By: Miriam Edelman In honor of Black History Month, which occurs every February, DCNOW would like to highlight how the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia (DMV) have led the way regarding African-American leadership. In 1976,   President  Gerald Ford became the first President to issue a statement recognizing this month. This piece follows up on DCNOW’s blog’s piece, entitled “Top Female Leaders  of the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia Make History.”   Al

By: Miriam Edelman In the late 2000s, some D.C. leaders and Members of Congress across the political spectrum supported legislation, such as H.R. 1905  – District of Columbia Voting Rights Act of 2007, that would  have given the District of Columbia and Utah each a vote in the House of Representatives. However, such compromise legislation would not have affected the Senate. DCNOW’s blog piece, entitled “D.C.’s Centuries-Long  Disenfranchisement Is Unfair,” is about that legis

By: Miriam Edelman             For the first time in history, four of the top five executive branch leaders of the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia (DMV) are women. The November 2025 elections increased the number of women in these top three roles from three to four. Since Virginia  inaugurated its Governor and Lieutenant Governor on January 17, 2026, D.C.’s Mayor, Maryland’s Lieutenant Governor, Virginia’s Governor, and Virginia’s Lieutenant Governor are women. A

By: Miriam Edelman As the U.S. just had off-year elections in November 2025, election winners are taking office. When many people become government officials, they swear an oath to the U.S. Constitution. This post follows up on DCNOW’s blog piece, entitled “DCNOW  Congratulates Women Who Made History in Recent Elections.”   One of the winners in the earlier article is Kaoly Her,  the first female Mayor of St. Paul, Minnesota. At Her’s inaugural swearing-in ceremony  on Januar

By: Miriam Edelman Officially, for the  first time, Washington, D.C., voters will use ranked-choice voting in D.C.’s upcoming June 2026 primary elections. This piece follows up on DCNOW’s blog pieces, including “Initiative 83  is Law,” “Update on  Ranked-Choice Voting in D.C.,” and “Another Update  on Ranked-Choice Voting in D.C.”   On November 24, 2025,  the D.C. Council’s Committee on Executive Administration and Labor, chaired by Anita Bonds, held a public roundtable on “B

By: Miriam Edelman As it is now 2026, the U.S.’s 250 th birthday is fast approaching. Commemorations for this landmark birthday have already begun. For example, soon after the traditional ball dropped in Times Square, New York City, on January 1, 2026,  a special America 250 video was played and then an America 250 ball dropped in Times Square. Many more celebrations  will occur later this year.   Two-hundred-and-fifty is a major number. Coincidentally, exactly 250 Members o

By: Miriam Edelman Martin Luther King Jr. Day  (the third Monday in January) memorializes civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King  may be the most well known for his “I Have a Dream” speech, which is he gave in Washington, D.C., in 1963. In that speech,  he discussed his desire for a U.S. without segregation and racism.   Dr. King supported  Washington, D.C.’s attempts to secure home rule, recommending  that African-American Washingtonians hold an “all-out  no

By: Miriam Edelman Today (January 6, 2026) is the five-year anniversary of the insurrection of January 6, 2021. January 6, 2021, is a day that will live in infamy in U.S. history. For the first time, the transition of presidential power was not peaceful. Although the U.S. Capitol was under siege on January 6, democracy prevailed with the assistance of D.C. police, who helped save the day by reinforcing the U.S Capitol Police. The D.C. police’s actions should erase the Foundin

By: Miriam Edelman Happy New Year! It is officially 2026, a milestone year for the United States. This upcoming July, the U.S. will turn 250  years old. We will be celebrating the U.S.’s independence, which occurred after colonists  were subjects of taxation without representation.   Our nation is the world’s oldest democracy. It is also the world’s sole democracy  whose capital’s residents do not have voting representation in the national legislature or true home rule. As a

By: Miriam Edelman Have you ever thought about who could be the U.S.’s first Female President? This piece focuses on traits of potential female Presidents rather than discussing particular women who could become President.   Governor and/or Senator Two-thirds (30 of 45) people who have been President were Governor,   Senator,  or both. Thus, it is likely that the first female President will also have had one or both of those major government positions.             However, ev

By: Miriam Edelman At an event in New York City  in November 2025, former First Lady Michelle Obama asserted that the U.S. is not ready for a female President. She pointed to the 2024 presidential election when President Donald Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris. However, even at the time of Harris’ loss, people refused to attribute the defeat to only Harris’ gender. Jen O’Malley Dillion,  Harris’ campaign chair, said: “I do not think  that this race swung solely on

By: Miriam Edelman The Trump Administration’s  Department of Education (DOE) recently excluded from its classification of “professional”  degrees, nursing, social work, and other fields in which women predominate. Women’s eNews  reported: “The Administration’s  recent proposal to remove professional recognition from several degrees is an assault on women in the workforce. Most of the targeted fields are predominantly led and staffed by women. The devaluation of women-led prof

By: Miriam Edelman Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Representative Steny Hoyer (D-MD) have been both allies  and rivals in the House of Representatives. These Members, with strong ties to Maryland, were House Democrats’ top leaders for two decades. This piece follows up on DCNOW’s blog’s piece, entitled “DCNOW Thanks  National Legend, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi.”   Before Congress Hoyer and Pelosi  were born within a year of each other, Hoyer  in June 1939 and Pelos

By: Miriam Edelman D.C.’s prolonged disenfranchisement is unfair. Throughout the past several decades, D.C. has tried to acquire at least partial voting representation in the U.S. Congress via different methods, including a Constitutional   amendment,   a simple Constitutional bill,  a compromise bill, and statehood. Since these approaches have not been successful, D.C. residents still have zero voting representation in the U.S. Congress. Thus, since D.C. residents continue t

By: Miriam Edelman A newly restored call box memorializes the late Washington, D.C., leader Walter Tobriner   near his former house  at 33 rd  and Rittenhouse Streets in the Chevy Chase neighborhood of Washington, D.C. According to the Washington Post’s  obituary, Tobriner had “always  been a strong advocate of some form of home rule for the city.” This piece follows up on DCNOW’s blog post, entitled “Some of D.C.’s  Renovated Call Boxes Honor Women.”   Tobriner  was a promin

By: Miriam Edelman First Lady Melania Trump  (FLOTUS) recently revealed her new White House holidays display. This year’s theme, “Home Is Where the Heart Is,” shows  the U.S.’s “generosity,  patriotism, and unity.” According to the White House,  FLOTUS selected each detail.   FLOTUS completed  the First Lady’s duty of overseeing the White House’s annual Christmas decoration. In 1961,  First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy started the tradition of choosing the official White House Chr

By: Miriam Edelman On November 25, 2025,  D.C.’s Mayor Muriel Bowser announced that she will not run for reelection in 2026. Bowser,  who is 53 years old, has been a popular D.C. Mayor, having an average higher approval rating (57 percent) than all of D.C.’s recent Mayors except for Anthony Williams (65 percent). As a D.C. official,  Bowser does not face term limits.   On November 25 th  on X,  Bowser wrote: “It has been  the honor of my life to be your Mayor. Together, we ha

By: Miriam Edelman Thanksgiving  is a federal holiday that commemorates a harvest feast  shared by pilgrims and the Wampanoag people in 1621. In 1789,  President George Washington issued the U.S.’s first Thanksgiving  proclamation, which turned  Thursday November 26 th into a national day of thanks. In 1817,  the first state to officially have a Thanksgiving holiday every year was New York. Thanksgiving became a national holiday during the Presidency of Abrahm Lincoln and is

By: Miriam Edelman   DCNOW congratulates Representative Adelita Grijalva  (AG) (D-AZ) on finally being sworn into office on November 12, 2025, 50 days after her victory in a special election. The delay was the longest  that a victor in a Congressional special election had to wait before being sworn in.   On March 13, 2025,  Representative Raúl Grijalva (RG) (D-AZ), a son of an immigrant from Mexico, died at age 77 of complications from cancer treatment. After he was a commun

By: Miriam Edelman On November 6, 2025,  Speaker Emerita of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced her retirement  in a brief video, ending her almost 40-year groundbreaking Congressional career. The 85-year  old political icon is the first and only female Speaker of the House. Until Kamala Harris became Vice President in 2021, Pelosi was the highest-ranking woman in U.S. history.  Excluding Harris’ role as President of the Senate as part of her Vice Presi