Women Mayors Network

Background

Heidi Gerbracht launched Women Mayors Network in 2020. It was organized as a project of two organizations. One is the left-of-center Mayors Innovation Project, a network of left-of-center mayors founded in 2005 by then-Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz (D) within the Center on Wisconsin Strategy, a University of Wisconsin-based think tank that advocates for left-of-center policies. The other is Equity Agenda, a consultancy founded by Gerbracht that works with local governments and nonprofits to assess organizational alignment with left-of-center ideological objectives and is fiscally sponsored by the Social Good Fund, a left-of-center nonprofit donor-advised fund provider. Equity Agenda has not been active since 2022, after Gerbracht joined the far-left political training organization re:power as director of its Progressive Governance Academy. ^{1 2 3 4 5}

According to the Women Mayors Network’s website, the network is open to all “women-identified” mayors and consists of almost 200 individuals. ^{6 5}

Open Letters

On May 4, 2022, a group of women mayors belonging to the Women Mayors Network signed an open letter, which the organization features on its website, responding to a leaked draft of the United States Supreme Court’s opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The letter, which maintains an “unequivocally” pro-abortion stance, argued that the court’s position in the document is historically regressive and would serve as a basis to “unravel” other left-of-center policies and rulings. The letter concluded by demanding that Congress pass the Women’s Health Protection Act (H.R. 3755) and the Each Act (S.1021). The Women’s Health Protection Act, sponsored by Representative Judy Chu (D-CA), would prohibit governmental restriction on the provision of abortions. The Each Act, sponsored by Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), would require that federal health care programs provide coverage for abortions. ^{7 8 9}

On June 4, 2022, a group of women mayors belonging to the network as well as a group of “Allied Mayors” (including men) signed a follow-up letter after the court made its decision, also featured on the organization’s website, which reflected the leaked draft that had been the subject of the first letter. In general, this second letter reiterated the arguments of the first and ended with a declaration that the “Supreme Court has failed us” as well as an exhortation for readers to vote for politicians opposed to the ruling. ¹⁰

Heidi Gerbracht

Heidi Gerbracht is the founder of the Women Mayors Network as well as its parent organization, Equity Agenda. Since 2022, she has also been the director of the far-left political training organization re:power’s Progressive Governance Academy. Previously, Gerbracht worked as the national program director of Bright Cities, a project of Healthy Babies Bright Futures; as a fundraiser and organizer of the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association; and as a chair of the board of directors of Annie’s List, a Texas-based pro-abortion political action committee. ^{11 12}