2025 was one huge year for Rewire News Group. We welcomed new colleagues, chased bigger stories, and even started a new podcast. We said goodbye to one of our newsletters, Executive Dysfunction (RIP), and built two (beautiful!) brand new ones from scratch.
It’s also been a huge year for news: the U.S. government is dismantling the nation’s health care systems, going after immigrants, and attacking LGBTQ+ people — particularly transgender people. The 2026 midterm elections could determine whether these anti-democratic attacks, all outlined in the right-wing Project 2025 roadmap, go ahead.
RNG it covered everything. As the year winds down, we’re looking back at some of our best work this year. Thanks for trusting us to keep you informed in 2025. We’re excited to serve you with more critical journalism in the new year.
TransMissives
One of President Donald Trump’s first moves in his second administration was to issue executive orders with strict, gender-binary definitions that barred transgender people from using restrooms and playing on sports teams that align with their gender identity.
While there has been much discussion in the mainstream media about politics and science, few media outlets have actually asked what young trans people are like felt for attacks on their very existence. So RNG did. Our audience team worked with the youth education website Scarleteen for producing TransMissives, a series of letters from trans kids and their families explaining how they were doing in this political moment. My personal favorite was from an elementary school student who wrote, “We all decide who we want to be and I just want to be me.”
Read: I’m a Trans Girl in Elementary School—My Family and Teacher Support Me
Elie Mystal on B*tch, Listen
The NationJustice Correspondent, Elie Mystal, is a Rewiring favorite! He joined Co-Chief Content Officer Imani Gandy in October on her new podcast, B*tch, Listen, to talk about why the Constitution isn’t working and what overhauling it would look like.
Listen: The Constitution: A Scam by Rich White Men, for Rich White Men
Sit down with Hope Walz
Just months after the 2024 election, one of my writers emailed me asking if I was interested in an interview he had recently conducted with Hope Walz—the daughter of former vice presidential candidate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz—for a class assignment. Walz, 24, had built a TikTok following based on political hope and sharing her everyday life. Obviously I was interested.
The profile, published on March 11, is a delightful portrait of a young woman who wants to see change on the ground and the “servant leadership” mentality that inspired her desire to work in public policy.
Read: Exclusive: Hope Walz was never designed for TikTok fame. Now her platform is inspiring change.
“Age of Deconstruction”
Antenna! Lawyered is back for its ninth (!) season this fall, and co-hosts Gandy and Jessica Mason Pieklo are off to a great start. In the first episode of the season, they argued that the Trump administration had ushered in an “era of deconstruction” — like the reconstruction era after the Civil War, only in reverse. The episode analyzes what the current dissolution of the US government means for public institutions and the American understanding of the rule of law.
Listen: We are in the age of deconstruction
OB-GYNs live in Texas
Texas lawmakers are making the Lone Star State an increasingly difficult place to get pregnant — and to be a doctor who treats pregnant patients. Over the next five years, Texas is expected to have 15 percent fewer OB-GYNs than it needs. But some stay where they are, even though they feel overwhelmed, angry, and scared. RNG talk to three of them.
“We can’t all just move to very blue states,” one Houston-born OB-GYN said in our Aug. 19 story. “We have our community ties here, and those communities still deserve strong OB-GYNs.”
Read: These three obstetricians won’t leave Texas—even if abortion bans threaten their jobs
RNG subscription launch
On a personal note, I have been a Rewiring employee for over three years now (it’s my second full-time job out of college!). Year after year, I’ve seen what a difference reader support makes for our work. Yes, we’re a nonprofit and inherently donation-based, but it’s still true—you make a huge difference in the journalism we’re able to produce. We are incredibly grateful.
Our amazing development team launched a membership program this yearwith different tiers offering perks like exclusive access to Boom! Lawyer Facebook group and private Discord with Gandy. If you want, you can check it out to help keep our work going for years to come.
