Political Prosecution of Movement-Aligned Elected Officials
Jeree Thomas and Muthoni Wambu Kraal
When philanthropy considers defending democracy, they often envision national elected leaders, lawyers, organizers, journalists, and bolstering civic institutions. Less often do they consider the state legislators, county commissioners, school board members, and local elected officials standing between their communities and increasingly aggressive attacks on civil rights, voting rights, reproductive justice, immigrants, trans people, and religious minorities. Yet many of the leaders holding the line serve in those roles, and they are often the first to pay a price for speaking out.
