Williams and Scholten show up for moms
Reps. Nikema Williams and Hillary Scholten helped launch a new initiative helping moms run for office and build power in the post-2024 political landscape.
👋🏾 Hi, hey, hello! Welcome to a special Mother’s Day edition of Congress Nerd. I’ll be back tomorrow with your usual preview of the legislative week ahead. But in the meantime, enjoy this dispatch from New York City, where I covered the launch of the Vote Mama Motherboard—a new initiative bringing together Democratic leaders, cultural figures and grassroots organizers to raise power, money and visibility for moms running for office.
Moms, power and the care economy
NEW YORK CITY — It may have been pouring in Lower Manhattan on Friday evening, but Reps. Nikema Williams (D-Ga.) and Hillary Scholten (D-Mich.) didn’t let that stop them.
The two Democratic moms made their way through the storm to join actress Busy Philipps and dozens of supporters at the launch of Vote Mama’s new Motherboard initiative—because, as they made clear, helping more moms get to Congress (and stay there) isn’t just good politics. It’s essential to survive Trump 2.0.
Allow me to explain: In a packed private room at Loring Place, just blocks from Washington Square Park, the mood was intimate but urgent.
The goal: raise early money for Vote Mama’s 2025-2026 endorsees and rally support around one core truth—if families are going to thrive in America, the care economy needs real investment, and moms need real power.
What they’re saying: Vote Mama founder Liuba Grechen Shirley attributes the group’s success to the superb quality of its candidates.
“We picked really strong candidates—authentic moms who were fighting for real issues, who showed up, did the work, raised the money and busted their butts,” Shirley told Once Upon a Hill. “Get behind real folks. Authentic moms.”
Williams reflected on how Vote Mama helped her run for Congress during the pandemic while raising her young son, Carter.
“I had a four-year-old, a full-time job and a campaign to run—while also trying to get Carter through virtual kindergarten,” Williams said. “Because of Vote Mama, I could use campaign funds for child care and bring in Miss Betty, who had just been laid off from his daycare. That made all the difference.”
The third-term lawmaker said she’s paying it forward by fighting for moms across the country.
“When mamas come to Congress, we bring our communities with us,” she added. “We know why Medicaid matters—because 50 percent of births in this country are paid for with Medicaid. We know that tearing nursing babies from their mothers at the border is unethical and unacceptable. And we’re here to fight for change—because we’ve lived it.”
For Scholten, a mom and former legal aid attorney who flipped a red seat in Michigan, the work is as personal as it is political.
“This is an incredible organization that’s changing the face of Congress,” Scholten said. “I get up and fight for my kids—and that shows up in the policies I push. But we can’t do this work in Washington without a majority that truly cares about kids and our future. That’s why I’m here.”
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In the know: The Motherboard launch event was held in a private downstairs space, combining fundraising with storytelling.
Attendees mingled over pizza and wine while speakers shared personal testimony about the barriers moms face—and the policy changes needed to dismantle them.
During the panel, moderated by Philipps, both congresswomen reflected on running for office as working mothers, the lack of structural support in Congress—from childcare to proxy voting—and the urgent stakes heading into 2026.
Scholten zeroed in on GOP-proposed safety net cuts.
Williams channeled her predecessor, the late Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), as a source of strength.
Shirley urged attendees to organize, fundraise and not lose hope.
A Vote Mama nameplate necklace, designed by Sophie Flack of Mad Fine Jewelry, was gifted to supporters at the $500 level and up.
Reps. Jennifer McClellan (D-Va.), Grace Meng (D-N.Y.), Brittany Pettersen (D-Colo.) and Jill Tokuda (D-Hawaii) are also on the Motherboard with Williams and Scholten. The same for Rep. Mikie Sherrill, who’s running to be governor of New Jersey.
How we got here: The number of mothers in Congress has increased over the past decade, but genuine structural support remains elusive.
From the fight to include child care in campaign budgets to the recent House blockade of proxy voting for new parents, many reforms have stalled just as momentum builds.
Democrats made historic pushes during the Biden administration to expand paid leave, lower child care costs, and invest in maternal health—but much of the Build Back Better agenda was ultimately scaled back or defeated.
Now, under Trump 2.0, House Republicans are proposing more than $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and SNAP through their reconciliation bill—two programs millions of moms and kids rely on.
The stakes are especially high for mothers in the “sandwich generation,” who are caught between raising children and caring for aging parents while navigating an economy that still undervalues caregiving.
As the GOP doubles down on cuts, critics say cultural appeals to grow the population are ringing hollow for families struggling to stay afloat.
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A closer look: Vote Mama PAC was founded in 2019 to help Democratic moms run for office—and win. Since then, it has supported over 500 candidates, from school board to U.S. Senate, with a 70 percent win rate in the last cycle alone.
Vote Mama helped lead the charge to allow federal candidates to use campaign funds for child care—a rule change that’s now in place in 39 states.
It’s a reform born from lived experience: Shirley made history when she filed the first FEC request while running for Congress with two young children.
Meanwhile, proxy voting for new parents remains out of reach.
Despite renewed calls from Democratic moms like Pettersen, Republicans blocked a discharge petition that would have forced a floor vote.
Pettersen flew to Washington with her newborn son in February to vote against the House GOP’s budget proposal—because without proxy voting, there was no other way to participate.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.)—who used proxy voting 39 times himself—has refused to reinstate it, citing constitutional concerns.
Not so fast: Republicans have long opposed major new investments in the care economy, framing programs like universal child care and paid family leave as too expensive, overly bureaucratic or culturally out of step.
They argue that expanding federal support risks increasing the deficit, discouraging work, and fostering dependence on government.
Instead, many in the party propose cultural solutions to encourage marriage and childbirth, offering tax credits for larger families or calling on private employers and faith institutions to step in.
Looking ahead: With 69 endorsed candidates across the country—including 19 federal hopefuls and four gubernatorial contenders—Vote Mama is betting big on moms to lead Democrats out of the post-2024 wilderness.
From flipped statehouses to battleground districts, these candidates aren’t just running to hold the line—they’re campaigning on a proactive agenda to invest in the care economy: paid leave, affordable child care, reproductive freedom, and maternal health.
It’s a bet that lived experience can cut through political noise and deliver a new kind of coalition—rooted in the day-to-day realities of parenting, caregiving, and fighting to stay afloat.
“Don’t despair,” Shirley told the crowd. “Organize. Fundraise. Run for office. And if you’re not running, support a Democratic mama who is.”