MALLORY MCMORROW

After graduating from Notre Dame University in 2008 with a Bachelor of Arts in Industrial Design, Mallory went on to work for design firms in New York and Los Angeles before moving to Michigan.

At a Women's March in Detroit in 2017, she was inspired to apply to the Michigan chapter of Emerge America, a group that trains Democratic women from diverse backgrounds to run for office.

The next year, she ran for Michigan Senate against the Republican incumbent and won. She was then chosen to serve as the minority floor leader. As a participant in state-level debates, she witnessed how resistant the Republicans in state legislatures were to any changes in existing gun laws. In her first four years in office, she drafted 40 pieces of legislation, and not a single one was given a hearing by her Republican colleagues.

In November 2021, a deadly school shooting in Michigan was followed six months later by the Uvalde tragedy. Mallory called out state Republicans for ending multiple sessions early to prevent Democrats from speaking on the Senate floor about the tragedy and the slain children in Uvalde.

She reminded them that silencing her or her Democratic colleagues, particularly women of color, was also silencing all the citizens they represent and would not be tolerated.

Discouraged at being silenced but also realizing she still had her voice, she posted her speech in response to the shootings on Twitter, where it went viral. In it, she questions the reflexive response many have to tragedies of this magnitude.

People often repeat the refrain of "not being able to imagine" how the parents of the slain children must be feeling. McMorrow suggests that people should actively try to imagine and delve deeper into their feelings about the events.

She sees this as a necessary step in order not to dismiss the magnitude of these horrific acts of violence and to be reminded how urgently we need to make changes to gun laws in this country. Intent on using her position and privilege to help people from marginalized communities, her vocal support of LGBTQIA+ rights got the attention of Senator Lana Theis of Michigan's 22nd district.

In a fundraising email for herself, the senator accused McMorrow of "grooming and sexualizing kindergarteners."

Mallory pushed back in a viral speech railing against the growing trend of Republicans labeling their Democratic opponents, and anyone who opposes their agenda, as groomers and pedophiles.

Her speech went viral with 9 million views in the first 24 hours of release. A self-proclaimed "white, Christian, suburban mom," she called out those who use Christianity as a shield to target and marginalize already marginalized people.