Women’s March 2018: Politicians, Activists To March In Lansing

LANSING, MI – Michigan women will gather Sunday, Jan. 21, on steps of the state capitol building to mark the anniversary of the first Women's March last January in Washington, D.C. The demonstration on will put extra attention on women running for public office this year.

"Women’s March Michigan recognizes that women make up less than 25 percent of the legislature in Michigan and that in order for women to be represented in policies, they must run for office," according to an event listing on Facebook. "Women’s March Michigan will be recognizing women running for office in Michigan, on all levels, from all communities, of all political stripes from local school boards to the race for governor."

The event in Lansing starts at 2 p.m. Featured speakers include Nicole Denson, a social justice activist from Detroit, Jeynce Poindexter, a transgender victims advocate from Detroit, and Emily Durbin, the leader of the Michigan Chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. (For updated list of speakers, visit the Women's March Michigan website.)

Across Michigan, more than a dozen women are running for statewide and congressional seats. Among those, Sen. Debbie Stabenow is running for re-election, Michigan lawmaker Gretchen Whitmer who's running for governor, and three women vying for the state's 11th Congressional district that includes the suburbs west and north of Detroit.

The founders of the national movement that last January brought a throng of women to the streets of Washington, D.C., and around the country, are planning a repeat demonstration this year on Jan. 21 in Las Vegas. The 2018 Women’s March is framed around a “national voter registration tour” ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.

The marches in Lansing, Las Vegas and across the nation come at a watershed moment for women, who are seeking public office in record numbers in the 2018 midterm elections. Women are empowered both by the #MeToo movement, which brought a trove of stories from women who said they have faced sexual assault or harassment, and outrage against President Trump, who famously said in 2005 Access Hollywood tape leaked during the 2016 campaign that he had groped women’s genitals — prompting the pink “pussy” hats demonstrators wore last year.

Organizers said they chose Las Vegas for the national “Power to the Polls” march because it is a microcosm for issues important to women, from gun violence to allegations of sexual assault against male politicians.

Las Vegas was the site of the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history in 2017, and Democratic Congressman Ruben Kihuen was accused by at least two women of groping them without permission. Kihuen is one of the latest of scores of powerful men implicated in a far-reaching scandal that has rocked politics and the entertainment and news industries.

Nevada also is a swing state that could flip from red to blue in the November midterm elections, making it a prime place to hold the main march, organizers said. Three Democrats and two Republicans are challenging U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, a Republican, in the June 2018 election. The race is considered a toss-up, and is one of several closely watched midterm election contests that could shift the balance in the Senate.

The Las Vegas event kicks off a national voter registration and mobilization tour targeting other swing states with a focus on registering new voters and electing more women and progressive candidates to office. Rutgers’ Center for American Women and Politics says that about 600 women nationwide — a record — are running for statewide and federal office in the midterms.

The organizers of the march were encouraged by Democrat Doug Jones’ upset win over Republican Roy Moore last month in the deep red state of Alabama, which hasn’t sent a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1992. Moore was leading the special Senate race to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions until multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct. The women said they were teenagers and Moore was in his 30s when the alleged impropriety took place. Moore has denied the allegations.

Women, especially Democrats, are finding a path to victory in states where their election seemed improbable. For example, Virginia voters in November elected Danica Roem, the first openly transgender woman ever to be elected to a state legislature. She was one of 11 progressive women who unseated Republican men in the state’s House of Delegates.

The Women’s Marches will also bring attention to “systemic voter suppression laws that inhibit so many communities from voting,” Linda Sarsour, a co-organizer, said in a statement.

Learn more about the 2018 Women’s March here.

Photo: Protesters walk during the Women's March on Washington, with the U.S. Capitol in the background, on Jan. 21, 2017 in Washington, D.C., a day after President Donald Trump was sworn in as the nation’s 45th president. Similar marches are planned for 2018. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images News/Getty Images)