The Laws Aren’t the Problem
In the 2026 midterm elections, control of Congress could hinge on just a handful of races — and they might NOT be in your state. Ten pivotal battleground states could decide the balance of power in the U.S. House. The candidates — FROM BOTH PARTIES — running in these districts will help shape national policy on everything from reproductive rights to climate action, so their positions matter to all of us. Our Candidate Dashboard gives you a look at key contenders from both parties in these critical races, detailing their policy positions, party affiliation, backgrounds, and priorities — information that’s essential whether you vote in these states or simply care about the balance of power in Congress. Visit our NEW Candidate Dashboard here.
Dear Leading Ladies,
August is a big month for celebrating suffrage. Last week, on August 6th, we marked the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The law was the culmination of the Civil Rights Movement, designed to assure suffrage to African Americans. In a couple of weeks, on August 26th, we will mark the 52nd anniversary of the establishment of Women’s Equality Day, created to celebrate the passing of the 19th Amendment that gave US white women the right to vote in 1920.
What do we see when we look at these two days that bookend August?
When LBJ spoke on August 6, 1965, he said, “Today is a triumph for freedom as huge as any victory that has been won on any battlefield.” He went on to admonish his audience to recall that the “Negroes” had arrived in Jamestown in darkness and in chains, without hope or freedom. The law being signed was an attempt to strike away the last remaining shackles holding back the Negro Americans. To keep a promise that was made after Appomattox but not fulfilled. “Millions of Americans are denied the right to vote because of their color,” he said. This law assured them the right to vote. “The right is one that no American true to our values can deny.” The president noted that the Congress had passed the bill with overwhelming majorities, and he assured the listeners that the implementation would be equally swift and effective. “The denial of the right to vote is a deadly wrong,” he said, as he explained that wherever, by objective standard, counties or states tried to use tests or other means to deny the vote, those methods would be struck down. Under this act, he pronounced, federal examiners would be sent in if any areas in the country failed to open polling stations for all legally eligible voters. You can watch the whole speech here.
Efforts to block Black Americans from voting persist. We need only open the newspaper or turn on the news to hear about the efforts to gerrymander the voting districts in Texas in order to manipulate the power of the vote of African Americans. In other areas, new registration rules, literacy tests, residence requirements and other initiatives like the SAVE Act are all designed to prevent the poor and people of color from voting. Add to that the inability of Congress to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act that would restore and strengthen the Voting Rights Act. And then there’s President Trump's campaign on Republican-led states other than Texas to redraw congressional maps in his party's favor. All together, these incursions make it clear that the 1965 Voting Rights Act is in danger of being gutted.
As the NAACP explains, “Today, Texas operates under a discriminatory map, with white voters controlling 28 of 38 districts, despite being only 40% of the population. Black and Brown voters influence outcomes in just 10 districts. Recent legislative initiatives targeted four minority opportunity districts, eliminating three. Consequently, white voters will decide 81% of Texas Congressional districts, despite their 40% population share.” Say hello to the new Jim Crow.
And what about Women’s Equality Day?
At the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, considered by many the real jumping off point for the suffrage movement, Elizabeth Cady Stanton spoke to a large crowd. In a Declaration of Sentiments signed by Lucretia Mott, Harriet Cady Eaton, Margaret Pryor, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and a host of other women and male supporters, she said, “Now, in view of this entire disfranchisement of one-half the people of this country, their social and religious degradation, — in view of the unjust laws above mentioned, and because women do feel themselves aggrieved, oppressed, and fraudulently deprived of their most sacred rights, we insist that they have immediate admission to all the rights and privileges which belong to them as citizens of these United States.”
Some 70 years later, President Woodrow Wilson, at first a reluctant supporter of women’s suffrage, came through with enthusiasm, proclaiming to Congress, “We have made partners of the women in this war… Shall we admit them only to a partnership of suffering and sacrifice and toil and not to a partnership of privilege and right?”
And so, US women, at least if they were white, were given the vote.
That milestone will be celebrated on August 26, as it has been every day since its inception in 1973. “At the behest of Rep. Bella Abzug (D-NY), in 1971 and passed in 1973, the U.S. Congress designated August 26 as “Women’s Equality Day,” according to the National Women’s History Alliance. “The date was selected to commemorate the 1920 certification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, granting women the right to vote.
The amendment proclamation begins, “WHEREAS, the women of the United States have been treated as second-class citizens and have not been entitled the full rights and privileges, public or private, legal or institutional, which are available to male citizens of the United States;”
Although the right to vote is something to celebrate, women’s positions in this country are currently under siege. “Not only are there large swaths of the country where women and girls don’t have access to abortion care, but Trump has also signaled his disregard for women’s safety by pardoning people convicted of physically blocking or threatening violence against patients at reproductive health clinics,” according to Human Rights Watch.
“Trump’s views on what he calls “gender ideology,” a term long used by opponents of women’s and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights, is based on a denial of the right to autonomy. The new administration has also sought to redefine sex as strictly male or female and fixed at birth, jeopardizing access to education, healthcare, and other federally funded services for transgender women and girls.
“Additionally, the Trump administration’s attacks against diversity, equity, and inclusion [DEI] for women in the workplace will be particularly harmful for Black, Latina, and Indigenous women. The administration is also trying to bring its ideological crusade against DEI to the United Nations and its agencies, demanding that they follow the Trump administration’s example. But giving into these demands would undermine the rights of women, girls, and LGBT people around the world.”
On the bright side, “After Roe vs. Wade fell in the United States, women began organizing on a state-by-state basis to protect their rights. It became about local politics.” And the efforts were, overall successful.
The latest developments in the military for women are very disturbing. “All women have now been purged from the military’s top jobs, with no female four-star officers on active duty and none in pending appointments for four- or three-star roles,” according to The Hill. The firings include the first female head of the US Naval Academy. And Secretary of Defense Hegseth has made his view of women in the military very clear: “Dads push us to take risks. Moms put the training wheels on our bikes. We need moms. But not in the military, especially in combat units,” he wrote in his book, The War on Warriors.
As of July 2025, only 16 states ban child marriage, with the minimum age of marriage set at 18. All of those states, except Virginia, are in the North. It is important to note that prior to 2017, there were no states that banned child marriage, so this is progress in protecting young girls.
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) that would do more to assure equal pay for equal work for women still has not been ratified and certified (due to a lot of fancy footwork by its detractors). How do women fare in the workplace? For the same job, women make 83 cents compared to a dollar. That’s $2,828.80 less earning a year. In 2000, it was 76 cents. A seven cent increase in 25 years. Not great progress, but moving in the right direction.
And, while women comprise more than half of the US population, according to Statista, they constitute less than 30 percent of the House of Representatives, the Senate, Fortune 500 CEOs, and governors nationwide; and though women achieve higher levels of education, they are underrepresented in the highest-paying careers.
There are countless other ways women can have their rights — particularly their health rights — curtailed during this administration, such as the threat to the implementation of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA). National Partnership has a comprehensive list of cuts and threats to programs and research: 20 Ways the Trump Administration Has Already Harmed Women and Families
What can we do?
So, sure, let’s celebrate the passing of the Voting Rights Act in 1965 and the establishment of Women’s Equality Day in 1973. But there’s a lot of backsliding going on, so this is no time to party ’til dawn. The rights of women and people of color are being eroded and we have to stay alert to stop more desecration of rights hard won.
Voter suppression is alive and well in our country whether it is through efforts to redraw district boundaries to favor the president’s followers, unfairly purging voter rolls, closing polling stations during convenient voting times, not providing translation services, or simply making voting inconvenient for voters without means.
Several fine organizations are fighting voter suppression through lawsuits and other means. They are all nonprofit and can always use financial support. Consider donating to The Brennan Center for Justice, American Civil Liberties Union, Fair Fight, Common Cause, and League of Women Voters, for example.
At election time, there are often opportunities to drive people to polling stations and help with voter registration in your area or elsewhere. As always, we will pass on information when we receive it.
Until there’s a new sheriff in town!
Therese (she/her/hers)
Judy (she/her/hers)
Didi (she/her/hers)
Leading Ladies Executive Team
