---
title: "Hold My Coffee...: August 2025 Edition"
description: It's August 2025, and here's what WPLN is paying attention to in the news.
---

[Blog – Women's Public Leadership Network ](https://womenspublicleadership.net/blog)

# [Hold My Coffee...: August 2025 Edition](https://womenspublicleadership.net/blog/hold-my-coffee...-august-2025-edition)

 Written by [Sarah Quinlan](https://womenspublicleadership.net/blog/author/sarah-quinlan) | Aug 30, 2025 3:32:28 PM

*... A record number of black women have served in state legislatures this year!*

According to [a new report](https://cawp.rutgers.edu/sites/default/files/2025-07/Black%20Women%20in%20Politics%202025_Final.pdf) titled "Black Women in American Politics 2025," from Higher Heights and the Center for American Women and Politics, there’s been a 67% increase in the number of black women in state legislatures since 2014.

Here are some key findings from the new report:

- Since 2014,** the number of black women state legislators has risen from 240 to 401** — a 67.1% increase in just over a decade.
- 2025 marks **the first time that two black women are serving simultaneously** in the U.S. Senate.
- If Virginia's Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears (R) wins the state’s 2025 gubernatorial election, **she would be the first black woman governor in the U.S. **and the first woman governor of Virginia.

[Read more](https://cawp.rutgers.edu/sites/default/files/2025-07/Black%20Women%20in%20Politics%202025_Final.pdf).

*And since we know you're busy, here are our top picks for other "must reads" this month!*

- For the woman who knows "history" includes "her story," [learn more about the bipartisan effort](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/07/28/bipartisan-push-new-womens-history-museum/85353585007) "for funding for a new women’s history museum on the National Mall that would join museums celebrating African American and Native American history."
- For the woman who realizes "pandemic gains" shouldn't be temporary but permanent, [the Washington Post wrote](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/08/11/mothers-leaving-workforce-large-numbers/) about how and why "return-to-office measures and government layoffs take an outsize toll on women," causing women to leave the workforce and erasing pandemic gains.
- For the woman who wants to [Remember the Ladies](https://womenspublicleadership.net/blog/remember-the-ladies-august-edition), check out our monthly feature on key moments in women's representation and rights in the past during the month of August.

[Click here to read the August 2025 newsletter](https://go.womenspublicleadership.net/wpln-newsletter-august-2025)  
.

[View full post](https://womenspublicleadership.net/blog/hold-my-coffee...-august-2025-edition)

```json
{
  "@context" : "http://schema.org",
  "@type" : "BlogPosting",
  "author" : {
    "@type" : "Person",
    "name" : "Sarah Quinlan"
  },
  "dateModified" : "2025-08-30T15:33:29.893Z",
  "datePublished" : "2025-08-30T15:32:28Z",
  "headline" : "Hold My Coffee...: August 2025 Edition",
  "image" : {
    "@type" : "ImageObject",
    "height" : 627,
    "url" : "https://8627156.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/8627156/Hold%20My%20Coffee%20-%202025%20August.png",
    "width" : 1200
  },
  "mainEntityOfPage" : "https://womenspublicleadership.net/blog/hold-my-coffee...-august-2025-edition",
  "publisher" : {
    "@type" : "Organization",
    "logo" : {
      "@type" : "ImageObject",
      "height" : 60,
      "url" : "/hs/hsstatic/content_shared_assets/static-1.4092/img/default-amp-logo.png",
      "width" : 60
    },
    "name" : "Blog"
  }
}
```