Between the ongoing ICE occupation of Los Angeles and the assassination of Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman, we have to acknowledge it’s been hard to find joy this week.
But we won’t make it through trying times, let alone make progress, if we don’t take a moment to celebrate the gains we’ve made. And in 2024, we actually did make big gains for Black women.
In honor of this week’s Juneteenth holiday, we wanted to note that for the first time ever, two Black women—Sen. Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland and Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware—are serving in the US Senate at the same time.
We know this seems like small gain in the face of everything we’re confronting, but small gains can lead to bigger ones, and that’s how durable progress happens.
And this gain is thanks in part to your hard work friend, and the hard work of the Electing Women Alliance community. During the 2024 cycle, local groups raised more than half a million dollars for both Angela and Lisa.
Both have been outspoken critics of the administration, especially from their seats on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee, where they recently grilled RFK Jr. about his firing of top scientists at HHS and decision to shut down the vaccine advisory committee.
As we mark Juneteenth, let’s also celebrate both Angela and Lisa, and recommit to our mission of electing more Democratic women, especially Black women who have been overlooked and underfunded for too long.