Woman Fired for Flipping Off Trump Wins Election

Juli Briskman made headlines in 2017 when she was photographed flipping off Donald Trump's motorcade and was then fired by her employer, a government contractor. Now she's Loudoun County, Virginia's newest district supervisor after yesterday's special elections.

Briskman was riding her bike down a Sterling, Virginia road when Trump's motorcade -- which was just leaving a golf course -- passed her. She raised an arm to give the vehicles a middle finger as they passed by. A White House photographer captured the moment, and it instantly went viral.

When Briskman's employer, Akima LLC, fired her, she sued -- claiming she was improperly terminated her out for fear of government retaliation. Although she won a severance claim, a judge threw out her wrongful termination case.

At the time, Briskman voiced frustrations with Trump's policies to explain why she had raised her finger to the president.

"Health care doesn't pass, but you try to dismantle it from the inside," she told CNN in 2017. "Five hundred people get shot in Las Vegas; you're doing nothing about it. You know, white supremacists have this big march and hurt a bunch of people down in Charlottesville and you call them good people."

"My finger said what I was feeling," Briskman added.

In a separate interview with the Washington Post, Briskman said that she hadn't considered public office until she lost her job. She added that if she had an opportunity to flip off the president again, she probably would.

Briskman ran as a Democrat in the Loudoun County race, with a platform of more funding for education, improving green space, and providing services for women. Her opponent was Republican incumbent Suzanne Volpe, who had previously voted to block a local LGBTQ+ Pride month declaration.

With nearly all voters accounted for this morning, Briskman led the race with 52 percent of the vote. "Looking forward to representing my friends & neighbors in #Algonkian District who backed me up today!" Briskman tweeted.

Meanwhile, it was a particularly good night for Democrats statewide, with both houses of Virginia's legislature flipping to Democratic control.

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