The task of the NRA, then—to target their resources to the battleground states and districts like squares on a checkerboard, and try to alarm just enough swing voters there -- is rendered much easier by the geographic-based political map of our winner-take-all system. And it is not too hard to figure out where to target: a 2020 Rand Corporation study found that the 20 states with the highest rates of gun ownership elected almost two-thirds of the Senate’s Republican lawmakers and comprised about two-thirds of the states that President Donald Trump carried in the 2020 election. The 20 states with the lowest rates of gun ownership have more than two and a half times as many residents (about 192 million) as the 20 states with the highest gun-ownership rates (about 69 million).

Greta Thunberg, painted by Melanie Humble

The Senate on Thursday confirmed Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, making her the first Black woman to be elevated to the pinnacle of the judicial branch in what her supporters hailed as a needed step toward bringing new diversity and life experience to the court.

It was then Jackson’s turn. She thanked God, her glowing family, her friends and her country. She invoked Justice Stephen G. Breyer, for whom she clerked, a not-too-subtle reminder that if the Senate found him acceptable, there should be no reason to oppose her. She gave a nod to Constance Baker Motley, the first African American woman appointed to the federal judiciary. And Jackson reaffirmed her “careful adherence to precedent,” acknowledging her tendency to write long opinions so people know exactly her reasons for deciding a case. (If only the Supreme Court’s right-wing justices felt similarly and stopped abusing the “shadow docket” and issuing orders without written opinions.)

• Day One: Fair Elections – Upgrading How We Vote & Finance Campaigns
• Day Two: Fair Access: The Electoral College, Voting Rights & the Legacy of Lani Guinier 
• Day Three: Fair Representation: House Expansion, Redistricting, Ranked Choice Voting, & the Fair Representation Act 

The 30-second ad, released on Thursday by liberal advocacy group Demand Justice and exclusively previewed by theGrio, features MoveOn Executive Director Rahna Epting, National Women’s Law Center President and CEO Fatima Goss Graves, Planned Parenthood Federation of America President and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson, Advancement Project Executive Director Judith Browne Dianis and National Education Association President Becky Pringle.  

Women demonstrate on International Women's Day in Mexico, which has achieved gender parity in government. Karen Melo/Getty Images

Sitting in a park in Paris, France
Reading the news and it sure looks bad
They won't give peace a chance
That was just a dream some of us had...

Putin, Erdogan, and Xi with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other world leaders at the G-20 summit in Hangzhou, China, September 2016 Stephen Crowley /The New York Times / Redux

As an engine of genuine democratic progress, activism by women and gender minorities threatens authoritarian leaders. Although many autocrats and aspiring autocrats no doubt believe the sexist and misogynistic things they say, their campaigns to restrict women’s empowerment and human rights also seek to undermine potential popular democratic movements that would oust them.

Marsha P. Johnson was an outspoken advocate for LGBTQIA+ rights and was a crucial figure in the Stonewall Riots of 1969. Johnson was a founding member of the Gay Liberation Front and co-founded the activist group Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries. Johnson was active at gay rights rallies throughout life and was present at the first Gay Pride rally in New York City in 1970. Johnson was also a familiar presence at other radical political actions. Johnson actively spoke to raise awareness about violence against the LGBTQIA+ community and participated in AIDS-relevant activism with AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power (ACT UP).

Stacey Abrams, painted by Melanie Humble

Black women’s representation has steadily increased in Congress and state legislatures, but they have still struggled to win statewide races. No Black woman has ever been elected governor, and there are no Black women serving in the U.S. Senate after Kamala Harris vacated her seat to become vice president.

That could change this year.

NY governor Kathy Hochul

In New York City, where the new 51-member city council is women-majority for the first time ever, organizations like 21 in ‘21 intentionally focused their attention on races without incumbents. More than 30 council seats were open because of term limits.

“Open seats were the only places that we chose to play, because those were the places that we knew there was tremendous opportunity,” said Jessica Haller, executive director for the group.

Front row (from left): Althea Stevens, Marjorie Velázquez, Lynn Schulman, Gale Brewer, Kamillah Hanks, Vickie Paladino, Sandy Nurse, Tiffany Cabán, Shahana Hanif, and Julie Won. Middle row: Farah Louis, Joann Ariola, Linda Lee, Julie Menin, Darlene Mealy, and Mercedes Narcisse. Back row: Amanda Farías, Alexa Avilés, Rita Joseph, Crystal Hudson, Carmen De La Rosa, Nantasha Williams, and Pierina Sanchez. Not pictured: Adrienne Adams, Diana Ayala, Selvena Brooks-Powers, Jennifer Gutiérrez, Kristin Richardson Jordan, Carlina Rivera, Sandra Ung, and Inna Vernikov. Photo: Victor Llorente/Victor Llorente