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Despite a recent surge in the elections of female politicians nationwide, social barriers that prevent women from becoming involved with politics remain pervasive, panelists said at a March 22 event featuring prominent women in government.

The Zoom event, titled First, But Not The Last, was co-hosted by the Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service and the Womens and Gender Studies Program in honor of Womens History Month. The event celebrated the historical milestones recently achieved by women in politics, including the inauguration of Vice President Kamala Harris, who is the first female, Black and South-Asian individual to hold the office. The event was moderated by Donna Brazile, the first Black woman to run a major presidential campaign and an adjunct assistant professor in the WGST Program.

The event featured women who each had achieved historic firsts in their careers: Rep. Sharice Davids (D-Kan.), the first LGBTQ Native American elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, former Gov. Susana Martinez (R-N.M.), the first Latinx female governor in the United States, former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun (D-Ill.), the first Black woman elected to the senate, Del. Kathy Tran (D-Va.), the first Vietnamese American elected to office in Virginia, and former Gov. Christine Todd Whitman (R-N.J.), the first female governor of New Jersey. The panelists spoke about their advice for future female leaders and their experiences shattering glass ceilings, a metaphor for the idea that a woman can see an elite position but is unable to reach it because of societal barriers.

The historical significance of these elections continues to be resonant and powerful, according to Davids.

I feel like expectations about who runs for office and who gets elected and who gets appointed now have been getting reset time and time again, Davids said at the event. I feel very fortunate to have been part of that in the 2018 cycle and to watch it continue to happen over and over.

While women comprise 51% of the U.S. population, they continue to be underrepresented at all levels of government, especially women of color, Republican women, young women and low-income women. At the federal level, women make up only 24% of the Senate and 27% of the House of Representatives in 2021, and there has yet to be a female president.

Despite the numerous obstacles women entering the political field face, a record number of women ran for office during the 2018 midterm elections and won, from Congress to governorships to state legislatures alike, following former President Donald Trumps 2016 presidential election victory over Hillary Clinton, the first female major-party presidential nominee.

It is important for women to seize any opportunity that comes their way, according to Tran, who was spurred to run for office after the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential election left her worried for her childrens future.

Dont wait for anyone to ask you, because you might not get asked, Tran said. I wasnt asked to run, many of us werent asked to run, so if youre even just thinking about it a little bit, the answer is yes.

Progress towards increased female representation in politics comes from a long legacy of women who have challenged the status quo and run for office, according to Whitman.

I wasnt going to change who I was, so the woman part for me it just was what it was, Whitman said. It was challenging because there were lots of people who said, Ill never vote for a woman because shes a woman.

The panelists also stressed the importance of having womens voices represented in policy and politics. Decision-making has been left solely to men for far too long, and electing more women to government and leadership positions is the only way to make real change, according to Davids.

Unfortunately, weve had kind of a default set of experiences creating policy for a really long time, Davids said. Now we have this opportunity with so many new voices and diverse lived experiences in these decision-making positions.

Braun shared an anecdote about a time when a security guard did not want to let her into the U.S. Capitol, not expecting a Black woman to enter the building as a senator. While such incidents can be humiliating, they only reinforce the importance of representation to refute stereotypes about women in leadership, according to Braun.

You just have to show up and do your job, thats number one, Braun said. It will make space for others, whether you think so or not.

While women have made huge strides in terms of representation in politics, there is still progress to be made until societal barriers are torn down enough the term glass ceiling will no longer be needed, according to Braun.

Culture leads and politics follows, Braun said. When you think about it, the fact is that the culture has evolved, so we should really celebrate how far weve come.

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Female Trailblazers in Politics Reflect On Barriers Broken And Challenges Remaining - Georgetown University The Hoya

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) Democratic Rep. Filemon Vela of Texas announced Monday that he will not seek reelection to his congressional district on the southern border where Republicans are seeing new chances in 2022.

Since Vela's first victory in 2012, the five-term congressman has easily won reelection in what has been a solidly Democratic district. But a big swing in voters along the heavily Latino border toward former President Donald Trump last year is giving Republicans new optimism in a region where they've long been dealt lopsided defeats.

The GOP-controlled Texas Legislature could also make the district more vulnerable for Democrats as it begins drawing new voting maps this year.

It is now time to allow other residents of South Texas the opportunity to fulfill this wonderful privilege for which I will be forever grateful," Vela said in a statement.

His retirement was first reported by Axios.

The announcement by Vela, 58, makes him the second House Democrat to announce he wont seek reelection next year, when Republicans have high hopes of capturing control of the chamber. Only one House Republican has revealed plans to not run for reelection.

The GOP will need a net gain of only around five seats next year to take majority control. Democrats edge in the chamber is currently 219-211, with five vacancies.

The Republican drive will be aided by redistricting, which occurs once a decade as House seats are redistributed among the states to reflect the latest Census. For growing, Republican-controlled states such as Texas, that means the new lines will be drawn to help GOP candidates.

Velas district is heavily Hispanic, voters who traditionally lean toward Democrats but with whom Trump made gains in his reelection defeat last November. The district includes Cameron County, one of the largest counties on the Texas border, where Hillary Clinton beat Trump by a 2-to-1 margin in 2016. Trump still lost the county by double-digits but cut into that deficit while winning tens of thousands of new supporters in predominantly Mexican American communities.

In addition, history will be on the GOPs side. The party that does not hold the White House usually gains large numbers of House seats in midterm elections.

In January, Biden named Vela one of four vice chairs of the Democratic National Committee.

The White House announced earlier this month that Biden had chosen Velas wife, Rose, an attorney and retired state judge, to be director of the White House Commission on White House Fellowships.

___

Fram reported from Washington, D.C.

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Democratic Rep. Vela of Texas won't run again in 2022 - Shelton Herald

As youve probably heard by now, Donald Trump is in a lot of legal trouble, which is unfortunate for him given the fact that legitimate lawyers want nothing to do with him and if it werent for the fact that the Republican Party had already decided to let him get away with inciting a violent insurrection, he almost certainly would have been found guilty at his second impeachment trial. (In fact, one of the attorneys on his dream team suggested the Department of Justice should arrest him if they thought he committed a crime.) Currently, the ex-president is the defendant in approximately 29 lawsuits, according to The Washington Post, though likely more worrisome to him are the criminal investigations hes at the center of, particularly the one being led by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. In the last several months, the D.A. has brought on the attorney who put John Gotti and other white-collar criminals behind bars, has reportedly been working to flip the Trump Organizations longtime CFO, and, most crucially, obtained Trumps much sought-after tax returns, documents that the Queens-born real estate developer has gone to such extreme lengths to keep secret that some people have gotten the impression they contain extremely incriminating information. Now, Vances office has taken the next step in its criminal investigation: finding people who can explain to a jury why Trump is a possible crook.

Reuters reports that investigators are combing through millions of pages of newly acquired records with an eye toward identifying witnesses who can bring the documents to life for a jury, according to people familiar with the matter. Some of the individuals expected to testify are already well known and likely include the 45th presidents former fixer, Michael Cohen, who has met with prosectors eight times. (In February 2019, Cohen told lawmakers that Trump regularly inflated and deflated his assets when it served his purposes, whether it was to reduce his tax bill or obtain loans. Last year, he said in an interview that Trump should go to prison for 360 years.) In addition, theres Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization employee who has described himself as Trumps eyes and ears at the company and would seemingly know if his boss had committed fraud, whether of the bank, insurance, or tax variety. But according to reporters Jason Szep and Peter Eisler, a growing universe of people, institutions, and agencies are being scrutinized by Vances team. Per Reuters:

Prosecutors are looking to gather information and testimony from bankers, bookkeepers, real estate consultants, and others close to the Trump Organization who could provide insights on its dealings, according to interviews and court filings. The process of identifying all witnesses and targets could take months. The next phase is identifying targets for subpoenas and testimony, said one person familiar with the case. Vances investigators need insiders who can provide the narrative behind any conflicting numbers on Trumps financial records and testify to Trumps knowledge and intent, said former prosecutors of white-collar fraud cases. Even in the most heavily document-dependent case, you need witnesses to tell the story, said Reed Brodsky, a longtime white-collar defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor.

Several potential key figures in Vances investigation are current or former employees of outside companiesfrom financial and real estate consultants to legal adviserswith inside knowledge of Trumps dealings, according to court filings and the two people familiar with the investigation. Some performed crucial roles for many years, such as Mazars accountant Donald Bender. His signature is on the tax returns of the Donald J. Trump Foundation, which was dissolved in 2018 after a probe by the New York attorney general found that the organization misused charitable funds. Trump was ordered to pay more than $2 million in damages.

In addition to real estate brokerage Cushman & Wakefield, which did years of work for the Trump Organization and appraised a property Trump used to obtain a tax easementa tool ProPublica described as a much-abused deduction exploited by wealthy investors that has cost the U.S. Treasury billions of dollarsVance has spoken to and requested records from Ladder Capital Corp. and Deutsche Bank AG, two of the former presidents biggest creditors. (Trump currently owes Deutsche Bank some $340 million and there is no love lost between him and the German lender, which could foreclose on the properties he used to personally guarantee his loans.) But according to Reuters, Vances investigation will likely rely heavily on Trumps closest associatespeople who can address the key question of what Trump was thinking when he made the financial claims now under scrutiny.

Only a core group of Trumps confidantes can address that state-of-mind question, which is critical to proving criminal intent. They include Weisselberg, 73, who began working for Trumps father, Fred, in 1973. Legal experts and a source familiar with the investigation say prosecutors apparent goal is to convince Weisselberg to cooperate. Also under scrutiny are Weisselbergs adult sons - one who has worked for the Trump Organization. The other son worked for Ladder Capital, though theres no evidence he was involved in Ladders loans to Trump.

Jennifer Weisselbergthe former wife of Allens older son, Barry Weisselbergtold Reuters that she has spoken with Vances office five times since November. The day after the first interview, she said, D.A. investigators visited her to retrieve tax and financial records for her and her former husband. She acknowledged that prosecutors have shown interest in an apartment in a Trump-owned building where she and her former husband lived rent-free for seven yearsan arrangement that could have legal implications if it represented compensation not properly reported in tax filings. Jennifer Weisselberg said she believed her father-in-law would never testify against Trump voluntarily. She envisions Allen Weisselberg flipping only if he or his sons are facing prosecution. But no one, she said, knows more about Trumps finances.

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Prosecutors Are Lining Up Witnesses to Explain Donald Trumps Many Alleged Crimes to a Jury - Vanity Fair

In a just world, the day Donald Trump walked out of the White House and boarded a plane headed for Mar-a-Lago would have been the last time we heard from the 45th president or his family ever again. At the very least, it would have been nice for Trump to have been banned from getting within 200 feet of the nuclear codes, on account of both the failed coup and his habit of saying things like this is a tough hurricane, one of the wettest weve ever seen, from the standpoint of water, one of many examples of obvious cognitive impairment. Unfortunately, not only is the guy who (1) sicced a fascist mob on the Capitol and (2) thinks the stock market is a person still eligible to hold office, his entire extended clan is as well. And some are actively threatening to inflict themselves on the U.S. government.

In an interview with Sean Hannity on Tuesday, Lara Trump, Eric Trumps wife and Donald Trumps daughter-in-law, said she is absolutely considering running for Senate in North Carolina. Like her father-in-law when he announced his candidacy for the White House, Lara has no experience whatsoever working in government, though she is skilled in whipping out right-wing talking points the Trump base eats up. In April 2019, she called German chancellor Angela Merkels decision to accept refugees the downfall of Germany and one of the worst things to ever happen to the country that started World War II. In 2020, she hit the campaign trail in support of her husbands father with far-right conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, who describes herself as a proud Islamophobe. Naturally, she actively took part in the effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. More recently, it was reported that an animal-rescue charity linked to Lara spent nearly $2 million at Donald Trumps properties. (Charitable shadiness is a family affair for the Trumpsin 2019, Donalds charity was forced to shut down and pay $2 million for illegally using the foundations funds, while Eric, Ivanka Trump, and Donald Trump Jr. were required to undergo mandatory training to learn how not to rip off charities moving forward. In a statement at the time, an attorney for the Trump Foundation claimed the group had been trying to to dissolve and distribute its remaining assets since 2016, which is really neither here nor there. A 2017 Forbes report also alleged that Eric Trumps foundation had misappropriated money intended to benefit pediatric cancer. A spokesperson for Eric Trumps foundation insisted the charity had been transparent about where funds were going, and that relevant donors whose money was given to causes...were made aware the funds would be donated elsewhere.)

More recently, Lara was in the news complaining about how social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook suppress the voices of conservatives, hence Donald Trumps need to start his own platform where people can post without fear of the fact-checkers being all over them:

Lara, of course, is not the only Trump mulling a run for office. In addition to her father-in-laws threat to run again in 2024, her sister-in-law, Ivanka, has reportedly had her eyes on the White House since 2016. (In a storyline straight out of a horror film, Trump allies are said to be pushing him to dump Mike Pence if he runs for a second term and pick a woman as his running mate. Like, say, the daughter with whom he has a deeply creepy relationship.)

And speaking of the ex-first daughters political ambitions: over the weekend the Daily Beast suggested that Ivanka has been hard at work attempting to redeem and rebrand herself, given her current reputation as a rioter-praising poster child for nepotism who doesnt let the people guarding her life use the bathroom.

Unfortunately, not everyone thinks a rebrand is possible, for physiological reasons:

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Another Trump Is Threatening to Run for Office - Vanity Fair

Former President Donald Trump has said that during his presidency, he cut federal funding to three Central American countries in order to "punish" them. He said he wanted to punish them immigrants kept coming from their countries to seek entry into the United States.

During a Thursday night interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham, Ingraham played a clip of Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. In the clip, Pelosi said that Trump had withdrawn funding from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvadorthree countries that make up a region called the Northern Trianglein order to punish them.

Ingraham asked, "Mr. President, did you withdraw money from Central America to punish them?"

"Absolutely. That's right," Trump replied.

"We were paying them $500 million a year," Trump told Ingraham. "Nobody knew what they were doing with the money, and they were sending criminals to our country."

"They abused us in so many different ways," Trump continued. He then accused the countries' leaders of refusing to accept murderers and members of the violent MS13 gang that had been caught at the southern U.S. border by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection.

"They wouldn't take them. I stopped paying the $500 million that we were wasting when giving it to them," Trump continued.

He then claimed that the day after his administration cut off its funding, the countries' leaders called U.S. officials stating, "We'd love to have MS13 come back into our country. Please send them immediately, and we will not be sending any more bad people."

Ingraham laughed in response.

At the end of March 2019, the Trump Administration announced that it was cutting nearly $450 million in direct funding to the countries because of their failure to stop emigration.

The Northern Triangle is the primary source of migrants to the United States. The immigrants largely flee their region to escape high murder rates, gang violence, low employment as well as a lack of access to food, necessities and social services. Recent droughts and hurricanes have worsened conditions in the region.

The direct funding cut off by Trump had sought to stem migration from the region by helping the countries politically and economically stabilize in an effort to reduce migration caused by violence and corruption.

The program paid millions to dozens of local and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). These organizations conducted development and humanitarian programs on the U.S. government's behalf.

However, because the countries had failed to reduce migration, Trump cut off the funds as a punishment. When the funding ended, many NGOs had to scale back their programs or end them prematurely, closing offices and laying off staff, according to NPR.

Democratic Massachusetts Congressman Jim McGovern, part of a Congressional delegation that visited the Northern Triangle in August 2019 said, "Under questioning, [U.S. embassy staff in the countries] basically conceded that this freeze is a rotten thing to do. Rather than trying to fix the situation, we're making it worse."

In October 2019, Trump's Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the administration planned on partially restoring the funding. Pompeo said the restoration would occur because the three countries had taken steps to curb emigration.

Newsweek contacted the White House for comment.

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Donald Trump Admits He Withheld Funds to 'Punish' Central America Over Immigration: 'They Abused Us' - Newsweek