2024
August 2 - BBC
Madeline Halpert. “In one US state, women politicians dominate. What pointers can it offer Kamala Harris?”
…
“Women are still underestimated,” said Marcie Paul, the chair of Fems for Dems, an advocacy group for liberal women in Michigan. “It’s going to be no different for her [Ms Harris], I believe, than it was when they said three women on the top of the ticket cannot possibly win in Michigan.”
…
“More generally, female candidates face more superficial criticisms than male politicians about how they look, how they carry themselves and how they speak, said Ms Paul, the Fems for Dems leader who helps encourage women to vote and run for office.”
…
April 14 - The Hill
Julia Mueller. "Suburban women are more complicated than 'soccer moms'"
...
"There’s also a growing gender gap in college education as more young women get degrees, and many suburban households rely on dual incomes.
"'So even the mom that drives her kids to soccer is doing it with her cellphone on, holding a meeting on Zoom,' said Marcie Paul, chair of the Michigan-based group Fems for Dems."
...
"Trump, in particular, has seen warning signs from suburban women, though he argued at a campaign stop earlier this month that 'suburban housewives actually like Donald Trump.'
"'I suppose the few women that like to be labeled 'suburban housewife' – they might tolerate him, perhaps. But 'suburban housewife' doesn’t speak to the vast majority of women who embody many different adjectives,' Paul said."
February 6 - NBC News
Babe Gutierrez and Fallon Gallagher. “Suburban women helped Biden win in 2020, and he’s trying to keep them in his coalition this year. His campaign is already running ads targeting female voters in places like Michigan.
“DETROIT — Suburban women were a critical voting bloc for Joe Biden in the 2020 election — and they may play an outsize role in key swing states again.
“Marcie Paul is an organizer of Fems for Dems, a group that formed in early 2016 when the founder sent an e-mail to friends that said she planned to help elect the first female president. After Hillary Clinton lost that election, the group turned its attention to booting then-President Donald Trump from the White House in 2020.
“‘Trump is revolting,’” Paul said, adding that she thought Biden was doing a better job than she had ever expected.”
…
‘He doesn’t excite people the way Obama did,’ Paul said of Biden. ‘But fear is a huge motivator.’
“The fear she’s referring to is a dread that Trump will retake the White House. The NBC News poll found Trump leading Biden by 5 percentage points in a hypothetical matchup, within the margin of error…”
2023
March 6 - Detroit Free Press
Bill Laytner. “Oakland County has made stunning political shift from red to blue: Here’s why.”
“In stunning shifts from red to blue, Michigan liberals rule two places where their power once was scarce: Lansing and Oakland County.
“As the political year ramps up, liberals in both places are vowing to see decades of hope become action. That’s a recent refrain from Democratic state lawmakers. The same is coming from local activists. A batch met recently in Oakland County.
“At the Birmingham Unitarian Church, which actually is in Bloomfield Hills, the meeting whose named sponsors were environmental groups began with state Sen. Rosemary Bayer, hardly a rabid leftist. Bayer is a former data and analytics guru who narrowly flipped a Republican district in 2018. After redistricting forced her to move from Beverly Hills to West Bloomfield, Bayer won her new district last fall by 14 points…
“A short parade of other politicians bounced from more talk on gun safety (state Rep. Sharon MacDonell of Troy) to outrage about the outage (U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, whose new district has five cities in Oakland County). All of the non-politicians then stood and told their affiliations, ranging from the nonpartisan (Southfield school board, Voters Not Politicians, National Council of Jewish Women), to the clearly partisan (Fems for Dems, local Democratic Party clubs), to some clear left-leaners (American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, Unitarian-Universalist Social Justice Network…”
February 23 - Let It Rip, Fox2News
Lori Goldman of Fems for Dems and former Detroit Police Chief James Craig talk gun reform post-MSU.
2022
November 12 - Huffington Post
Johnathan Cohn. “What It Was Like To Ride The Blue Wave On Election Day.” A journey across Michigan, from the places that shunned Gretchen Whitmer and the Democrats to the ones that made them victorious
“DETROIT ― The email arrived a little after 9 a.m. on Election Day. It was an update from Lori Goldman, a Democratic political activist from the northern Detroit suburbs. She was so upset, she said, that she was feeling physically ill.
“Just weeks before, Goldman had been confident of victory ― for an abortion rights initiative on the ballot, for Democrats running for the U.S. House and state legislature and, especially, for incumbent Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. But now Goldman was hearing from friends and neighbors unsure of their votes and, in the governor’s race, contemplating Whitmer’s Republican opponent, former right-wing commentator Tudor Dixon.
‘I hope I am wrong,’ Goldman told me, ‘but I fear I am not.’”
………..
“In 2016, Oakland voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton for president; in 2018, it backed Whitmer for governor. Lori Goldman, the panicked Democratic activist who had emailed me in the morning, was part of that process. She helped establish a group called Fems for Dems that rallied women to support Democrats as a bulwark against the agenda of Trump-era Republicans……”
2021
December 15 - Detroit Free Press
Susan Selasky. “Raising Michigan's minimum wage to $15 per hour is goal of new committee.”
“Michigan restaurant workers, restaurants owners and advocates for fair wages and raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour for all workers, including tipped workers, launched a new committee to support the initiative.”
Julie Campbell-Bode, of Fems for Dems, speaks during the Raise the Wage Michigan ballot committee announcement at Yum Village in Detroit on Dec. 15, 2021. Photo credit: Kimberly P. Mitchell.
April 15 - Michigan Advance
Allison Donahue. “Michigan ‘witches’ take to the Capitol to protest sexism in politics.”
“The ‘Michigan Witches Against the Patriarchy’ protest, hosted by Fems for Dems and Metro-Detroit Political Action Network, was a tongue-in-cheek response to the sexist comments Michigan Republican Party Chair and University of Michigan Regent Ron Weiser made last month.”
April 14 - The Detroit News
Beth LeBlanc. “Witch rally at state Capitol protests GOP chair's 'three witches' comments.”
“Michigan Fems for Dems founder Lori Goldman said the event was held in response to Weiser's [Ron Weiser, chair of the Michigan Republican Party and member of the UofM Board of Regents] March comments at a North Oakland Republican Party meeting where he made his controversial comments.
“Weiser later issued an apology for the ‘flippant analogy.’
“But Goldman still expressed disgust with the comments Wednesday, saying she was ‘sick of it.’
"‘We're not putting up with it anymore,’ Goldman said. ‘This is going to be one of our primary focuses going forward: We're going to reelect Gretchen Whitmer and Dana Nessel and Jocelyn Benson and we're going to stop these men and women that want to play the game like they've played it for hundreds of years.’"
February 22 - The American Prospect
Steve Rosenthal. “Organizing Going Forward.”
“We must help nourish the indigenous organizations that grew out of the Trump resistance. Following the election of Trump in 2016, something unheard-of happened. Thousands of progressive, volunteer-led groups spontaneously burst on the scene to mobilize to stop Trump’s agenda and defeat Republican candidates: Groups like Indivisible, Flippable, Run for Something, Sister District, and the Sunrise Movement with something of a national profile; and local groups, like Rooted in Resistance in California, Fems for Dems in Michigan, and Liberal Women of Chesterfield County in Virginia, seemed to pop up everywhere. Those of us who have toiled in the organizing vineyards for decades were shocked and uplifted. These groups played an invaluable role in the 2018 midterm election successes Democrats enjoyed, particularly in suburban and exurban areas. There is no denying that the impacts of COVID-19 profoundly impacted the ability of these grassroots groups to implement their strategies in 2020, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t resurrect their efforts or that we should ignore other grassroots organizations and organizers that were born out of this movement.”
February 4 - Time
Molly Ball. “The Secret History of the Shadow Campaign That Saved the 2020 Election.”
“He made his way to the arena and sent word to his network. Within 45 minutes, dozens of reinforcements had arrived. As they entered the arena to provide a counterweight to the GOP observers inside, Reyes took down their cell-phone numbers and added them to a massive text chain. Racial-justice activists from Detroit Will Breathe worked alongside suburban women from Fems for Dems and local elected officials. Reyes left at 3 a.m., handing the text chain over to a disability activist.”
2020
December 28 - AP
Josh Boak, Nicholas Riccardi and Clarie Galofaro. “A divided nation asks: What's holding our country together?”
“A coalition of suburban women achieved what they set out to do — help evict Trump from the White House. But Lori Goldman, in Oakland County, Michigan, who runs the group Fems for Dems, can’t shake the sense that their mission now is more critical than it’s ever been.
“‘We got rid of this blight, this cancer,’ said Goldman, 61. ‘We cut him out. But we know that cancer has spread, it’s spread to soft tissue, other organs. And now we have to save the rest of the body.’
“Trump isn’t gone, not really, she said. She is horrified at the number of Americans who believe his unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud.
“‘That’s a dangerous, dangerous place to be in,’ she said. ‘This country is in a lot of trouble.’
“It feels to her that the United States is caught in a period of great transition. The bright, progressive future she longs for seems inevitable. But she thinks a large portion of America would prefer to turn back the clock.
“Trump called people like her the ‘suburban housewives of America,’ and tried to appeal to them by spreading fear about Black Lives Matter protesters, crime and low-income housing. Still, Biden won 54% of suburban voters, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of the electorate.
“Goldman can't understand why 74 million Americans voted for Trump. She went on national television and said she was ashamed that most of her own relatives were among them. Now some of her siblings don’t want to talk to her anymore.
“To her, this is a microcosm of one of the greatest challenges this country has faced: that tribalized politics has pitted people against each other in a way far more profound than ever before. It is no longer Republicans versus Democrats. It has splintered families and friends.
“She weeps when she talks about the rift.”
November 20 - Fox2
Robin Murdoch and Jack Nissen. “Michigan Senate Leader Shirkey swarmed by activists at airport before flying to meet with Trump.”
November 20 - WXYZ
Jim Kiertzner. “Fems for Dems make a strong statement to Michigan legislative leaders meeting with President Trump.”
METRO AIRPORT — “…Fems for Dems had people in Detroit and Washington D. C. The group formed in February of 2016, but they had never mobilized as they did today.
“Julie Campbell-Bode is the Board Chair and says, ‘the last voices that they heard before getting onto that place to fly down to the White House was the voices of the people. We wanted to make sure they understood that we should be their top priority. At the end of the day they report to us. We’re the people who put them where they are we pay their salaries.’…
“Campbell-Bode says, ‘I think many of us didn’t know the mechanisms of government and the mechanisms of elections. We are now awake to that.’
“The founder of Fems for Dems is Lori Goldman. She says they started to support Hillary Clinton as the first viable female candidate for President in 2016.
“Michigan had a record turnout in the 2020 Presidential election and Fems for Dems has also grown.
“Goldman says, ‘we have built our community at this point to over 10,000 members and we are uniquely qualified to go out and have our voices heard in so many different ways.’”
November 3 - New York Times
Jeremy W. Peters. “Lines form in Michigan, and some voters flee fast.”
BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. — “It didn’t take long after the polling place at Covington School opened for the line to grow so long the wait to vote was already an hour.
“And it wasn’t even 8 a.m.
“Some people bailed rather than wait. The rush of voters in Bloomfield Township, an upscale suburb of Detroit, seemed to suggest that Election Day turnout could benefit Republicans. The precinct was one of a handful in the area that voted last time for President Trump while the surrounding areas went for Hillary Clinton.
“But at least one resident wasn’t so sure as she stood outside. Lori Goldman, a real estate agent who founded a political group for local women, Fems for Dems, said she sensed a big shift in the area, especially among women.
“‘It’s not as conservative as it once was. And I know a lot of people who are now more progressive,’ she said, adding that if some of her neighbors were still voting Republican, their children were not. ‘Their kids are progressive.’…
November 2 - MSNBC
Heidi Przybyla interviews our founder, Lori Goldman, and our board chair, Julie Campbell-Bode, as they drive underserved people to vote the day before Election Day. (Two clips from MSNBC.)
October 30 - New York Times
Kathleen Gray. “In Michigan, a Suburban County That Flipped Blue Isn’t Looking Back” Click here.
Lori Goldman, of Bloomfield Hills, who after the 2016 election formed Fems for Dems, a group for suburban women in Oakland County that works to elect Democratic candidates, has seen her ranks grow to nearly 9,000 members.
“‘If I was not subjected to the PTSD of 2016, I could probably say I feel very comfortable that we’ll prevail,’ she said of Democrats’ prospects this year. ‘But I won’t take that for granted. Women blame themselves. I blame myself that I didn’t bloody my knees, crawling to more houses, knocking on more doors to get more people to vote in 2016. But that’s in the past. No one is going back to sleep. No one’s going back to their La-Z-Boy. We’re here to stay.’”
October 28 - New York Times
Ruth Fremson. “In 2020, the Suburbs Are Stressed.”
“Lori Goldman founded Fems for Dems, a nonprofit group for suburban women, shortly after the 2016 election. The group has attracted nearly 9,000 members, who canvass neighborhoods in Novi, about 18 miles from White Lake. The area has been represented by both Republicans and Democrats in Congress in the past decade.
“Most residents who opened their doors listened politely and a few engaged in discussions about the candidates. One man paused a work call to chat with the women. The canvassing was hard on Wendy Bolton’s feet, so she took off her shoes to be more comfortable.”
October 19 - AP
Claire Galofaro. “‘Our house is on fire': Suburban women lead charge vs. Trump.”
“She walks with the determination of a person who believes the very fate of democracy might depend on the next door she knocks on, head down, shoulders forward. She wears nothing fussy, the battle fatigues of her troupe: yoga pants and sneakers. She left her Lincoln Aviator idling in the driveway, the driver door open -- if this house wasn’t the one to save the nation, she can move quickly to the next.
“For most of her life, until 2016, Lori Goldman had been politically apathetic. Had you offered her $1 million, she says, she could not have described the branches of government in any depth. She voted, sometimes.
“Now every moment she spends not trying to rid America of President Donald Trump feels like wasted time.
“‘We take nothing for granted,’” she tells her canvassing partner. “‘They say Joe Biden is ahead. Nope. We work like Biden is behind 20 points in every state….’”
“Goldman started her group, Fems for Dems, in early 2016 by sending an email to a few hundred friends that said she planned to help elect the first female president and asked if they’d like to join her. Four years later, their ranks have swelled to nearly 9,000.
“There is one thing Goldman gives Trump credit for. He stormed into the White House on pure guts and bombast, unwilling to acknowledge failure, averse to saying sorry. Those are not natural traits for most women who’ve absorbed societal expectations to please and be polite, she says. But she dug deep within herself to find some hint of them. ..”
October 2 - Bridge Michigan
Jonathan Oosting. “Trump needs suburbs to win Michigan. But many women reject his racial pitch.”
“Lori Goldman wasn’t planning to knock on voter doors this year given COVID-19, but that changed abruptly with what she called the ‘demise of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the shit that is coming out of Trump’s mouth.’
“‘The liberal Supreme Court justice’s death, and Trump’s rush to replace her with conservative Judge Amy Coney Barrett, is another urgent call to action for women who helped Democrats dominate Michigan elections in 2018,’ said Goldman, who founded a group called Fems for Dems four years ago and now leads more than 9,000 activists, primarily women.
“Masked and socially distanced, her group hopes to knock on the doors of 100,000 voters by Nov. 3 as they pivot from what had been a largely virtual and phone-based operation over the summer, she said. The goal is turnout, not persuasion, and will focus on lower-ticket races like the state House.
“‘If Hillary Clinton had won, and I pray to God I wish she had, I probably would have gone back to having lunch and shopping and enjoying my life,’ Goldman told Bridge, recounting the growth of her organization.
“‘But because she didn’t win, we have been impassioned and working 20 hours a day, every day, with no vacations.’
“Fems for Dems has become a political force in metro Detroit, particularly in Oakland County, and experts say its ability to mobilize suburban activists is emblematic of the political shift that could benefit Democrats this fall.”
September 20 - MLive
Malachi Barrett. “Biden campaigners say they’re all over Michigan, even if you can’t see them.”
“Fems for Dems, a women-led organization working in the suburbs of Oakland and Macomb Counties, held its first canvassing event Friday. The grassroots organization has held a handful of small in-person events with limited attendance, social distancing and temperature checks.
“Board Chair Julie Campbell-Bode said activists are feeling ‘Zoom fatigue’ after months of online meetings and conference calls.
“‘We’re trying to be safe and smart because quite frankly, our community wouldn’t have it any other way; they would call us out if we were doing anything they saw to be irresponsible,’ Cambell-Bode said. ‘The honest truth is that people are lonely at this time. It’s not been easy, but we’ve have tried to have a balanced approach to it.’
“Campbell-Bode said volunteers in Michigan’s suburbs helped send 100,000 voter information postcards with details on voter registration and absentee ballots.”
August 14 - MLive
Malachi Barrett. “Trump campaign bus makes push for women voters in Michigan battlegrounds.”
“Lori Goldman is the founder of Fems for Dems, a political action committee created to get more women engaged in politics. From her self-described ‘upper-class neighborhood’ in Bloomfield Village, Goldman said Trump’s fumbled response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting economic fallout is changing minds.
“‘People here are losing their jobs, their livelihoods; they can’t afford to live in their million-dollar houses anymore,’ she said. ‘When it starts affecting those people, you know changes are afoot.’
“At the same time, Goldman said she’s seeing more ‘All Lives Matter’ signs pop up in her area as people express opposition to police reform movements. The EPIC-MRA poll found white women were less likely to approve of the Black Lives Matter movement, with a 50/50 split among college-educated white women.”
August 12 - MLive
Malachi Barrett and Emily Lawler. “Kamala Harris is officially Joe Biden’s running mate. Michigan supporters say it’s about time.”
“In Oakland County, Fems for Dems Board Chair Julie Campbell-Bode spoke with MLive shortly after holding a celebratory call with hundreds of Democratic activists. The moment called for a glass of champagne, she said.
“Campbell-Bode said Harris’ inclusion adds much-needed diversity to the presidential ticket, which features four white men all above the age of 60. Harris is 22 years younger than Biden and is the daughter of immigrants from India and Jamaica.
“‘It was hard when we ended up with another pale stale male,’ Campbell-Bode said. ‘There was a degree of disappointment that we had so many qualified women and ended up with the same old same old. We’ve been waiting for this moment by which our voices are heard and we feel like the work that was put in the last four years has really culminated in this moment, which is why we’re celebrating.’”
August 3 - Politico
Rikha Sharma Rani. “Could These Evangelical Democrats Change the Party?”
“Of course, with a second Trump term on the line, the possibility of cutting into the president’s evangelical base could prove too hard to resist, even for Democratic voters skeptical of religion. Lori Goldman, founder of Fems for Dems, a political action committee in Michigan that seeks to elect progressives, said her organization would support any candidate whose policies align with progressive values, though she acknowledges deeply religious candidates give her pause. ‘I get a bad taste in my mouth,’ she says. ‘People have done the most egregious things in the name of religion since the beginning of time.’”
July 25 - Macomb Daily
Macomb Daily staff. “Fems for Dems protest outside Lucido campaign fundraiser in Shelby Township.”
“Fems for Dems Macomb County organized a car rally in the parking lot of the fundraiser at the Palazzo Grande banquet hall in Shelby Township on Thursday evening. The cars were plastered with messages such as ‘Don’t Tell No Lies ..’ and ‘... And Keep Your Hands to Yourself’ and ‘No Misogyny.’
“‘We feel we need to stop Pete Lucido,’ said Kristina Lodovisi, a Fems for Dems board member. ‘We don’t want him in a position of power where he can abuse and take advantage of people he was elected to protect.’”
July 12 - The New York Times
Kathleen Gray. “Trump vs. the Women Who Lead Michigan: A Battle With 2020 Implications.”
“‘We’re enraged. We’re exhausted,’ said Lori Goldman, a Bloomfield Township realtor who started the group Fems for Dems with about a half-dozen suburban Michigan women after the 2016 election. ‘I’m a woman and I feel the sting of how these women leaders are being treated and called names.’
“The group, which has grown to more than 8,000 members, worked to elect Ms. Whitmer, Ms. Benson and Ms. Nessel. It also helped flip two congressional seats, as well as five seats each in the State House and Senate, from Republican to Democrat in 2018.
“‘We are a bunch of dumpy, middle-aged housewives,’ Ms. Goldman said. ‘That’s the one good thing about getting older, you don’t need to have people like you anymore. When you get pissed off, you’re ready to stand up and say something.’”
July 7 - Detroit Free Press
Todd Spangler. “In a campaign marked by Trump, COVID-19 and protests, no one is sure what will work.”
“For some, the move to organizing political efforts online has been something of a godsend, with seemingly no drop-off in enthusiasm. If anything, it has been the opposite. Take the Oakland County-based group Fems for Dems. Where before it would hold ‘speed dating’ get-togethers so people who came to in-person events could rotate among candidates to talk to them, the group now holds its events through Zoom and Facebook Live.
“‘We’ve had 60-some candidates between Oakland and Macomb counties,’ said Lori Goldman, one of the founders of the group made up largely of suburban women. ‘We’ve had almost 50,000 views (for some events). We could never have replicated that in person.’ She and another founder, Julie Campbell-Bode, even host ‘Quarantine Diaries’ where they discuss life and politics during the pandemic in often colorful terms.
“Too soon to talk politics or raise money? Not for Goldman, who, with her take-no-prisoners-style of banter, figures it’s now or never to win. ‘People say you can’t ask for money, it’s COVID,’ she said. ‘We say bullshit. The Republicans are raising money by the bucketloads. We don’t act like we’re doing anything wrong because we’re not doing anything wrong.’
“They’ve hosted book parties and had social critic Noam Chomsky on. They’re also working on a deal to bring on New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who put in place tougher gun laws after mosque shootings in that country and was praised for her handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
“‘You can’t act afraid to ask for money,’ Goldman said. ‘I want somebody who is going to have balls. I want somebody who is Trump, but good, who isn’t afraid to change things.’”
June 15 - MLive
Malachi Barrett. “Whitmer leads launch of Biden campaign group targeting Michigan’s women voters.”
“…The event was co-hosted by Fems for Dems, a group of suburban women formed in 2016 to support Democratic candidates and get more women engaged in politics. Founder Lori Goldman said the group has grown to 8,000 members since.”
‘We are a collaborative of power and change and love and caring, and there’s nothing that can stop us,’ Goldman said….”
March 23 - Detroit Free Press
Kathleen Gray. “Campaigning in the era of coronavirus is bound to change the face of elections forever”
Click here.
“In normal times, Goldman would be out and about, carrying her clipboard across Oakland County and soliciting the signatures needed to get candidates and proposals on upcoming ballots. Or, as the founder of Fems for Dems, an Oakland County group of suburban women that started in 2016 and has grown to 7,000 members, she’d be at meetings pumping up activists looking to put Democrats in office, meeting with political leaders or at rallies showing her support for candidates….
“…Activists and candidate campaigns are navigating the new normal by using technology to replace a more human connection.
“So instead of the Fems for Dems candidate ‘speed dating,’ where groups of people rotate among a dozen or so candidates in a school gymnasium to find their political dream match, Facebook Live has replaced the person-to-person contact that campaigns depend on to make connections with voters, contributors and potential volunteers.”
March 12 - MLive
Malachi Barrett. “How Bernie Sanders lost Michigan to Joe Biden.”
“Julie Campbell-Bode, board chair of Fems for Dems, said college-educated suburban women gravitated toward Biden in the last days of the election. Generally, Campbell-Bode said voters considered Biden a better candidate to attract moderate Democrats and disenfranchised Republicans ‘who have had enough of Trump.’
“‘I think it’s fair to say that for a lot of those suburban women we’re talking about, beating Donald Trump is the number one focus for them,’ Campbell-Bode said.”
March 10 - MLive
Lauren Gibbons. “With narrowed presidential primary field, some Michigan voters wonder ‘When is it going to be our turn?’”
“Speaking to reporters in Michigan Friday during a Fems for Dems event, Klobuchar acknowledged that it was ultimately voters who decided Biden and Sanders were the top options: ‘They made that decision, and that’s just how politics is.’
“But she said glass ceilings continue to get shattered as more women are inspired to run for office.
‘I think that having so many women up there on that (debate) stage, it was groundbreaking on its own,’ she said. ‘Literally the first night of the debate, in the primary, we doubled the number of women that had ever run for president.’”
March 10 - MSNBC
Heidi Przybyla on The Rachel Maddow show during mini-Super Tuesday election returns. They were discussing the “Pink Wave” in Michigan and Heidi gave Fems for Dems a shoutout.
March 9 - MSNBC
Ahead of Michigan's primary, Heidi Przybyla spoke to Fems for Dems members about what it feels like to see all the female democratic presidential candidates drop out.
March 9 - Los Angeles Times
Michael Finnegan. “Democrats gear up for brutal 2020 fight with Trump in Michigan.”
“Beyond the advertising, a wide array of local groups — among them, a network of suburban women known as Fems for Dems — already has begun groundwork, with activities such as phone banks and door-to-door canvassing to promote candidates for all offices on the 2020 ballot.
‘That’s really an important piece of the puzzle,’ said Amy Chapman, a party strategist who was state director for Obama’s 2008 campaign.
In 2018, such groups were crucial to Democratic women capturing three statewide offices — including the governorship for Gretchen Whitmer, who recently endorsed Biden — and two U.S. House seats. The groups also helped pass a ballot measure that eased access to voting.”
March 10 - Huffington Post
Jonathan Cohn. “Bernie Sanders Is Hoping For Another, Much-Needed Upset In Michigan.”
“Lori Goldman, founder of an organization called Fems for Dems based in Detroit’s Oakland County suburbs, says she isn’t surprised.
Yes, the women there feel strongly about reproductive rights, she says, but they believe Biden will be there for them, in part because he’s responsive to the party and that’s where the party is.
‘I’m not worried he’ll go all wishy-washy,’ she told HuffPost.”
March 8 - MSNBC
MSNBC’s Heidi Przybyla spent the day with Fems for Dems to talk to us about how we feel that there are no women left in the presidential race. She and her crew also followed us to our International Women’s Day pop-up rally in Pontiac. It was great to have national coverage of our community!
March 6 - Detroit Free Press
Kathleen Gray and Omar Abdel-Baqui. “From campaign rival to surrogate, Sen. Klobuchar comes to Michigan to campaign for Biden.”
“The Oakland County-based group Fems for Dems, which formed after the 2016 elections and helped elect Democratic women to office up and down the ballot in 2018, flipping several seats from the GOP to Democrats, hosted the Southfield event Friday evening.”
March 6 - The Detroit News
PHOTO GALLERY: Sen. Amy Klobuchar campaigns for Joe Biden at Fems for Dems event.
Photos by Robin Buckson, The Detroit News.
March 6 - MLive
Lauren Gibbons. “Joe Biden has Michigan Democrats ‘fired up,’ Amy Klobuchar says in Detroit area.
“Klobuchar, who endorsed Biden earlier this week after dropping her bid for the presidency, met with labor leaders at Detroit’s MGM Grand and spoke to a crowd at a Fems for Dems event in Southfield. She’s also scheduled to stump for Biden in Grand Rapids Saturday morning.
January 18 - The Detroit News
Sarah Rahal. “Women Brave Cold to Rally for Rights in Michigan, Across Nation.” Click here.
“…Carole Chi, Sterling Heights Democratic Club Chair, said she became politically active nine years ago when she retired from being a teacher. She was inspired by two women who started Fems for Dems, a political action group focused on electing progressive candidates, in Oakland County after the 2016 election and decided she wanted to do the same in Macomb County…”
January 18 - The Macomb Daily and the Iosco County News Herald
Gina Joseph. “Macomb County joins Women's March rallies held across the U.S.”
"‘…We were already here so we stayed,’ said Carole Chi of Sterling Heights, a candidate for Macomb County Commissioners (District 4), who came armed with signs and pamphlets for an organization known as Fems for Democracy.
“‘…We are a nonprofit group interested in educating, engaging and activating people to participate in our democracy,’ she said.”
January 10 - Detroit Free Press
Todd Spangler, Kathleen Gray and Paul Egan. “A second term for Donald Trump? Michigan is at the center of the political universe”
“…As for the parties, both are gearing up for an explosive campaign season. Last week, at a ‘Fems for Dems’ event in Pontiac, Whitmer whipped up the troops saying, that the word important ‘doesn't even go far enough to explain how critical this year is.’”
January 13 - The Oakland Press
Mark Cavitt. “Mike Bloomberg presidential campaign hosting Oakland County event.”
“…The campaign is offering up the free event for residents to hear directly from Bloomberg's surrogates about his policies, platform and plans. It's being organized in partnership with Fems for Dems, an Oakland County-based political action committee…”
2018 and 2019 EVENTS BELOW… see more about fems local, national, and international coverage.
2019
The bus used by the Supermajority Election Fund for their 16-city tour. (Photo: Cecile Richards)
June 11, 2019 - Detroit Free Press
Kathleen Gray. “Signs Michigan Is Prepping for 2020 Election Earlier than Usual.” Click here.
U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Rochester Hills, speaks at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2019, urging Russia to release Paul Whelan of Novi, who is from her district. (Photo: Melissa Nann Burke)
October 8, 2019 - Detroit News
Leonard Fleming. “GOP Keeps Up Attacks on Stevens, Slotkin Over Impeachment Inquiry.” Click here.
Rally in Ferndale in support of abortion rights.
May 21, 2019 - Click on Detroit (Video)
Mara MacDonald. “Abortion Rights Activists Rally Across Michigan in Wake of Alabama Abortion Ban.” Click here.
Fems for Dems founder, Lori Goldman.
August 20, 2019 - Downtown Newsmagazine, Birmingham Bloomfield
Dana Casadei. “Lori Goldman.” Click here.
Kelly Dillaha, Lori Goldman and Nessa Feller talk to MLive.
July 14, 2019 - MLive.com (Video)
Malachi Barrett. “Democrats and Trump Supporters Fight for Women’s Votes in Michigan Suburbs.” Click here.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.
March 18, 2019 - Detroit Free Press
Kathleen Gray. “Beto O’Rourke, Kirsten Gillibrand to Campaign in Michigan on Monday.” Click here.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand at Fems for Dems Meet and Greet.
March 19, 2019 - Detroit Free Press
Kathleen Gray. “US Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand Touts Presidential Candidacy at Town Hall in Michigan.” Click here.
Former and current chairs of the Michigan Democratic Party, Brandon Dillon and Lavora Barnes.
January 15, 2019 - Detroit Free Press
Kathleen Gray. “Election Success for Women Could Extend to State Party Leadership Jobs.” Click here.
2018
Newly elected Governor Gretchen Whitmer on Election Night after her victory.
November 11, 2018 - Detroit Free Press
Bill Laitner. “Republican and Patterson's Hold on Oakland County May Be at an End.” Click here.
Actress/activist Alyssa Milano at a Fems for Dems GOTV event before the 2018 election.
November 11, 2018 - Detroit Free Press
Kathleen Gray and Aleanna Siacon. “Celebrities Join the Campaign Trail to Boost Michigan Candidates.” Click here.
Postcard party at Lori Goldman’s.
March 27, 2018 - The Detroit Jewish News
“Politically Active Women.” Click here.
Tim Greimel at Northville Speeding Dating Event.
May 28, 2018 - Detroit Free Press
Kathleen Gray. “Who's Your Political Soul Mate? Candidate Speed Dating Helps Make Match.” Click here.
Fems for Dems phone bank for Haley Stevens.
October 15, 2018 - Detroit Free Press
Bill Laitner. “Dems Target Oakland County in Bid to Flip House, Senate Seats to Blue.” Click here.