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Juli Briskman, a Virginia cyclist famously known for flipping off Trump, now has a seat on the county board of supervisors that oversee his golf club.
After the photo of her giving the finger to a Trump motorcade went viral in 2017, Briskman said, “I was frustrated.” “[Trump] had called folks down in Charlottesville good people on both sides. He had stripped funding away from Obamacare advertising. Puerto Rico was being blamed for their own demise at a hurricane… What we had feared most was actually happening, and I just wanted to tell [the president] what I was thinking,” she added.
Although her face is unclear in the image, she told her job, a government contracting firm named Akima, that it was her in the picture after being contacted by media outlets.
“I told them because the press was actually calling me already,” she said, “A place where I was working part-time was getting threatening emails and threats of boycotting their business because I was an employee … So, I just wanted to let [Akima] know that that might be coming down the pike.”
Despite her honesty, according to ABC News, the firm fired her for violating their social media policy. Briskman later filed a lawsuit claiming wrongful termination in violation of her First Amendment rights. As the legal battle continued, Briskman began to dive deeper into political activism. “After I was fired, I was like, ‘Alright, I need to do something about this Trump administration,'” she said.
Almost a year after the famous photo, Briskman announced her candidacy for Loudoun County Board of Supervisors.
“Today, I am filing my organizational papers in a bid for local office in Loudoun County, Va. Loudoun deserves transparency in government, fully funded schools & smarter solutions to growth,” she wrote in a tweet declaring her candidacy, “It’s time for a change.”
“I think [the photo] definitely helped. Publicity always helps the campaign,” she stated, “I don’t know that I needed a bunch of help with name recognition in my small district. But, you know, I’m sure that helped.”
On Tuesday, Briskman won the seat to the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors after defeating Republican Suzanne M. Volpe by almost nine points.
“It’s fantastically ironic that I represent a district that contains Trump National Golf Course,” Briskman said. Reports say that while the area is in her jurisdiction, she most likely will not have to deal with the golf course unless issues of zoning arise.
