Weekly Media Round Up: September 25, 2026

Gender on the Ballot Team | Sep 25, 2026

Welcome to the Media Round Up! We’ve collected and shared our favorite gender + politics stories from this week. We’ve also added an “In Case You’ve Missed It” section for media throughout July.

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First Lady Melania Trump Has Presence at the UN

On Tuesday, first lady Melania Trump delivered a call to action at the United Nations General Assembly: as technology races ahead, children must be protected. During her remarks at the UNGA, Trump unveiled her new “Fostering the Future Together” initiative, a coalition of nations dedicated to preserving children’s well-being in the digital age through technology, innovation, and education. The first lady encouraged leaders to stress the importance of safety, noting that “we must identify simple solutions to protect our children’s ingenuity.” This week, Melania Trump also broke with President Donald Trump on the media ban he implemented against CNN, MS Now, and POLITICO at the White House. While President Trump seized reporters’ press credentials amid what he deems “unfair media coverage,” the office of the first lady formally approved CNN and POLITICO’s press credentials for her UNGA event.

Is Kamala Harris Running?

In April, former Vice President Kamala Harris considered a potential 2028 presidential run, but since then she has shared few details about her plans. However, on Tuesday, Harris traveled to Michigan to campaign alongside Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, drawing attention from voters and Democratic representatives. According to AP News, Harris had a “painful history” in Michigan in 2024, when Arab American voters expressed frustration with the Biden administration’s support for Israel. On the contrary, El-Sayed, one of the Democratic Party’s pro-Palestine figures, has tried to build support among Michigan’s Arab American and progressive communities. According to El-Sayed, Harris’s visit provides an opportunity to “bring communities together that have often been torn apart by recent events.” The visit also comes as some Democratic candidates have been hesitant to campaign alongside Harris because of her association with the Biden administration. Harris has continued to campaign for Democratic candidates in states including Michigan, Nevada, and Georgia as questions remain about whether she will seek the presidency in 2028.

AOC is Leaving her 2028 Options Open

Amid the chaos of the 2026 midterms, some people are looking ahead to the 2028 election cycle. Among them is Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who is looking ahead to her 2028 campaign. Many progressive voices have urged her to run for President, while others have challenged her to run for Senator against sitting Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). At the heart of it, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez told the New York Times that she is doing the ‘math’, considering the crossroads of her identity and political viability.

Rep. Ocasio-Cortez was the youngest member ever elected to Congress and has been candid about how being a Latina woman has shaped her advocacy and platform. Recently, she became the center of media attention for sharing videos of herself freezing her eggs. She wanted to shine a light on a decision that many career women in their 30s have to make about fertility options. She explains that this is just one barrier women face, especially in politics. “What is very odd about our political culture is that for some reason when you raise it, people just freak out,” she said. “They get so defensive at the mere suggestion that gender could play a role.” This is a part of her broader calculations on electability. While she has raised more money than most other House representatives, she remains nationally polarizing. Around 41% of likely voters and 75% of Republicans find her unfavorable, while 55% of likely Democratic voters in New York would support her in a Senate primary.

However, a presidential run is still on the table. She has expressed little interest in titles, instead finding ways to, in her own words, “do the most good.” She said this decision is deeply personal and that she likely won’t run again if she loses this cycle. Thus, her book remains open, with both a 2028 Senate and Presidential campaign on the table.

Congress is Finally Talking About Menopause
The 19th* News, Shefali Luthra & Isabela Espadas Barros Leal

For the first time since its inception, Congress held its first-ever hearing on menopause. The bipartisan hearing, convened by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), urged the federal government to actively support and fund menopause treatment, research, and healthcare. The panel of gynecologists, academics, and other experts on menopause highlighted the lack of resources available to the 30 percent of women between the ages of 45 and 60 who experience perimenopause and menopause symptoms. Various congressional and state-level bills across the aisle aim to support affected women, but they remain in the early stages. The RAND Corporation estimates that menopause symptoms result in losses of $5.4 billion annually, largely due to women retiring early or scaling back their involvement in the workforce as symptoms worsen. During this hearing, Sen. Gillibrand and Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) unveiled a letter sent to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), requesting a report on how the government uses funds for women’s health research. The letter, signed by members of the U. S. House and Senate, requests information about “what the federal government actually does on menopause, how well our doctors are trained, and where the gaps are. You can’t fix what you refuse to even measure,” says Gillibrand.

Could FEMA Disaster Recovery Include Protecting Women From Abuse?
The 19th* News, Mariel Padilla

In the aftermath of natural disasters, displaced women routinely face a documented surge in domestic violence, sexual assault, and coercion into “survival sex”, in exchange for shelter and basic necessities in their time of need, a pattern highlighted by the post-Maui wildfire Equailty In Flames Survey. Now, bipartisan federal legislation proposed by Rep. Laurel Lee (R-FL) and Rep. Lucy McBath (D-GA) aims to overhaul FEMA’s emergency responses by strengthening shelter safety protocols and mandating that workers check in with every adult within a household rather than only the male head of household. However, this legislative push to close these critical gender gaps in disaster relief arrives as federal budget cuts and delayed grants threaten to destabilize the nation’s broader survivor support infrastructure.

FBI Warned ICE Agents Could be Targeted by Fake ‘Tradwife’ Dating Profiles, Memo Reveals
The Guardian, Sam Levin

In February, the FBI’s Chicago field office distributed an internal memo warning the country’s law enforcement agencies that a group of women were creating fake online dating profiles to lure and dox them. The memo, provided to NBC News and later verified by the FBI, cautioned that these dating profiles incorporated “imagery of a ‘traditional wife’ aesthetic” in an attempt to appeal to individuals in law enforcement. Once law enforcement personnel were lured into an in-person or online interaction, the women sought to publicly expose and dox these individuals online. The tactic, according to the memo, “is intended to generate public embarrassment and deter immigration enforcement activity.” The memo was sent amid a surge of thousands of immigration officers to U.S. cities earlier this year in an attempt to crack down on illegal immigration.

Abortion Rights On The Ballot In Several States

Since the Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade, states have used ballot measures to determine abortion policy at the state level. Advocacy groups on both sides have developed strategies on how to persuade voters on these measures. In November, voters in Idaho, Missouri, Nevada, and Virginia will vote on ballot measures that could change the legality of abortion in their states. In Idaho, Proposition 1 would repeal the state’s current abortion ban, with supporters emphasizing the broader health care implications of abortion restrictions. Advocates of pro-abortion policy are largely citing concerns that physicians could leave the state and make health care less accessible for everyone. In Missouri, Amendment 3 would amend the state constitution to restrict abortion in most cases, while measures in Nevada and Virginia would provide additional legal protections for abortion access. In 2024, similar measures were proposed in 10 states, with measures to expand abortion access passing in seven, and failing in Florida, Nebraska, and South Dakota. With four states considering abortion-related measures this fall, the results will provide another look at how voters are viewing abortion policy at the state level following the Dobbs decision.

Affordability Crisis Changing Voters’ Views On ‘Women’s Issues’
WXPR, Erin Gottsacker

Childcare, elderly care, and pay equity have long been cast aside as niche “women’s issues,” but a nationwide survey from the Equal Rights Advocates Action Fund has revealed voters increasingly view them as crucial fixes to the affordability crisis. With nearly 60% of surveyed midterm voters reporting the economy is failing them, an overwhelming majority now see women’s financial stability as something tied to family survival. Equal Rights Advocates President Noreen Farrell emphasizes that the debate is no longer at its core just about the cost of living, but about “what puts money in your pocket”, signaling that policies once treated as secondary gender issues, have now become decisive, vote swaying conversational politics.

Global Gender Parity Gap Persists

Two new studies show that gender equality is “woefully” off track. A new UN report has found that, at the current rate of progress, gender parity would take 171 years to achieve. The report highlights the stubborn concentration of political power among men, finding that even when women do attempt to enter the political arena, they are disproportionately steered away from the highest levels of power. According to the research, millions of women also endure extreme forms of violence and discrimination across the globe; solving these issues has simultaneously been “removed” from global agendas, as programs addressing gender equality have reached their lowest level of funding since 2021. Another study, published by the World Economic Forum (WEF), reveals that gender equality progress remains “fragile.” Though women’s presence at the “top of politics” has grown since the first report, the percentage of countries led by women has now fallen back to 2016 levels.