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Why Democratic Women Are Wearing White To Trump's Congressional Address

Suffragist style!
BALTIMORE, MD - FEBRUARY 08: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) delivers remarks at an opening news conference during the House Democratic caucus 'Issues Conference' on February 8, 2017 in Baltimore, Maryland. During the conference, House Democrats are expected to discuss party strategy for opposing issues promoted by their Republican counterparts and U.S. President Donald Trump. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Win McNamee via Getty Images
BALTIMORE, MD - FEBRUARY 08: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) delivers remarks at an opening news conference during the House Democratic caucus 'Issues Conference' on February 8, 2017 in Baltimore, Maryland. During the conference, House Democrats are expected to discuss party strategy for opposing issues promoted by their Republican counterparts and U.S. President Donald Trump. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

In November, scores of women voters went to the polls wearing white, an homage to Hillary Clinton who often wore white while campaigning, most notably when she accepted the Democratic nomination. Though she never addressed it outright, Clinton’s embrace of the white pant suit was widely interpreted as a nod to the suffragist movement.

That tradition will continue on in primetime on Tuesday, as Democratic women in the House have pledged to wear white to President Donald Trump’s first address to Congress.

According to the AP, the heads of the Democratic Women’s Working Group wrote a letter to its members urging them to wear white to the address. The aim is to honor the suffragist movement and to “stand in solidarity with the women of our nation,” the AP reports.

It certainly appears to have traction.

On Tuesday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) posted a picture telling followers to keep an eye out as “#WomenWearWhite” in support of women’s rights.

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) also posted a picture of herself, saying she was wearing “suffragette white” in honor of generations of women who “marched and fought for our sacred rights.”

And then there’s Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), an outspoken critic of President Trump, who has opted for another symbolic move ... skipping the address altogether.

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