Woman who lost job for middle-finger gesture to Trump wins election and now gets power to legislate over his golf course
A woman who attracted fame for her middle-finger gesture to Donald Trump has continued her opposition to the president and his party by flipping a Republican seat in a local government race – and will now legislate for an area including some of the president's property empire.
An image of Juli Briskman raising her middle finger at the presidential motorcade in October 2017 became a symbol of American anger at the White House as voters raged at Mr Trump’s plans to introduce harsh policies restricting the residency rights of child migrants as well as his response to the disaster in Puerto Rico caused by Hurricane Maria.
At the time of the photo, Mr Trump had been heading to the Trump National Golf Club, some 20 miles north of the White House.
Now Ms Briskman, a lifelong resident of Loudon County in Washington DC’s neighbouring state of Virginia, has won a seat on the region's board of supervisors – and will legislate for an area that includes the Trump golf resort he had been visiting that day.
"Looking forward to representing my friends and neighbours in Algonkian". she tweeted shortly after her victory.
While the 52-year-old's local campaign focussed on government accountability and school funding, her willingness to fight against the presidency proved to be a driving force behind her decision to stand.
“It’s not like I can run against him,” she previously told the Washington Post, “but I can run.”
Ms Briskman’s 2017 protest against the president proved to be a double-edged sword for the mother of two – affording her international headlines while also resulting in her being fired from her job at government contractor Akima LCC – a firm she later filed a lawsuit against.
“They walked me to my desk and then out the building. I was even told I could not get photos of my children from my computer before they bleached it,” she told the Independent at the time.
“It was like I had embezzled a couple of million company dollars.”
With 52% of the vote, she was one of four Democrats to win seats from Republican and independent officials in the county.
The local poll, which also saw the state government fall into Democrat control for the first time in 26 years, is one of a number of state and municipal elections being watched for insight into the mood of the nation in the run up to the 2020 presidential race.
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