Julia Bartusek: Executive director, House Democratic Women’s Caucus

Julia Bartusek never expected to end up in Washington.

The executive director of the House Democratic Women’s Caucus grew up on a pig farm in Minnesota, a far cry from the halls of Congress where she now helps shape one of the House Democrats’ most prominent coalitions.

But she said that she’s always had an interest in women’s issues.

“When you learn about the gender pay gap for the first time, you’re like, ‘What the heck is going on?’” Bartusek recalled.

She joined the caucus three years ago as its first policy director and eventually became executive director, overseeing the group’s strategy, staff and relationships with its members. During her tenure, she said, the caucus has grown not only in membership but also in influence and visibility — including a jump in its Instagram following from roughly 3,000 to nearly 85,000.

But Bartusek’s job extends well beyond traditional women’s issues. The caucus has pushed into debates over WNBA labor negotiations, immigration and the treatment of women in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention, and efforts involving survivors of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

That work has produced some of the moments Bartusek said she will remember most.

During President Trump’s State of the Union address in February, she helped escort Epstein survivors to their seats as Democrats sought to keep attention on their stories.

“I feel fortunate that they’ve trusted us with their stories,” she said.

Her work can also be emotionally heavy. Bartusek has played a leading role in bipartisan negotiations over sexual misconduct reform on Capitol Hill, an issue she said carries particular weight as a woman working on the Hill herself.

“The hardest part of this job is just how real the issues are. And I think that you know, a lot of Hill staff sometimes don’t get to acknowledge the actual human emotional toll that working on some of these issues can have,” she said.

As Bartusek looks toward the possibility of Democrats returning to the House majority, she expects the caucus to push aggressively on reproductive health, including abortion access, contraception and in vitro fertilization, while continuing its work on economic costs, healthcare and women’s safety.

“They don’t feel represented by the current government. They feel like their vote is at risk and they feel like their lives are at risk. And so we’ll always show up and respond to that, whether they’re in a red district or a blue district,” she said.