We join our partners, communities, and people around the world in celebrating President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, and this historic moment in US history with the election of the first woman, the first Black person, and the first South Asian person to that office. We are incredibly grateful for the poll workers and election officials who have worked tirelessly to ensure the security and integrity of our elections, and that our most fundamental right as Americans is upheld—a sign of our democracy at work.
We are indebted to the Black women, women of color, and young people who were crucial in delivering the Biden-Harris victory, as well as some other important wins. We could not have achieved these victories without the leadership and passion of activists and community organizers who helped deliver the largest voter turnout in the country’s history, including the largest youth turnout. We give deep thanks to our reproductive health, rights, and justice colleagues for your work in turning out the vote and bringing about these wins to ensure our human right to live a safe, pleasurable, and healthy sexual and reproductive life can be realized. Here are some of the things we are celebrating:
- In California, voters restored the right to vote for formerly incarcerated people
- In Colorado, voters affirmed the right to later abortion
- In Delaware, Sarah McBride was elected to the state senate and will become the first transgender state senator in the country
- In Florida, voters approved a $15 per hour minimum wage
- In Kansas, four Native women won election or reelection in state legislature and Congress
- In Michigan, Senator Gary Peters won reelection after recently sharing his family’s personal abortion story
- In Missouri, Cori Bush was elected the first Black congresswoman in the state’s history
- In New Mexico, all three members of its US House delegation will be women of color
- In New York, Mondaire Jones and Ritchie Torres both won their congressional races, becoming the first openly gay Black man and the first openly gay Afro-Latino, respectively, in Congress
- In Oklahoma, Mauree Turner was elected to the Oklahoma State House of Representatives and will become one of the first non-binary state lawmakers in the country and also the first Muslim legislator in the state
- In Washington, voters affirmed the right to comprehensive sex ed in public schools
It is important to take a moment and celebrate these important achievements and the amazing people and efforts that made them happen. But, we also know there is so much work ahead of us—the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc on families and health systems across this country, the US Supreme Court is set to hear a case about the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, the Trump-Pence Administration has inflicted grave harm on our communities and our rights in just four years, and systemic racism undermines health and well-being throughout the US. Although the outcome of the presidential race is by no means a silver bullet, with the strength of rights- and justice-based movements and an empathetic and supportive administration, we believe we can make real progress. The work to dismantle systemic racism is perhaps the most important work of our lives, and coupled with powerful evidence to advance policy and service-delivery solutions that positively impact people’s lives, we are committed to the fight to create a world that will support and celebrate all of our human and reproductive rights.
We hope you will join us in celebrating the Biden-Harris victory, and state and local wins, AND we look forward to continuing the important work to create the world we all deserve, together.