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Unite and Rise 8.5

Unite & Rise 8.5 aims to build a movement of 8.5 million individuals to unite and rise up against the anti-democratic actions of this administration. Launching in May 2025 and running until the 2026 midterm elections, this initiative is part of our Women Defend Democracy campaign.

The number 8.5 million is the estimated number of voters it would take to bring about change through nonviolent protest. This is based on the following finding from the Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights:

“Nonviolent protests are twice as likely to succeed as armed conflicts…and those engaging a threshold of 3.5% of the population have never failed to bring about change.”
Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights
Harvard Kennedy School

According to the University of Florida, approximately 245 million Americans were eligible to vote in the 2024 general election. According to the above research, if 3.5% of these eligible voters — 8,575,000 people — engage in nonviolent protests, we will bring about meaningful change.

The League Defines a Constitutinal Crisis As:

“When the executive, the legislative, or judiciary branches cannot or will not adequately protect the US Constitution, when there are explicit attempts to dismantle a functional democracy within any of the three branches, or when any level of federal government takes action to destroy democratic institutions in a manner that intentionally or purposefully jeopardizes the US Constitution. When these events occur, the constitution is deemed at the highest serious risk and warrants full-scale action to preserve and protect democratic institutions and civil society.”
League of Women Voters

Unite & Rise 8.5 aims to build a movement of 8.5 million individuals to unite and rise up against the anti-democratic actions of this administration.

Since the Trump administration took office in January 2025, we’ve seen increased attacks on our democratic systems and a failure by Congress to intervene. This came to a head in early April, when the president defied a Supreme Court order to return the wrongfully deported Marylander, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia.

On April 16, 2025, a US District Court Judge, James Boasberg, ruled that there is “probable cause” to find the Trump Administration in criminal contempt of court for violating his order to immediately pause deportations under the Alien Enemies Act.

The executive branch’s blatant disregard for an order by the judicial branch constitutes an attack on our democratic system. Therefore, we consider our country to be in a Constitutional Crisis.

Unite and Rise 8.5 will fight for our democracy on multiple fronts, from the courts to the streets. More actions will be outlined in the future, but as of today, here are a few you can take: