Washington, D.C. Day 1: ERA Champions on Capitol Hill and a Clutch Housing in Falls Church

On Day Five, the Driving the Vote for Equality team split into two crews — and both of them made history in their own way.

Our Congress Crew headed to Room 2247 of the Rayburn House Office Building for an ERA reception that drew members of Congress, senators, ERA and NOW leaders, interns, and one former Speaker of the House who still commands a room like no one else on the Hill. The occasion: the awarding of ERA Champion Certificates of Appreciation to the members of Congress who co-sponsored the Joint Resolution to affirm the ERA as the 28th Amendment the last time it came to a vote — and who will, we expect and demand, sign it again.

Our Saxon Crew invaded the garage of Doug Tomb, president of the Horseless Carriage Club of America, in Falls Church, Virginia — because a century-old automobile on a 25-state mission doesn't fix itself.

Both crews earned our gratitude big time.

The Rayburn reception, hosted by ERA NOW, The Feminist Majority and NOW, and facilitated by the ERA Coalition, was everything this campaign is about, compressed into two hours and , one crowded room. Members of Congress wore ERA buttons and traded stories. Certificates were awarded to the ERA Champions — those legislators who have already gone on record for the Joint Resolution and whose votes will matter enormously when it comes back to a vote, as it must.

The opening salvo set the tone beautifully. Representative Ed Crane of Hawaii spoke first, proudly noting that Hawaii was the very first state to ratify the ERA. He was immediately followed by Representative Don Beyer of Virginia, who noted — with equal pride — that Virginia was the last. First and last, standing in the same room, on the same side. That's a movement.

Congressman James Clyburn was magnificent. He spoke about the women in his life — mother, wife, daughters — and the quiet, indispensable role they've played in every decision he's ever made. "They've been a kind of secret weapon," he said, "and I would not make a decision without them." In a room full of ERA Champions, Clyburn reminded everyone why the Equal Rights Amendment is about more than politics. It's about the people you love.

And there was Representative Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, chief co-sponsor of the Joint Resolution more enthusiastic than ever — and even more practical. She urged her colleagues to take to the House floor in the coming weeks to deliver two-minute speeches on the importance of the ERA. Those speeches will be broadcast on C-SPAN, and the campaign intends to use them exactly as they should be used: to educate voters on where every candidate stands on the ERA

Representative Laurie Freeman (D-CA) brought the room forward — sharing how her mother, a committed ERA supporter in Florida, had taken her to marches, to rallies, to knock on doors. She still carries her mother's ERA buttons and NOW pins. "I'm here to push my mother's fight across the finish line." There wasn't a dry eye in the place.

The former Speaker of the House arrived and the room changed — as it always does when she enters. The chatter dropped. The glasses and cups stopped clinking. People turned. Because whatever room Nancy Pelosi walks into, she is immediately the center of gravity in it.

She was fabulous. Energized. Visibly excited. This wasn't a courtesy appearance — this was a woman who has fought for the ERA for decades and knows exactly how close we are, and exactly how much is still at stake. She praised Ellie Smeal — leader and six-decade champion for the ERA, president of the Feminist Majority — calling out her extraordinary, relentless commitment to a cause that has outlasted presidents, congresses, and a half-century of opposition. And she praised former Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, who leads our Driving the Vote for Equality and the all-volunteer team carrying this campaign across 25 states — honoring not just Carolyn's congressional record on the ERA but the audacity of this road trip itself.

What was perhaps most striking was what happened in the room while she spoke. A Rayburn reception is not, by nature, a quiet event. Members drift in and out. Aides whisper. Side conversations bloom in every corner. That's just how these things go — until they don't. While Pelosi spoke, the chatter stopped. Members of Congress — people who have heard every speech, attended every reception, mastered the art of being present and absent simultaneously — turned and listened. Really listened. And they smiled. Not the polite, performative smile of someone waiting for their turn to talk. The smile of people who know she's right, who know this is the moment, and who are already thinking about the vote they're going to cast.

Those smiles are votes waiting to happen. And the ERA Champions in that room have already told us whose side they're on.

While the Congress crew was schmoozing on Capitol Hill, the Saxon crew was up to their elbows in grease in Doug Tomb's garage.

The Golden Flyer II had developed a mechanical issue that couldn't wait — a stud on the clutch housing needed replacing, which meant pulling the engine and radiator entirely. Four people worked for five and a half hours without stopping. Doug threw open his garage and his expertise. His wife Beverly put on lunch for the crew, and as they headed out, handed them a plate of warm brownies.

She also arranged an interview about the project for the local newspaper. Beverly Tomb, we salute you.

By the time the day was done, the Golden Flyer II was back together — engine in, radiator in, clutch housing repaired, brownies consumed — and ready to roll to the AFL-CIO the following morning. The Congress crew had no prepared lunch and no warm brownies. But they had the ERA Champions!

The ERA has met every constitutional requirement to become the 28th Amendment. Congress holds the authority to affirm it — and the ERA Champions in that room have already said they will. Now it's our job to make sure they do.