It’s no coincidence that several Democratic lawmakers—all women—showed up in pink to President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday.
New Mexico Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, the chair of the Democratic Women’s Caucus, said they did it to send Trump a message.
“Women are claiming pink as a color of protest, as a color of power, and we are protesting what is happening right now,” Leger Fernández said in a press conference prior to the speech, adding that the outfits were meant to draw attention to the way the Trump administration is “negatively impacting women and families.”
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Other Democratic lawmakers stood behind Leger Fernández at the press conference donning varying shades of pink. California Rep. Judy Chu held up a sign that read “Trump betrays women for billionaire tax cuts.”
“We cannot afford the discrimination he is unleashing against women everywhere,” Leger Fernández said, slamming Trump and his administration for everything “from firing admirals at the Coast Guard to cutting women’s health research and slashing programs to combat violence against women.”
Democratic women in Congress have worn white outfits every year since the first Trump administration to honor the suffragettes.
Other Democratic lawmakers reportedly had their own forms of protest planned ahead of Trump’s speech.
Six Democrats told Axios they were considering several options to protest Trump’s speech, from holding up signs with anti-Trump or anti-DOGE messages to bringing empty egg cartons to highlight rising inflation. The use of noisemakers such as hand clappers and a walkout were also floated.
“The part that we all agree on is that this is not business as usual and we would like to find a way—productively—to express our outrage,” a House Democrat told Axios.
