Author

Barbara Rodriguez, The 19th

Barbara Rodriguez is the state politics and voting reporter for The 19th. She most recently worked at the Des Moines Register, where she covered health care, politics and state government. Before that, Barbara was the Iowa statehouse reporter for The Associated Press, where she worked for a decade.

Cassandra Welchlin, left, executive director of the Mississippi Black Women’s Roundtable, and Velvet Scott, director of civic engagement and voting rights for the Mississippi Black Women’s Roundtable stand with the Mississippi State Capitol in Jackson in the background.

‘Voting feels like a battle’: A group of Black women reimagines voter turnout

By: Barbara Rodriguez, The 19th - September 17, 2024

SOUTHAVEN, Miss. — The training in northwest Mississippi that Cassandra Welchlin led was focused on get-out-the-vote efforts, but the longtime community organizer wanted to make space to sing. Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me around, turn me around … “Come on, y’all!” Welchlin told the crowd of nearly 100, who joined in on the next […]

Former U.S. President Donald Trump appears ahead of the start of jury selection at Manhattan Criminal Court on April 15, 2024 in New York City.

Trump’s trial is already putting a spotlight on threats to women

By: Barbara Rodriguez, The 19th - April 22, 2024

Just two days after Juror No. 2 had been selected to sit on the jury of one of the most high-profile trials in modern history, she wanted off. If the woman’s phone and the incoming messages from family, friends and co-workers were any indication, people had figured out that she was set to weigh in […]

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