Democratic View: Let’s Elect a pro-ERA Congress in 2026

By Linda Hoffmann

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this column are those of author Linda Hoffmann and are not representative of the thoughts or opinions of Tompkins Weekly. 

As the 118th Congress concludes this week, it’s tempting to brood over the business left undone by this least-productive class in congressional history. For women of my generation, it’s been yet another session in which Congress failed to make progress on adding the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the United States Constitution.

Originally proposed in 1923, the ERA in its current form was sent to the states for ratification in 1972, with a deadline extended to 1982. It was ratified by the required 38 states, but three of the states did so after the deadline, and five states subsequently rescinded ratification. The status of the amendment has been the subject of litigation ever since.

In 2024, the pro-ERA organization Sign4ERA promoted a petition calling on both houses of Congress to recognize the ERA as ratified, and eliminate the timeline. (You may remember a visit from the Sign4ERA bus, which came to Ithaca in September.) The petition won support from all 214 House Democrats. We only needed support from four Republicans to bring the petition to the floor for a vote.

But we couldn’t get them. At the close of the first quarter of the 21st century, the Republican congressional caucus stood united against gender equality.

We, the voters, must hold them accountable in the 2026 midterm elections.

In recent weeks there were calls for President Biden to order the National Archivist to certify and publish the ERA in the Constitution. This yearning for a decisive stroke is understandable. But former Rep. Carol Maloney, who spent 30 years trying to push the ERA through the House, cautioned that this path is fraught with risk.

“President Biden has no role in this amending process,” Maloney recently wrote. “His intervention could set off a chain reaction, handing ERA opponents an opportunity to challenge the amendment in court. A judicial gauntlet with Trump-appointed judges risks obliterating decades of progress, forcing us to begin again.” Starting over would mean winning another two-thirds vote in the House and Senate, and ratification by three-fourths of state legislatures.

Former President Biden has repeatedly expressed support for the ERA, saying in a 2022 statement that, “We must recognize the clear will of the American people and definitively enshrine the principle of gender equality in the Constitution. It is long past time that we put all doubt to rest.”

He added that, legally, “there is nothing standing in Congress’ way from doing so.”

“Congressional actions are the only viable route to affirming the ERA is part of the Constitution,” Maloney writes. “Article V of the Constitution is clear: the power to amend lies solely with Congress and the states. It is Congress that must act to repeal the time limit and recognize the ERA’s ratification by 38 state legislatures. The time for half-measures has passed.”

Fixating on half-measures also provides cover for the real obstructionists. Republican leaders and their extremist, anti-woman followers have blocked the ERA effort for more than a century. It is time to call them out.

We are grateful to everyone who worked on Sign4ERA over this past year. Now the only way forward is through the voting booth. We must elect enough ERA supporters to Congress to ensure the amendment is recognized, published and shielded from judicial challenge.

If you can dedicate a few hours each week or month to the cause, send an email to team@sign4ERA.org, and become an ERA Champion. Sign4ERA will get right back to you with action steps you can begin taking immediately.

Let’s start now to lay the groundwork for enshrining equality in our Constitution. It’s a legacy no court can overturn.

Linda Hoffmann is Chair of the Tompkins County Democratic Committee.