Welcome to the Media Round Up! We’ve collected and shared our favorite gender + politics stories from this week.

Hitting a paywall? Some sources allow a few free articles without a subscription, and your university or local library may offer free access. For example, AU students, faculty, and staff have access to popular newspapers through the library. Click here to learn more.

Kamala Harris Says She’s ‘Thinking About’ Running for President Again: ‘I might’
ABC News, Hannah Demissie

Former Vice President Kamala Harris has not closed the door on a possible third presidential run just yet. At the National Action Network Convention last Friday, Harris admitted that she is considering a third bid for the White House, telling the crowd, “I’m thinking about it.” During her discussion with Rev. Al Sharpton, Harris said that the “status quo is not working, and hasn’t been working for a lot of people for a long time.” Her acknowledgment that she may run for president again elicited cheers from the crowd, and Harris was met with chants such as “run again,” during her conversation with Sharpton.

Democrat Analilia Mejia Wins New Jersey Special Election to Fill Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s House Seat
NBC News, Owen Auston-Babcock

On Thursday, Democrat Analilia Mejia won the special election to fill New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherill’s seat in the U.S. House, defeating Republican Joe Hathaway. Mejia, a progressive activist, entered the contests as the favorite. Mejia ran on a progressive platform that included abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, raising taxes on the wealthy, and universal health care and child care. While Vice President Harris won the district by 9 points in 2024, Sherrill carried it by 15 points in her campaign for governor last year. Additionally, Mejia outraised Hathaway by 2-to-1. Mejia will fill the rest of Sherrill’s term and narrow Republicans’ House majority to 218-214. In addition to this election, there will be a regularly scheduled primary in June to serve the full term in the 11th District starting in 2027.

Trump Nominates Dr. Erica Schwartz, Former Deputy Surgeon General, for CDC Director
NBC News, Berkeley Lovelace Jr., Erika Edwards, and Sara G. Miller

On Thursday, President Trump announced that he was nominating Dr. Erica Schwartz to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has been without a permanent director since March. During Trump’s first term, Dr. Schwartz served as the deputy U.S. surgeon general. Dr. Schwartz spent more than 20 years in the U.S. Navy, Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, and the U.S. Coast Guard. She earned her bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering and a medical degree from Brown University. Additionally, she also holds a master’s degree in public health from the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences and a law degree from the University of Maryland. If confirmed, Dr. Swartz will step into the role as the agency grapples with controversial changes under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. In addition to Dr. Schwartz’s nomination, Trump also announced his picks for three other health positions: Sean Slovenski for the CDC’s chief operating officer, Dr. Jennifer Shuford for the CDC’s chief medical director, and Dr. Sara Brenner as the senior counselor for public health for Secretary Kennedy.

How the GOP motivated these women faith leaders to run for Congress as Democrats
The 19th* News, Mariel Padilla

Sarah Trone Garriott, an ordained Lutheran minister since 2008, was invited to lead prayer at the Iowa State Capitol by her then-state senator. She started coming to the statehouse, which was only 10 miles from her home, to advocate on issues she cared about, including public school funding, gun violence prevention and reproductive rights. “I started paying attention to what was happening in that building, and I didn’t like what I saw,” Trone Garriott said. “And so I ended up running against my state senator a few years later.” She won 3 state legislative elections and now is running for Congress. Trone Garriott, who no longer serves a congregation but continues to preach at different churches on the weekends, said she sees many similarities between her role as pastor and politician. Both are about being present, listening, trying to help, being someone people can look to for direction, she added. Trone Garriott is one of three Democratic women clergy members running for Congress this year to make more space for religion in their party.

Show Me the Money: Q1 Fundraising 

March 31st closed out first quarter fundraising, and across the country, political candidates are reporting their campaign finance numbers. In South Carolina, Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette, a Republican candidate, demonstrated her political viability in her first report to the state ethics committee. Evette raised $1.02 million, distinguishing her as the second-highest raiser in the Republican primary, with Attorney General Alan Wilson slightly outraising her with a reported $1.04 million. In New Jersey, Democratic candidate Dr. Tina Shah, an ICU physician running in NJ-7, raised close to $1 million dollars, including $650,000 that she personally loaned to her campaign, in her efforts to challenge Republican Representative Thomas Kean. Dr. Shah’s primary opponent, Rebecca Bennett, raised only $700,000 in the first quarter of 2026, however, both candidates are entering the second quarter with nearly $1.4 million cash on hand. In Pennsylvania, Democrat Janelle Stelson, a former broadcast journalist, raised more than $2.1 million in the first quarter, as she eyes a rematch against Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA). According to Stelson’s campaign, she has received contributions from 9,000 unique donors and will be starting off the second quarter with more than $3 million in the bank. In Louisiana, Republican Representative Julia Letlow reported raising $4,378,500, including $2.5 million transferred from her congressional account, as she tries to unseat Senator Bill Cassidy.

Exclusive: Four women describe sexual misconduct by Rep. Eric Swalwell, including a former staffer who says he raped her
CNN, Allison Gordon, Isabelle Chapman, Casey Tolan, and Pamela Brown

Following accusations from at least four women describing sexual misconduct, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), a leading Democratic contender for California governor, has resigned from Congress. A former staffer accused the lawmaker of raping her when she was heavily intoxicated, an allegation which Swalwell denies. Three other women also reported sexual misconduct by the congressman, claiming that Swalwell sent them unsolicited nude photos and explicit messages. Swalwell has suspended his campaign for governor of California amid the controversy, writing in his resignation letter that he is “deeply sorry” but will “fight the serious, false allegations made against me.”

Forget the ‘Manosphere’ – The ‘Meno-Sphere’ is the Voting Bloc With Real Power
Ms. Magazine, Joyce Vance & Jennifer Weiss-Wolf

While a great deal of attention has been focused on the rightward shift of young male voters in the United States, a recent report from Third Way suggests that the “swingy, moderate, low-propensity young men” that supported Trump will sit out during the midterms this year. Rather than focusing on the “manosphere” this election season, political strategists have turned to the often forgotten group of aging women, which they have called the “meno-sphere.” In November 2025, midlife and older women were key to the considerable Democratic gubernatorial victories, as well as mayoral and judicial races. The economy is a considerable issue motivating this group of women, as women over 50 account for 27% of all domestic consumer spending, in addition to their role of making nearly all of the household purchasing decisions. A recent survey from AARP shows that this cohort is deeply concerned about their financial future, demonstrating an increased interest in politics this cycle, alongside efforts to pass the SAVE America Act. Notably, older women understand the importance of engagement in electoral politics, lending individuals to consider them the voters best suited to help save democracy.

GOP States Are Taking Up Voting Laws Modeled After Trump’s SAVE America Act
The 19th* News, Marissa Martinez

While the SAVE America Act has languished in the Senate for the past several weeks as some GOP politicians hesitate to support the legislation, lawmakers across several red states have introduced similar changes for their elections. Republican governors in Florida, Mississippi, Utah, and South Dakota have recently signed bills that would require documentary proof of citizenship for individuals registering to vote ahead of state and local elections. Currently, another bill is on its way to the desk of Tennessee Governor Bill Lee. Additionally, several other state legislatures are moving towards tightening voter ID and registration laws in the past year. Currently 12 states require proof-of-citizenship laws for local election registrants, 10 of which have Republican trifectas. Meanwhile, this November, several states will have ballot initiatives to decide whether to amend local constitutions or laws to clarify that only citizens can vote, including Arkansas, Arizona, Kansas, South Dakota, and Alaska. Federal lawmakers are set to take up the SAVE America Act again this week as they return from recess, however, despite pressure from the White House, there has been no indication of progress on negotiations from the upper chamber.

Women are getting most of the new jobs. What’s going on with men?
NPR, Andrea Hsu

Though messaging has focused on getting more women into male-dominated spaces for decades, it’s now clear that “men need help too” since the vast majority of new jobs are going to women. Of the 369,000 jobs that have been created since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, nearly all of them went to women; the lopsidedness is largely driven by a huge growth in health care, where women hold almost 80 percent of jobs. Betsey Stevenson, a professor of public policy and economics at the University of Michigan, contends that men will need to embrace the kinds of jobs typically held by women in order to see robust job growth, but notes that this has not yet happened in any “meaningful” way. Stevenson suspects that this is because men are more likely to have an identity tied to a specific occupation, making it “harder for them to find work outside that field.”

How the American Women’s History Initiative Pool Lays the Groundwork for a New Museum
Smithsonian Magazine, Melissa Saracino

Long before opening its doors, the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum is already supporting research, stewarding collections, and engaging the public. The American Women’s History Initiative plays a central role in this work, demonstrating that a museum’s impact is defined not by its physical form, but by its sustained commitment to knowledge, access, and community. The initiative emerged in 2016, when the American Museum of Women’s History Congressional Commission confirmed the need for a museum dedicated to women’s history. The commission created a strategic plan to guide the museum’s development and recommended the formation of the American Women’s History Initiative at the Smithsonian Institution. In its first year, the American Women’s History Initiative worked with the Smithsonian Collections Program to fund projects relating to the care of Smithsonian collections highlighting women. By the next year, later funding digital projects as well. The fund has evolved over time and now supports projects for acquisitions, community and collaboration, education and public programs, and exhibitions. Each project supports at least one of the three core pillars defined by the congressional committee: research, collections, and programming.

Going braless in Ohio could land women in jail under anti-drag bill | Opinion
The Columbus Dispatch, Dan Kobil

In an op-ed for The Columbus Dispatch, constitutional law professor Dan Kobil argues that the “Indecent Exposure Modernization Act” violates First Amendment rights protecting artistic expressions. The bill, which recently passed the Ohio House and is currently pending in the state Senate, seeks to regulate women’s clothing and prohibit drag shows “under the guise of preventing ‘indecent exposure.’” Kobil posits, and that the vague wording in the bill could criminalize a wide variety of “artistic endeavors,” that should be protected under the First Amendment. Furthermore, in its efforts to ban new forms of “indecency,” Kobil says that the bill could even ban women from wearing sports bras, as it “radically expands” the definition of public indecency. Under the act, Ohio women could be at risk for wearing a halter top, bikini, or shirt without a bra.