The Women's Wave Rocked the Vote!

Abigail Spanberger giving her victory speech 

after winning election to Congress from Virginia.

           

     Tuesday was a historic day! More women ran for office in 2018 than ever before and more women won! Voters were determined more than ever to elect feminists to positions of leadership. We have ushered in the most diverse Congress in history with huge wins for women, minorities and LGBTQ. Thank you to all who canvassed, made phone calls, wrote letters, protested, marched, walked out, showed up, voted and got up every day exhausted, but found the strength to go on.
Here is what happened:

More than 110 women are headed to Congress (some races still to be determined)
98 to the House and 12 to the Senate

9 female Governors elected: Gina Raimondo (D-RI); Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI); Janet Mills (D-ME); Kate Brown (D-OR); Kay Ivey (R-AL); Kim Reynolds (R-IA); Kristi Noem (R-SD); Laura Kelly (D-KS); Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM)

Two transgender women, Gerri Cannon and Lisa Bunker, elected to the New Hampshire House of Representatives.

The first openly gay man elected as Governor in Colorado who is also the state’s first Jewish Governor (Jared Polis)

Chris Pappas is New Hampshire’s first openly gay member of Congress

Two Native American women elected to the House: Deb Haaland, a member of the Pueblo of Laguna tribe in New Mexico, and Sharice Davids, a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation in Kansas

The first lesbian Native American elected to the House from Kansas (Sharice Davids)

In Texas, the first two Latinas, Veronica Escobar and Sylvia Garcia, elected to the House

In Massachusetts, Ayanna Pressley, the first African American woman elected to Congress, beat a 10-term incumbent

In Connecticut, the National Teacher of the Year 2016 Jahana Hayes is the first African American woman going to Congress

29-year-old Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, a Latina from New York, became the youngest woman ever going to Congress

The first Muslim women elected to Congress from Michigan (Rashida Tlaib) and Minnesota (Ilhan Omar)

Safiya Wazir, an Afghan refugee woman, headed to New Hampshire State House


Ilhan Omar, a refugee, is the first Somali American to be elected to Congress

Rashida Tlaib is the first Palestinian American woman elected to Congress

Angie Craig, defeats anti-LGBTQ congressman in Minnesota to become the first lesbian mom to be headed to Congress from Minnesota

Former Dreamer, Catalina Cruz, a woman who was undocumented for 10 years, is headed to the New York State House

Two transgender women, Gerri Cannon and Lisa Bunker, are elected to the New Hampshire House of Representatives

Democrats Susan Ruiz and Brandon Woodard become the first LGBTQ members of the Kansas state legislature

Zach Wahls, who defended his two lesbian moms before the Iowa House of Representatives in 2011, becomes a state lawmaker himself

Malcolm Kenyatta is the first LGBTQ black man elected to the Pennsylvania legislature

Teri Johnston is elected mayor of Key West, Florida, becoming the state’s first lesbian mayor

Massachusetts voters uphold transgender rights protections

Kate Brown, the country’s first lesbian governor, and Tammy Baldwin, the first LGBTQ senator, are re-elected

Kim Davis (yes, THAT Kim Davis) was defeated in reelection bid by the man she refused a marriage license to  

We have a lot to celebrate!  After the first Women’s March, many mocked us. They laughed at our protests and said we would never make a difference at the polls. One politician called us “silly girls”. On Tuesday, we proved them wrong!  It is astounding to think about how far women have come since the first women’s marches across the country the day after President Trump was inaugurated. Many of these 2018 candidates were considered long shots, but they organized and they won! We all resisted, we persisted and we won!
 
And persist we will, because the struggle is far from over. We must work even harder going forward. 2020 is just around the corner. Celebrate our successes, get some rest and get back in the fight. The National Organization for Women needs you. Join the chapter nearest you!  Together we can move full steam ahead and change the world.
 
Melba Evans, President
National Organization for Women, Charlotte

I Am Woman

   

         One of my favorite women's rights activist of all time is Sojourner Truth. Sojourner Truth, who was born into slavery, became both an abolitionist and a women's rights activist. In 1851, she extemporaneously delivered a speech called "Ain't I Woman" in Akron, Ohio at the Ohio Women's Convention. Her short, simple speech was a powerful rebuke to many anti-feminist arguments of the day. It became, and continues to serve, as a classic expression of women's rights. Truth became, and still is today, a symbol of strong women  One of my favorite parts of this courageous speech is "If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again!"  Indeed we can!

     This week, Time Magazine named the "Silence Breakers" as person of the year. The cover of the magazine featured five women and an anonymous arm. The anonymous arm belongs to a woman in Texas, a healthcare worker and a mother, who still wishes to remain anonymous. She is in solidarity with all those women who have not yet been able to come forward. Let's not forget that the women on the cover are rich and famous, but there are so many women in small towns and lower paying jobs who can not afford to come forward. May we, our daughters, our granddaughters and our sisters continue to speak out and be united in one powerful voice and always speak for those who can not speak for themselves. 

                                                           
I Am Woman by Melba Evans 11/2017

I am WOMAN.

Never doubt that I will accomplish just what I say I will.

Never think that I am not wise or witty or shrewd.

I am fearless and will walk gently into the night unafraid.

I can do anything because I am all these things.

I am WOMAN

I am WOMAN

Do not think I cannot make a contribution to this world.

I will change the world.

Women have contributed to this world since the beginning of time.

Women have been there in wars, in famines, in life and even in death.

I am WOMAN

I am WOMAN

Never tell me what I can and cannot do.

I will take your hand when no one else will.  

I will take the hand of a child till it is no longer needed.

I am a teacher, a giver, a lover, a healer and a truth teller.

I am WOMAN

I am WOMAN

Do not tell me when I grow old that I am worthless to society.

Do not tell me that I am used up because I am divorced, widowed or alone.

I can leap in and out of life with great courage.

And in aloneness, I find my strength

I am WOMAN

I am WOMAN

Do not pity me for the wrinkles of time.

Time has created me through many wounded pieces.

I’ve survived strife and conflict and I wear these wrinkles as a badge of honor.

A true woman’s beauty is in her courage, in her heart and in her soul.

I am a survivor because

I am WOMAN