Power To The Polls: Iowa Women's Marches Saturday

DES MOINES, IA — The founders of a movement that last year brought a throng of women to the streets of Washington, D.C., and around the country are planning a repeat demonstration this year, with the main event taking place Sunday in Las Vegas. The 2018 Women’s March is framed around a “national voter registration tour” ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.

In Iowa, Women’s March events are planned in Des Moines and Iowa City on Saturday.

• The Des Moines event is billed on its Facebook page as a peaceful gathering and "a loud and visible demonstration of community actions leading up to the 2018 elections" that will engage and empower participants to support women’s rights, human rights, and social and environmental justice. It begins with music at 11:30 a.m. and speakers will follow. Scheduled to speak are Chelsea Chism, Dema Kazkaz, Robin White, Cecilia Martinez, Rep. Liz Bennett, and keynote speaker Mazahir Salih. Co-hosts are Planned Parenthood‬ Voters of Iowa, ‪Interfaith Alliance‬ of Iowa, ‪Iowa CCI, ‬‪One Iowa‬ Action, ‪Our Revolution‬ Iowa, and ‪Indivisible Iowa‬. Additional music will follow the speakers and the event will conclude by 3 p.m.
• In Iowa City, supporters will gather at 9:30 a.m. on the Iowa City Pedestrian Mall fountain area. After a brief program at which they will "celebrate some of the good things that came about in 2017," participants will "march together in solidarity as we look forward to working together to accomplish big change in 2018 through the power of our votes."

The marches come at a watershed moment for women, who are seeking public office in record numbers in the 2018 midterm elections. Women are empowered both by the #MeToo movement, which brought a trove of stories from women who said they have faced sexual assault or harassment, and outrage against President Donald Trump, who famously said in a 2005 Access Hollywood tape leaked during the 2016 campaign that he had groped women’s genitals.

Organizers said they chose Las Vegas for the main “Power to the Polls” march because it is a microcosm for issues important to women, from gun violence to allegations of sexual assault against male politicians.

Las Vegas was the site of the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history last year, and Democratic U.S. Congressman Ruben Kihuen was accused by at least two women of groping them without permission. Kihuen is one of the latest of scores of powerful men implicated in a far-reaching scandal that has rocked politics and the entertainment and news industries. Though he declined to resign, he is not seeking re-election this year.

Nevada also is a swing state that could flip from red to blue in the November midterm elections, making it a prime place to hold the main march, organizers said.

The Las Vegas event kicks off a national voter registration and mobilization tour targeting other swing states with a focus on registering new voters and electing more women and progressive candidates to office. Rutgers’ Center for American Women and Politics says that about 600 women nationwide — a record — are running for statewide and federal office in the midterms.

In Iowa, Gov. Kim Reynolds will be seeking her first elected term after being appointed governor last May following the resignation of Gov. Terry Branstad, who was named U.S. Ambassador to China. In addition, three of the four U.S. Congressional district seats to be voted on this year have female challengers running against male incumbents.

Women, especially Democrats, are finding a path to victory in states where their election seemed improbable. For example, Virginia voters in November elected Danica Roem, the first openly transgender woman ever to be elected to a state legislature. She was one of 11 progressive women who unseated Republican men in the state’s House of Delegates.

The Women’s Marches also will bring attention to “systemic voter suppression laws that inhibit so many communities from voting,” Linda Sarsour, a co-organizer, said in a statement.

Learn more about the 2018 Women’s March here.

This story includes reporting by Beth Dalbey of Patch's national news staff. Photo: Protesters walk during the Women's March on Washington, with the U.S. Capitol in the background, on Jan. 21, 2017, in Washington, D.C., a day after President Donald Trump was sworn in as the nation’s 45th president. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images News/Getty Images)