Historic firsts, new leadership, and a “pink wave” that’s reshaping democracy — this week, we celebrate the women and systems driving lasting change.
Election night 2025 was memorable and inspiring. I stayed up late, following every update, every new call — watching history unfold in real time. By midnight, it was clear: the night had broken not just records, but barriers.
In a night of firsts, two close friends and former congressional roommates, Abigail Spanberger of Virginia and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey, made history together. Spanberger was elected Virginia's first woman governor, while Sherrill became New Jersey’s first Democratic woman governor and the first woman military veteran to serve as governor in American history.
In Virginia, the breakthroughs didn’t stop there. Voters elected State Senator Ghazala Hasmi as lieutenant governor, making her the first Asian American and Muslim woman ever to hold statewide executive office in the Commonwealth. Across the country, women claimed historic wins at every level, from mayoral races in cities like Detroit, Syracuse, Albany, and St. Paul to record-settling representation in local councils.
And in New York City, women strengthened their governing power, not only maintaining their super-majority on the 51-member Council, but increasing it from 31 to 32 members. Brooklyn’s Kayla Santosuosso captured an open seat, while Shirley Aldebol flipped the Bronx’s lone Republican-held district.
As each result came in, I found myself thinking about what this moment must feel like for all the women whose names were being etched into history, and what these milestones would mean for the next generation — for my own daughters, and for every young woman watching. Amid the celebration, one moment in particular during Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger’s victory speech captured the essence of my thoughts and the heart of what this night meant, as she said:
“Just a few minutes ago, Adam said to our daughters, ‘Your mom’s gonna be the governor of Virginia. I can guarantee those words have never been spoken in Virginia ever before.”
This line resonated with me on a deeply personal level, as a mother and someone who has spent decades working toward gender-balanced democracy. Hearing those words spoken, for the first time in Virginia’s history, was profoundly inspiring.
For years, I’ve watched the glass ceiling in Virginia remain intact despite numerous cracks. To finally see it shatter — and to witness Spanberger deliver a victory speech defined by respect, unity, and humility — felt like a glimpse of the kind of politics our nation so desperately needs.
And that spirit of grace carried through her remarks to her opponent, Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, whom Spanberger praised for her service and dedication to the people of Virginia:
“I would like to thank my opponent for a hard-fought race. The Lieutenant Governor's story, her military service, and her years of service here in Virginia deserve our respect and our gratitude, and I ask that you join me in wishing her and her family well. I also know that those who were supporting my opponent are disappointed today, but I want you to know that my goal and intent are to serve all Virginians... I believe in the idea that there’s so much more that unites us, as Virginians and as Americans, than divides us.”
Governor-elect Spanberger’s speech captured what we at RepresentWomen have always believed about women’s leadership: that empathy, pragmatism, and bridge-building are not “soft-skills,” but the foundation of an effective democracy. And this week, those qualities won decisively at the ballot box.
As Women Count put it so perfectly, “The Blue Wave Became Pink in 2025.” From governor’s mansions to city halls, this election delivered more than just headlines — it delivered a historic shift in women’s political power.
I had the opportunity to reflect on this milestone in a Ms. Magazine article, exploring not just who won, but how they won, and what it reveals about the systems shaping our democracy. Here’s a brief excerpt from the piece:
“And these wins are not just individual milestones — they shift how power is distributed. For years, RepresentWomen’s Gender Parity Index has placed both Virginia and New Jersey in the lower-half of state scores. Virginia received an “F” a decade ago and has earned a “D” grade every year since 2017, with women holding just one of the state’s three executive offices and roughly 35 percent of legislative seats. New Jersey has been similarly stalled, staying at a “D” grade consistently since 2003. However, with Spanberger and Hashmi’s victories in Virginia, our projections show that these victories will lift the state into “C” territory, with Virginia’s single change at the top worth nearly a 10-point gain on its own.
Additionally, with Sherrill’s victory, New Jersey has also moved into a “C” range and further gains among women in New Jersey’s lower house could push the state toward a “B”; however, we cannot confirm the state’s exact letter standing until all races are confirmed.
These wins at the executive level in Virginia and New Jersey illustrate how structural wins reverberate throughout the system. They shape appointments, influence legislative priorities, and open the door for more women to step into positions of power. When women lead at the top, the pathways widen for all who follow.”
This moment represents more than electoral success; it embodies the cumulative power of decades of work to redesign our democracy, enabling women to lead, serve, and thrive. Each election cycle brings us closer to the world we’ve long envisioned: one where women’s leadership isn’t exceptional, but expected.
For those of us who have spent our lives pushing for parity, these victories are deeply personal. They remind us that progress is rarely sudden — it builds slowly, generation by generation, through the persistence of those willing to challenge the rules and reimagine what’s possible.
I often think of the women who laid this groundwork long before us — women like former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and former Senator Margaret Chase Smith, who, exactly sixty-nine years before this Election Day, sat together on Face the Nation for the first televised presidential debate. It’s remarkable symmetry: one the very same day that women once made history by simply taking the political stage, women this year made history by winning power across the country.
Eleanor Roosevelt and Margaret Chase Smith on Face the Nation in Washington, D.C., on November 4, 1956. Source: National Archives and Records Administration
Their exchange in 1956 wasn’t just about politics; it was about values, confidence in institutions, the roles of national interests, and the rules that sustain democracy. Those same values echoed in the campaigns of Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill, whose commitments to unity, integrity, and service to all voters ultimately carried them to victory this week.
They, too, were architects of change. Alongside the countless organizers who demanded the vote, the reformers who fought for representation, and the generations of mothers who showed their daughters that their voices mattered, they helped build the foundation upon which this week’s victories stand. Their courage, conviction, and faith in democracy made the historic milestones of Election Night 2025 possible.
And yet, the story is still unfolding. Every new milestone, every woman who steps into office, every system redesigned to be more inclusive, moves us closer to a democracy that truly reflects us all. The task ahead is to ensure that these breakthroughs become the norm, not the news. Because when women lead, they don’t just change policy — they change the pattern of power itself.
Birthday celebrations for notable women this week include: Dr. Danielle Allen (FairVote board chair & Partners in Democracy CEO); former Rep Jaime Herrera Beutler; Sen. Mazie Hironol; Paula Lee; Susana Perez; former First Lady Laura Bush; Cathy Giessel (AK State Senator); my college roommate Eva Bertram, Ruth Hassell-Thompson (former New York State Senator); Aruna Miller (first South Asian woman Lt. Governor in the US and first immigrant Lt. Governor in Maryland); Deb Otis (FairVote Research & Policy); Laurene Powell Jobs (philanthropist); Nicole Carlsburg (former Executive Director of Barbara Lee Foundation); Mattie Parker (Mayor of Fort Worth); and Susie Lee (U.S. Representative.)
Milestones: Idaho passes a bill granting women suffrage (1896). Montana and Nevada pass bills granting women suffrage (1914). Yvette Herrell elected 1st Native American Republican woman to serve in Congress (2020); Maurine Neuberger becomes 1st female Senator from Oregon (1960); Mia Love became first African American Republican Congresswoman (2015), Diane Feinstein became 1st woman to represent California in the United States Senate and became longest serving woman U.S. Senator (2022); Women granted suffrage in OR and KS (1912) & in OK in (1918). New York passes a bill granting women suffrage (1917); Katie Britt is 1st female Senator from AL (2022); Sarah Huckabee Sanders is 1st woman elected as the Governor of AK (2022); Maura Healey & Tina Kotek are 1st out lesbian governors (2022); Mary Peltola is 1st Alaska Native elected to the U.S. Congress (2022).
Speaker Pelosi Announces She Will Not Seek Re-Election
Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi speaks during a press conference after a rally in support of Proposition 50 at IBEW Local 6 in San Francisco on Nov. 3, 2025. Source: KQED
This week, Representative Nancy Pelosi announced that she will not seek re-election, marking the close of one of the most consequential careers in modern American politics.
When Pelosi first entered Congress in 1987, only 25 women were serving in the United States House and Senate combined. Today, there are 151, a testament not only to the changing times but also to her quiet, persistent work in recruiting, supporting, and elevating women in leadership.
The Center for American Women in Politics captured the magnitude of her career perfectly in an email statement this week:
“Today, Representative Nancy Pelosi announced that she would retire at the end of her current term in Congress. She made history as the first woman speaker of the House of Representatives, yes, but in that moment she also altered the way we conceive political power. She made the imaginary real, and for young people who knew no other world, she permanently shifted the boundaries of the possible.
But she was more than a symbol. She is as consequential a speaker as any who has ever served and much more so than many. She guided an ideologically diverse party through extremely fractious times and shepherded one of the most significant pieces of legislation in a generation through a divided Congress. Along the way, she both inspired other women to seek political office and supported them in doing so. When she took office, there were just 25 women serving in Congress. Today, there are 151. This tectonic shift is due in no small part to her private and public efforts.”
Pelosi’s career was indeed a masterclass in coalition leadership; one grounded in pragmatism, patience, and the kind of strategic acumen that has long defined women’s leadership across sectors. She built power not through dominance, but through design.
Perhaps most telling, even some of her fiercest political opponents acknowledged that still. Speaking on CNN’s Situation Room, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) offered rare praise, saying:
“I will praise Nancy Pelosi. She had an incredible career, for her party. I served under her speakership in my first term of Congress, and I’m very impressed at her ability to get things done. I wish we could get things done for our party like Nancy Pelosi was able to deliver for her party.”
It’s a revealing comment and one that underscores what we know to be true at RepresentWomen: that women leaders often bring greater collaboration, focus, and institutional know-how to complex systems.
Pelosi’s departure marks the end of an era, but also the continuation of a project she helped make possible: a democracy where women’s leadership is not an anomaly, but an expectation. The gavel she once held with historic weight now passes into a chamber where women’s voices are stronger, more numerous, and increasingly indispensable.
I often say that progress doesn’t happen by chance — it happens by design. Nancy Pelosi embodied that truth. She not only led within the system; she helped reshape it so that other women could follow.
New York City Mayor-Elect Mamdani Transition Team Led by Women
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, center, speaks in front of the Unisphere alongside his transition team, from left, Elana Leopold, Melanie Hartzog, Maria Torres-Springer, Grace Bonilla, and Lina Khan, in the Queens borough of New York, on Wednesday, November 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa) Source: NY1
In New York City, history continues to unfold, and this time, it’s not just about who was elected but how they’re preparing to govern.
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, soon to become the youngest mayor in more than a century, announced this week that his transition team will be led entirely by women. This move speaks volumes about the kind of leadership New Yorkers can expect.
According to Politico:
“Mamdani’s transition will be led by women leaders who’ve worked in the administrations of Bill de Blasio, Eric Adams and Michael Bloomberg.Former first deputy mayor Maria Torres-Springer, former Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan, nonprofit president Grace Bonilla and city budget expert Melanie Hartzog will be his transition co-chairs. Progressive political strategist Elana Leopold, a de Blasio alum and senior Mamdani campaign adviser, will serve as the transition’s executive director.
Together, they have backgrounds in social services, finance, city budgeting and housing development. Their roles on the transition team — meant to smooth the mayor-elect’s path from election in early November to inauguration in January — often serve as a de facto audition for appointments to City Hall.”
The diversity of experience of this all-woman leadership team reflects what RepresentWomen has long made clear: when women and men lead together as equals, systems work better for everyone. That’s what gender balance is all about.
Notably, Mamdani’s election itself reflects this balance. According to exit polls conducted by CNN, post-election analysis shows that men and women supported him equally — 50 percent each — a rare example of true gender parity among voters. In a city where representation has long lagged behind its diversity, that even split suggests a new kind of politics emerging: one grounded in trust, equity, and shared purpose.
As Mamdani told reporters the morning after his victory, in remarks reported by The Guardian:
“In the coming months, I and my team will build a city hall capable of delivering on the promises of this campaign. We will form an administration that is equal parts capable and compassionate, driven by integrity and willing to work just as hard as the millions of New Yorkers who call this city home.”
Mandani’s words echo what we know to be true: when leadership blends capability with compassion, systems become stronger and more responsive to the people they serve.
What the Elections Meant for Women in Congress: Texas Special and California Redistricting
Amanda Edwards speaking at a campaign event in Houston, Texas. Source: Edwards For Houston
While this year’s elections primarily focused on state and local offices, two congressional stories and one key ballot measure provided essential insights into women’s representation and influence.
In Texas, a long-vacant US House seat in Houston finally went to a special election. With no candidate securing a majority, the race heads to a January runoff. Among the top finishers were Democrats Christian Menefee and Amanda Edwards, giving voters the possibility of sending another woman to Congress. Edwards' advancement is especially notable in a state still recovering from a decade of gerrymandering and structural barriers that have long limited women’s political opportunity. Texas is likely to hold its 2026 elections in new districts after its mid-decade gerrymandering plan was moved forward this summer.
Meanwhile, in California, voters weighed in on Proposition 50, a state constitutional amendment proposal to modify the state’s independent redistricting commission process — a move some analysts see as a counterweight to Texas’s mid-decade redistricting plan. According to exit polls conducted by CNN, women supported Proposition 50 at a higher rate than men (66 percent of women said yes compared to 61 percent of men). The Crystal Ball notes that these changes could reshape multiple congressional races, pitting incumbents against one another—including Republican Young Kim, who is likely to face fellow Republican Ken Calvert—and creating new opportunities for women to run and win.
While these changes could open the doors for more women to run, they also highlight a more profound truth — one that reaches beyond party strategy or state politics. Gerrymandering, no matter who wields it, undermines democracy. It distorts voter intent, deepens polarization, and suppresses competition, all of which are symptoms of a system built around zero-sum rules.
At RepresentWomen, we believe the solution isn’t to fight over the map; it’s to redesign the system altogether. The Fair Representation Act (H.R. 4632) offers that path forward.
As our partners at FairVote explain, the Fair Representation Act combines three essential reforms to end gerrymandering and strengthen representation in Congress: multi-member districts for congressional elections — a structure that moves our system toward proportional representation and away from winner-take-all map games; ranked choice voting within those districts that ensures a majority winner is produced; and new standards for fair, independent redistricting.
Together, these reforms would eliminate partisan map manipulation, increase competition, and ensure that every voter, regardless of party or zip code, has a voice. The Fair Representation Act would also make Congress more diverse, inclusive, and functional by electing leaders who reflect the full spectrum of America’s political and demographic landscape.
As UCLA law professor Joey Fishkin wrote this week in the San Francisco Chronicle, the lessons of the redistricting battles in Texas and California point toward a single, national solution:
“Congress should allow medium-sized regions of larger states to elect perhaps three or five representatives to the House through a single election with ranked-choice voting. Although consolidating districts has real costs in terms of subsuming smaller places in larger regions, that is something all districting does. Several-member districts are difficult to gerrymander. With ranked-choice voting, they also allow for a richer and more multifaceted kind of politics that offers voters more real choices than a simple D-versus-R-where-we-already-know-who-will-win.”
Fishkin also calls for expanding the size of the U.S. House, noting that doing so would make representation more proportional and bring members of Congress closer to the people they serve.
These reforms — multi-member districts, ranked choice voting, and an expanded House — together offer a blueprint for a healthier democracy. They don’t just redraw the maps; they redefine the rules, making space for more collaboration, inclusion, and balance in our representative institutions.
This week, my husband, Rob Richie’s, new organization, Expand Democracy, launched a biweekly podcast featuring an intergenerational dialogue among its three staff members about exactly these issues — how to build a more responsive and representative democracy. It’s a thoughtful conversation that’s well worth a listen. Rob was also recently featured in a "Solving America’s Problems" episode, where he addresses solutions to gerrymandering and the urgent need to modernize our electoral systems.
Jeannette Rankin’s Legacy Remembered in Groundbreaking Biography by Lorissa Rinehart
Lorissa Rinehart, author of ‘Winning the Earthquake: How Jeannette Rankin Defied All Odds to Become the First Woman in Congress’ (St. Martin’s Press). Source: Montana Public Radio
This week brought not only historic election results but also a long-overdue moment of recognition for one of the most courageous women in American political history. On Election Day, Lorissa Rinehart — a dear friend of RepresentWomen and a brilliant historian — released "Winning the Earthquake: How Jeannette Rankin Defied All Odds to Become the First Woman in Congress," the first significant biography of Jeannette Rankin in more than two decades.
Published by St. Martin’s Press, Winning the Earthquake reintroduces Rankin to a new generation as more than a symbol, but as a strategist, reformer, and visionary who defied every expectation of her time. Born on a Montana ranch in 1880, Rankin became the first woman ever elected to Congress in 1917, three years before women nationwide had the right to vote. She introduced the legislation that led to the 19th Amendment and, in an extraordinary act of conviction, cast the sole vote against the U.S. entry into World War II.
As I wrote in my own reflections on the book:
“A suffragist, feminist, peace activist, workers' rights advocate, progressive, and Republican, Rankin remained ever true to her beliefs—no matter the price she had to pay personally. Yet, despite the momentous steps she made for women in politics, overcoming the boys club of capitalists and career politicians who never wanted to see a woman in Congress, Jeannette Rankin’s story has been largely forgotten. In Winning the Earthquake, Lorissa Rinehart deftly uncovers the compelling history behind this singular American hero, bringing her story back to life.”
Lorissa’s work does more than recover a forgotten legacy; it invites us to see Rankin anew. Through her meticulous research and powerful storytelling — which extends into her podcasting, where I had the privilege of joining her and witnessing her mastery firsthand — Lorissa restores Rankin to her rightful place as a woman whose vision of democracy was decades ahead of her time.
Early reviewers echoed this sentiment, calling the book “a vivid, compelling portrait of a remarkable woman” and “a powerful reminder that Jeannette Rankin paved the way for so many of us,” in a recent Daily Monanan article.
This week marks the start of Rinehart’s national book tour in partnership with the Jeannette Rankin Foundation, which continues Rankin’s mission by providing education grants and wraparound support for nontraditional women students across the country. Founded with Rankin’s own bequest in 1976, the foundation has supported more than 1,000 women in pursuing their degrees, creating pathways for economic independence and leadership.
Reporters quoted the CEO of the Rankin Foundation, Karen Sterk, in the article:
“Lorissa Rinehart brings Jeannette Rankin’s trailblazing story back into the national spotlight, where it deserves to be. All Americans have the right to vote today because of her groundbreaking work."
It’s been such a joy to watch my friend Lorissa bring Jeannette Rankin’s remarkable story back into the national conversation. Winning the Earthquake is more than a biography; it’s a testament to the women who refused to accept the limits of their time and, in doing so, expanded what’s possible for all of us.
I hope you’ll join me in supporting Lorissa by picking up a copy of her book, checking out her upcoming tour dates, and sharing Rankin’s legacy with others.
That's all for this week, my friends,
Cynthia
Executive Director, RepresentWomen
P.S. —
Sarah Hague, newly elected member of the Canton, Connecticut Board of Selectmen. Source: Canton Democrats Facebook
I’m thrilled to share that Sarah Hague, a former Chief Program Officer at our partner organization Vote Mama, has officially been elected to the Canton, Connecticut Board of Selectmen! Sarah has spent years helping women run and win across the country, and now she’s done precisely that herself. We’re cheering her on as she brings her deep commitment to equity, families, and democracy to local leadership.