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:

A Record Number of Women Are Gaining Traction in NYC Mayoral Race—Thanks to Ranked-Choice Voting

Cynthia Richie Terrell, Ms. Magazine

For the first time since its readoption in 2019, New York City will be implementing ranked-choice voting, just in time for the mayoral primaries on June 22. Women in the race are pulling ahead in both donations and polling in part because of ranked-choice voting eliminating the fear of women candidates splitting the vote. Mayoral candidates in the race are even encouraging their supporters to rank other candidates in their ballots, with Art Chang and Jocelyn Taylor entering an official cross-endorsement arrangement. Endorsement groups have also adopted this method, and are now able to support multiple candidates with similar platforms and demographics.

You can read the full article here.

What will it take to get a Black woman elected governor?

Mabinty Quarshie, USA Today

Black women have historically been the Democratic Party’s most loyal voting bloc, with 93% of them voting for President Joe Biden in the 2020 election. Although Black women across the country have been making monumental strides in building up their political power, their leadership is continuously taken for granted and they are still largely underrepresented in elected office. “Black women overwhelmingly vote for the Democratic Party. So, the Democratic Party doesn’t have the incentive to outreach and do the work of cultivating candidates and leaders, the same way it does for other groups,” said Nadia E. Brown, an associate professor of political science and African American studies at Purdue University.

You can read the full article here.

Kamala Harris faces thorny policy challenges on first international trip

Errin Haines, The 19th

After being tasked by President Joe Biden to handle the Central American migrant situation at the U.S. border, Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Guatemala for a press conference and to meet with the Guatemalan President. At the press conference, Vice President Harris expressed sympathy for migrants making the grueling decision to leave their country, and at the same time told them not to make the trip to the U.S. border. “I want to be clear to folks in this region that are thinking about making that dangerous trek to the United States-Mexico border: Do not come. Do not come,” Harris said. During the visit, Vice President Harris and President Alejandro Giammattei formed an agreement to create joint task forces against human trafficking and corruption in Guatemala and Harris announced the U.S. would be sending 500,000 COVID-19 vaccines to Guatemala.

You can read the full article here.

McAuliffe captures Democratic nomination for Virginia governor

Henry J. Gomez, NBC News

On Tuesday, former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe won the Democratic primary, setting him up take on Republican Glenn Youngkin in November for the general election. Some Democratic activists were disappointed by McAuliffe’s win, hoping the primary would go to one of the two Black women in the race, Jennifer McClellan and Jennifer Carroll Foy, setting up either of them the first Black woman governor in American history. Despite launching his campaign months after Carroll Foy and McClellan, McAuliffe won with around 62 percent of the vote. Organizations focused on electing women of color were initially reluctant to choose a candidate to support. McAuliffe raised $12 million in donations, more than double the amount that was raised by Carroll Foy and McClellan put together.

You can read the full article here.

Ilhan Omar Again Sets Off a Fight Among Democrats

Jonathan Weisman, The New York Times

Representative Ilhan Omar is facing backlash from members of the Democratic party over her comments about human rights abuses in the Middle East. Omar, who is a Democrat, wrote on Twitter, “We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity. We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban.” House Democrats of Jewish descent were particularly outraged by Omar’s tweets calling them “offensive and misguided” and urged her to apologize and clarify what she meant in an open letter. On Thursday morning, Omar called out her colleagues for Islamophobic tropes and for attempting to silence her in response to the letter. Both Republican and Democratic members are now calling for Omar to be removed from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

You can read the full article here.