno, and has now returned to where she ran away from in Arizona. She is a shown artist, writer, and her favorite pastime is upcycling old furniture she finds from thrift stores. She lives with her beloved rescued terrier, Olivia Twist, and the cat who came to visit but stayed. The love of her life is her grown son in Portland, Oregon who very much resents being introduced after her pets. But she she does love him the most.
