year-end message: leslie Huhn, Chair

2025 indeed lived up to our deepest fears and lowest expectations, with predictions of authoritarian takeover becoming more thoroughly realized by the day. 

But this year also proved that we could fight back on the state level and win in a big way — seeding hope for the future and becoming an early catalyst for democratic change across the nation going forward.

After year one of Trump's truly horrific second presidency, I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that we are bone tired and would love to take a years-long break. Many of you, I am sure, feel exactly the same way.

That's simply not in the cards. 

In the words of the Irish politician John Philpot Curran (and popularized in this country by Thomas Jefferson), "eternal vigilance is the price of freedom."

I hope you will take the holidays off to relax and rejuvenate. This is a wonderful time to take stock of where we've been and where we need to go in 2026 and beyond. It's also a wonderful time to reconnect with the people and causes that are the heart and soul of why we do what we do.  

But after the ball drops, it's full steam ahead for us.

Happy holidays, everybody! We hope to see you all in the new year, rested and recommitted to the fight for democracy in 2026.

-Leslie Huhn