Nebraska Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh On Her 11-Week Filibuster

Nebraska state senator from Omaha, Machaela Cavanaugh, promised to filibuster every bill that comes before the legislature this year — even those she supports. Why? She’s trying to stop a bill intended to outlaw gender-affirming care for people 18 and under.

Senator Cavanaugh has been filibustering since February 23 and halfway through the legislative session in March, she’d managed to prevent even a single bill from passing. Her work took on a new urgency this week when Republicans introduced an amendment to the bill framed as a compromise: only gender-affirming surgeries would be banned, but a 12-week abortion ban would also be instated.

We spoke with Sen. Cavanaugh prior to this development on Monday about her efforts.