The group Baltimore Women United will rally and march to the polls late Saturday morning, encouraging women to channel anger over national politics into action at the ballot box.
“Our rally and March On The Polls event is focused on channeling our outrage over the events in the past few weeks and years into power at the ballot box,” Odette Ramos, co-chair of Baltimore Women United said in a news release. “On Saturday, we are focusing on the voices of on women of color. We will celebrate our collective power and honor all that women of color have done historically and in the here and now since the 2016 election to move our city, state, and country forward.”
The rally begins at 11 a.m. at St. Bartholomew’s Church at 4711 Edmondson Ave.
Scheduled speakers at the rally include former U.S. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D), Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby (D), actress Sonja Sohn, activist Zainab Chaudry, activist Maya Rockeymoore Cummings and activist Giuliana Valencia.
“Baltimore Women United is part of a long tradition of women organizing to create spaces that are intersectional and welcoming, family friendly, affirm our values, empower women, and that allow women from across zip codes and backgrounds to join in solidarity, practice civil discourse, and unite to oppose those people and policies that wish to take any of us backwards” said Denise Gilmore, co-chair of Baltimore Women United. “This year we’re going to vote, but we’re also going to energize ourselves and lift each other up for the hard work that still remains after the election.”
After speakers, rally goers will march to the early voting site at the Westside Skill Center to cast their votes.
Slay the Vote, a group focused on the power of the votes of women of color, will host a poll party.
Democratic gubernatorial nominee Benjamin T. Jealous is scheduled to attend.
Jealous appeared at a women-focused rally in Baltimore earlier this week to highlight an agenda that he says will equalize treatment and opportunity for women in government and business.
After that rally, Maryland Democratic Party Chairwoman Kathleen Matthews said party voters remain motivated to turn out this year in light of the tumultuous and partisan appointment of Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.
“I think it’s something that’s going to be in the back of a lot of people’s minds, and in particular women’s minds, as they go in to the polling stations,” Matthews said in an interview with Maryland Matters.
A USA Today/Suffolk University poll released this week said more than six in 10 likely voters say Kavanaugh’s confirmation after allegations of sexual assault makes them more likely to support one political party or another. Thirty-five percent of those polled said Kavanaugh’s confirmation made them more likely to vote for a Democratic congressional candidate, compared to 27 percent who said they were now more likely to vote for a Republican.
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