ST. LOUIS, MO — The founders of a movement that last year brought a throng of women to the streets of Washington, D.C., and hundreds of other cities around the country once again drew massive crowds, including in St. Louis. Local speakers included St. Louis City treasurer Tishaura Jones, Missouri State Sen. Maria Chapell-Nadal, poet Cheeraz Gorman, and dozens more artists, activists, educators and community leaders.

The marches come at a watershed moment for women, who are seeking public office in record numbers. Women are empowered both by the #MeToo movement, which brought a trove of stories from women who said they have faced sexual assault or harassment, and outrage against President Trump, who famously said in a leaked 2005 Access Hollywood tape that he had groped women's genitals — prompting the pink "pussy" hats demonstrators wore last year. The 2018 Women's March is framed around a national voter registration tour ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. Rutgers' Center for American Women and Politics says that about 600 women nationwide are running for statewide and federal office in the upcoming midterms — a record — and the event kicks off an initiative targeting swing states, with a focus on registering new voters and electing more women and progressive candidates to office.

The national organizers of the March say they were encouraged by Democrat Doug Jones' upset win over Republican Roy Moore last month in the deep red state of Alabama, which hasn't sent a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1992. Moore was leading the special Senate race to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions until multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct. The women said they were teenagers and Moore in his 30s when the alleged impropriety took place. Moore has denied the allegations. Women, especially Democrats, are increasingly finding a path to victory in states where their election once seemed improbable. For example, Virginia voters in November elected Danica Roem, the first openly transgender woman ever to be elected to a state legislature. She was one of 11 progressive women who unseated Republican men in the state's House of Delegates last year.

Closer to home, Missouri Democrat Claire McCaskill is expected to have a tough reelection ahead of her in 2018, and hanging on to her seat will be key to Democratic hopes of retaking the Senate. McCaskill's 2012 race drew national attention when her opponent, Todd Akin, said women couldn't get pregnant from what he termed a "legitimate rape." Learn more about the 2018 St. Louis Women's March.