Happy Friday! Welcome to our Media Round Up. Each week we’re collecting and sharing our favorite gender + politics stories. Here’s what caught our eye this week:

Trump administration says it will withhold $200 million in California Medicaid funding over abortion insurance requirement

Caroline Kelly, CNN

On Wednesday, the Trump administration announced it will be cutting $200 million in federal healthcare funding to California because the state requires healthcare plans to cover abortions. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is set to withhold funding beginning in January and will continue to cut $200 million per fiscal quarter if the state doesn’t adjust its policy. The department claims the state is violating the Weldon Amendment, a federal antidiscrimination law that protects insurers from punishment for not providing abortion coverage.

You can read the full article here.

Biden picks Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) to be first Native American interior secretary

Juliet Eilperin and Dino Grandoni, The Washington Post

President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team announced on Thursday he will nominate Congresswoman Deb Haaland from New Mexico to serve as Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior. If confirmed, Haaland will make history as the first Native American interior secretary, a significant choice for a role that presides over natural resources, protected areas and tribal lands. “It’s symbolic, but it just cuts to the core of Indian culture,” University of Colorado Boulder law professor Charles Wilkinson said. “The Department of Interior has almost unlimited power over tribes. And by the way, that is power to do good or bad.”

You can read the full article here.

25-year-old new mom becomes California’s youngest woman of color to be mayor

Joseph Choi, The Hill

At the age of 25, Jocelyn Yow has now become the youngest mayor in California history. Before being elected, she served as a district representative in the California State Senate and worked for the U.S. House of Representatives as an aide. “While I will be the youngest woman of color and one of the very few young mothers to serve as a mayor in the state of California, I am hopeful that more young women and mothers will follow suit,” Yow said.

You can read the full article here.

First woman of color elector in Nebraska casts Electoral College vote for Joe Biden

Savannah Behrmann, USA Today

Precious McKesson, the first woman of color to serve as elector in Nebraska, cast her vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. She is also the first woman in Nebraska to cast an electoral vote for a Democratic candidate and this is the second time in history that Nebraska has cast an Electoral College vote for a Democrat. “It meant so much for many women who every day fight this good fight to make sure that our democracy is not taken for granted. And so to be able to cast that vote for Kamala Harris today, it meant the world to me. And I’m just so happy that I was able to do that, especially here in Nebraska,” McKesson said.

You can read the full article here.

Progressive group backs Foy in Virginia governor’s race

Jonathan Easley, The Hill

Democracy for America, a progressive group in Virginia, is publicly endorsing Rep. Jennifer Carroll Foy for governor, in what is expected to be a contested Democratic party primary. Foy, a member of the Virginia House of Delegates with a history of championing progressive ideals, would be the first Black woman governor in the history of the United States. Former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax and Sen. Jennifer McClellan also have their sights set on the Democratic nomination.

You can read the full article here.

 

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