Three prominent activists have launched an organization seeking to encourage women to use their political power to influence the country's elections, including the upcoming 2020 presidential race.
Headed by Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza, former Planned Parenthood chief Cecile Richards and executive director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, Ai-jen Poo, Supermajority, as the group has been named, aims to mobilize at least 2 million women over the next year to become political leaders within their communities.
In an interview with Newsweek, Garza said she and her fellow co-founders decided to launch Supermajority to help unite the millions of women seeking change in the wake of the 2016 election that saw President Donald Trump elected.
"After the 2016 election, there were a lot of us all over the place trying to make sense of the carnage that occurred," Garza said. Since then, "what became clear to us is that women are on fire, women are pissed off and we're pissed off about the feeling that we're going backwards."
"That's why women are taking action," Garza said, noting that women have been marching, running for office, donating to and supporting causes and campaigns, as well as voting in record numbers.
The activist also pointed to the 2018 midterm elections, which saw women elected to Congress in record-breaking numbers.
"What I know is that women are watching, women are getting organized and women are flexing our power," Garza said.
Supermajority's website echoes the BLM co-founder's words, asserting that women "can be the most powerful force in America — if we do the work together."
"One woman can be ignored, two can be dismissed, but together, we're a Supermajority, and we're unstoppable."
In an apparent reference to the #MeToo movement, the organization, which describes itself as multiracial and intergenerational, said that "in the past two years, we've seen what happens when women mobilize. But while "women are on the cusp of becoming the most powerful force in America," Supermajority's co-founders say that to "fundamentally transform this country" women must work together.
To help further that goal, the group's leaders say their organization will provide on-the-ground training to help women advocates "get and stay informed on issues that affect their lives," in addition to creating a "women's agenda" that will put women's issues first, "from economic equity and opportunity, to dignity and safety on the job, to keeping families and communities safe."
While Supermajority's aim is to push politicians to adopt a "women's new deal," as Richards told The Associated Press in a recent interview, the group is not expected to endorse individual candidates.
In addition to Garza, Richards and Poo, Supermajority's leadership team also includes activists and organizers Jess Morales Rocketto, the chair of Families Belong Together, Deirdre Schifeling, a senior adviser for the Planned Parenthood Action Fund and Civitas Public Affairs Group partner Katherine Grainger.
The group's creation comes as women's voices are becoming increasingly powerful in politics and beyond. Particularly in the wake of the #MeToo movement, which saw countless numbers of women around the world come forward with their experiences of sexual harassment and assault, a new, strengthened focus has zeroed in on issues affecting women in the U.S. and around the world.
Seeking to harness women's growing "collective power in this moment," Supermajority says it aims to "lift up an agenda that addresses our needs and hold candidates and elected officials accountable."
This article has been updated with comment from Alicia Garza.
