Cynthia Richie Terrell with Veterans for All Voters

Veterans for All Voters hosted an inspiring March All-Hands Call featuring Alicia Washkevich (New Politics), Cynthia Richie Terrell (RepresentWomen), and Erika Justis Blas (Mormon Women for Ethical Government). These leaders shared their stories of service and highlighted reforms aimed at strengthening democracy, empowering women, and elevating veteran voices in politics.

Veterans for All Voters’ March 20 all-hands spotlighted women-led, veteran-led, and military-spouse-led efforts strengthening American democracy. Alicia Washkevich (New Politics), Cynthia Richie Terrell (RepresentWomen), and Erika Justis Blas (Mormon Women for Ethical Government) shared service-driven paths into civic leadership, scalable strategies to recruit and support candidates, and nonpartisan reforms, such as ranked choice voting, that empower voters and elevate women’s representation.

Featured Guests:

• Alicia Washkevich, Chief Operations Officer, New Politics (U.S. Navy veteran)
• Cynthia Richie Terrell, Founder & Executive Director, RepresentWomen (co-founder, FairVote)
• Erika Justis Blas, Director of Development, Mormon Women for Ethical Government (military spouse)

Highlights / Key Takeaways:

• Service-to-civic pipeline: New Politics demystifies campaigns and provides no-cost candidate advising, enabling veterans and service alumni to run—and continue serving—at every level.
• Structural reform for fairer outcomes: RepresentWomen emphasizes the importance of ranked choice voting and broader election design changes that enable more women to run, win, serve, and lead.
• Principled, nonpartisan engagement: MWEG equips women of faith with media literacy, peacemaking skills, and advocacy tools to transcend partisanship and champion ethical government.
• Ecosystem collaboration: Cross-movement coordination (veterans, women’s leadership, faith communities) accelerates reform wins and builds durable, values-based coalitions.
• Values over jargon: Centering shared American values—service, accountability, fairness—connects reforms to real people, not just policy mechanics.

Organizations Mentioned: Veterans for All Voters, New Politics, RepresentWomen, FairVote, Mormon Women for Ethical Government

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