Skip to content
Project 2025
Donate to support
diverse voices
Search

Latest Stories

Follow Us:
Top Stories
Modernizing Plastic Recycling: The Key to Unleashing American Manufacturing

Modernizing Plastic Recycling: The Key to Unleashing American Manufacturing

Disinformation Wins: Justifying ICE Murders through Transphobia

Disinformation Wins: Justifying ICE Murders through Transphobia

A stethoscope on top of the uniform a U.S. military solider.

Trump Has Betrayed the Troops Again

Trump’s claims versus reality on the economy and tariffs

Trump’s claims versus reality on the economy and tariffs

Trump’s Deportation Rhetoric Reveals a Culture of State Punishment

Trump’s Deportation Rhetoric Reveals a Culture of State Punishment

The women who lead democracy reform

Sara Bonk, Jackie Salit, Justine Williams
Shakira Mills
By Shakira MillsMar 14, 2022
Shakira Mills
See More Writings by author

While women remain significantly underrepresented in government, there is at least one adjacent field in which they have achieved gender parity in leadership: the universe of democracy reform and bridge-building organizations.

In its 2021 Diversity Report, the Bridge Alliance found that half of the executives leading its 100 member organizations are women. (Disclosure: The Fulcrum is a program within the Bridge Alliance, which brings together organizations working toward a healthy democracy.)

To mark Women’s History Month, The Fulcrum is spotlighting just some of the women leading these organizations.

Jackie Salit

Jacki Salit, IndependentVoting.org

President, IndependentVoting.org

"I’m honored to be included in this group of caring and accomplished women. For me, a key to healthy self-governance is what we mean by the word 'self.' Women, generally more than men, see the 'self' in more social terms. And so the processes we create can (hopefully!) develop that sense of community."


Latest news

A person at a voting booth.
Electoral Reforms

Empowering Independent Voters Can Fix Primary Elections

Liberty and Justice for Some
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Liberty and Justice for Some

Michael B. Jordan standing next to Delroy Lindo
Pop Culture

Not OK: Curb Slurs and Hate Speech To Avoid The Monstrous

Trump: The King of Fake
Ethics & Leadership

Trump: The King of Fake

Read More

Republican scheming backfires in Texas election

Texas Senate candidate James Talarico (D-TX) addresses supporters on election night on March 3, 2026, in Austin, Texas. Texans went to the polls to vote for Democratic and Republican primary candidates ahead of November's midterm elections.

(John Moore/Getty Images/TCA)

Republican scheming backfires in Texas election

On Sept. 9, 2025, a little-known 36-year-old former middle school teacher and seminarian named James Talarico announced he was jumping into a crowded Texas Senate race, joining several other Democrats vying for GOP Sen. John Cornyn’s seat.

He’d first made news by flipping a Trump-leaning state legislative district in 2018, and became something of a rising star inside Texas Democratic circles. Outside of Texas, however, he still had work to do.

Keep ReadingShow less
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger delivers the Democratic response to U.S. President Donald Trump's State of the Union address on February 24, 2026 in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger delivers the Democratic response to U.S. President Donald Trump's State of the Union address on February 24, 2026 in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Getty Images, Mike Kropf

Three Questions Linger After State of the Union Speech

Anyone tuning into the State of the Union expecting responsible governance was sorely disappointed. What they got instead was pure Trumpian spectacle.

All the familiar elements were there: extended applause lines, culture-war provocation, even self-congratulation, praising the U.S. hockey team and folding its victory into a broader narrative of national resurgence. The whole thing was show business, crafted for reaction rather than reflection, for clips rather than consensus.

Keep ReadingShow less
Two individuals Skiing in the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympic Games.

Oksana Masters of Team United States celebrates after winning gold in the Para Cross Country Skiing Sprint Sitting Final on day four of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympic Games at Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium on March 10, 2026 in Val di Fiemme, Italy.

Getty Images, Buda Mendes

The Paralympics Challenge Everything We Think We Know About Sports

If you’re a sports fan, you likely watched coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina. But will you watch the Paralympics when approximately 665 athletes are expected in Italy to compete in the Para sports of alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, ice hockey, snowboarding, and wheelchair curling?

The Paralympics, so-called because they are “parallel” to the Olympics, stand alone as the globe’s premier sporting event for elite athletes with disabilities. According to the International Paralympic Committee, 4,400 disabled athletes competed in the 2024 Paris Summer Games in track and field, swimming, and twenty other sports.

Keep ReadingShow less
U.S. Capitol.

Could Trump declare a national emergency to control voting in the 2026 midterms? An analysis of emergency powers, election law, and Congress’s role in protecting democracy.

Photo by Andy Feliciotti on Unsplash

To Save Democracy, Congress Must Curtail the President’s Emergency Powers

On February 26, the Washington Post reported that allies of President Trump are urging him to declare a national emergency so that he can issue rules and regulations concerning voting in the 2026 election. The alleged emergency arises from the threat of foreign interference in our electoral process.

That threat is based on now fully debunked reports that China manipulated registration and voting in 2020. The National Intelligence Council explained that there were “no indications that any foreign actor attempted to alter any technical aspect of the voting process in the 2020 US elections, including voter registration, casting ballots, vote tabulation, or reporting results.”

Keep ReadingShow less
© Copyright 2026