This Just In – Looks like we made it.
There were times this year when you had to wonder … will we make it to the end of this turbulent year?
Getting through the political season is its own accomplishment, I suppose. Much like facing the start of 2017, we must look at the coming four years as a thing we’ll endure instead of an expansion of the outgoing administration. We won’t be seeing Medicare for All or an extension of the child tax credit or down payment assistance – things that would be a tremendous help to people who really need it.
That said … let me tell you about some genuine excitement in the American political landscape. Congresswoman Lauren Underwood serves Illinois’ 14th Congressional District, taking office on January 3, 2019. She is the first woman, the first person of color, and the first millennial to represent her community in Congress.
Underwood is a registered nurse and co-founder and co-chair of the Black Maternal Health Caucus, which addresses America’s Black Maternal Health crisis in Congress. Underwood is Co-Chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee and serves on the House Committee on Appropriations.
She is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Johns Hopkins University, and a lifelong Girl Scout. I guarantee she sold a lot of cookies and sewed every badge onto her sash. She gets things DONE. She already has an impressive legislative record on women’s health issues.
David Hogg was a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida at the time of a mass shooting there. He was a principal organizer for the highly successful March For Our Lives event in Washington D.C. in March 2018. After taking a gap year after high school, Hogg went to Harvard and graduated in 2023.
Spending much of his time as an activist seeking gun safety and political engagement, Hogg founded the organization “Leaders We Deserve” to get more young people involved in politics and elected to office. Recently Hogg announced he will be running to serve as Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee. Elected office is likely in his future.
Maxwell Frost, 27, is a member of the House of Representatives from central Florida. Another organizer from the March For Our Lives, Frost has been involved in political organizing much longer than he’s been allowed to drive a car. He is the youngest member of Congress.
Obviously, we care about who the president is, but I am constantly reminded of how important races at every level of the ballot are to preserving our republic. These young people are not invested in the power structure that keeps many incumbents in office for too long and for the wrong reasons. They see their service as something closer to direct action (and accountability). They give me real hope that our system can survive what’s coming.
I hope that your coming holiday season, however you celebrate, is everything you hope for. Maybe it’s a house full of noisy kids. Maybe it’s an array of special foods. Maybe it’s a quiet evening with some soft holiday music, some hot chocolate and a book or your annual viewing of the greatest Christmas movie ever made – Die Hard. Mine will be some of all those, because, if I haven’t mentioned it before, I’m the luckiest person in the world.
See you around the corner in 2025!
Jean Bolduc is a freelance writer and the host of the Weekend Watercooler on 97.9 The Hill. She is the author of “African Americans of Durham & Orange Counties: An Oral History” (History Press, 2016) and has served on Orange County’s Human Relations Commission, The Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina, the Orange County Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, and the Orange County Schools’ Equity Task Force. She was a featured columnist and reporter for the Chapel Hill Herald and the News & Observer.
Readers can reach Jean via email – jean@penandinc.com and via Twitter @JeanBolduc
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