The last two weeks have definitely been hard for women and the men who care about them. Now we’re being treated to the spectacle of Republican claims that giving a Supreme Court seat to a man who faced credible sexual assault allegations will be a boon to their party in the upcoming midterm elections. These are, indeed, dark days.
That’s why this ad–called “Women Rising” with Bruce Springsteen’s 2002 song “The Rising” playing in the background–was such a good reminder of what is actually taking place, often below the radar.
The part of the ad that is particularly powerful is that none of these women have ever run for office before. Long before any of us had heard of Brett Kavanaugh, women all over the country from a variety of backgrounds were stepping up to the plate to run in record numbers. I’d love to see a similar video highlighting this trend:
Hundreds of current and former educators, most of them Democrats like Hoffman, are on general election ballots from school board to governor — far exceeding educator candidacies prior to this year’s #RedForEd protests…
She and the other teacher candidates represent a wild-card political movement following the teacher-driven #RedForEd effort that drew support from parents and school children in Arizona, Colorado, Kentucky, Oklahoma and West Virginia and also focused on outdated textbooks, crowded classrooms and teacher shortages. Across the country, some educators have already won primary races against the incumbent state legislators they blamed for public school spending cutbacks.
“It’s about standing up for what’s right and bringing that teacher’s voice to that position,” Hoffman said. “I felt it should come straight from the classroom.”
While some of those teachers are men, the majority of them are women like Jahana Hayes.
In case you are keeping track, FiveThirtyEight gives Hayes a 97 percent chance of being the next congresswoman to represent Connecticut’s 5th district. She says that, “if Congress starts to look like us, no one can stop us.” Regardless of what Republicans claim, that is exactly what’s happening.
After recent events, some of us came out of the gate swinging and others may need a little time to take care of ourselves and heal. But make no mistake about it, as the incomparable Bonnie Raitt sang…
Take me down
You can hold me but you
Can’t hold what’s within
Pull me round
Push me to the limit
Maybe I may bend
But I know where I’m not going
I will not be broken
