Rewire Wrapped: RNG’s Best of 2025

2025 was a huge year for Rewire News Group. We welcomed new colleagues, chased bigger stories, and even launched 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 systems, hunting down immigrants, and attacking LGBTQ+ people—particularly, trans people. The 2026 midterm elections could determine whether these anti-democratic assaults, all outlined in the right-wing Project 2025 roadmap, marches on.

RNG covered it all. As the year winds down, we’re looking back on 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 crucial 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, binary definitions of sex that prohibited trans people from using restrooms and playing on sports teams that align with their gender identities.

While there was much mainstream media debate over policy and science, few outlets actually asked how young trans people felt about the attacks on their very existence. So RNG did. Our audience team partnered with the youth education site Scarleteen to produce TransMissives, a series of letters from trans kids and their families explaining how they were faring in this political moment. My personal favorite was from an elementary schooler, who wrote, “We all get to 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 Nation’s justice correspondent, Elie Mystal, is a Rewire 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 it would look like to overhaul it.

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 she’d recently done 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 ground-level change, and of the “servant leadership” mindset that inspired her desire to work in public policy.

Read: Exclusive: Hope Walz Never Planned for TikTok Fame. Now Her Platform Inspires Change.

‘Deconstruction Era’

Boom! Lawyered returned for its ninth (!) season this fall, and co-hosts Gandy and Jessica Mason Pieklo started off with a bang. In the first episode of the season, they argued that the Trump administration has ushered in a “deconstruction era”—like the post-Civil War Reconstruction Era, only in reverse. The episode breaks down what the current dismantling of the U.S. government means for public institutions and the American understanding of the rule of law.

Listen: We’re in the Deconstruction Era

OB-GYNs are staying in Texas

Texas lawmakers are making the Lone Star State an increasingly more difficult place to be pregnant—and to be a doctor who treats pregnant patients. In the next five years, Texas is expected to have 15 percent fewer OB-GYNs than it needs. But some are staying put, even though they feel overworked, angry, and afraid. RNG talked 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 these communities still deserve strong OB-GYNs.”

Read: These Three OB-GYNS Won’t Leave Texas—Even As Abortion Bans Threaten Their Work

RNG membership launch

On a personal note, I’ve been a Rewire staffer for more than 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 rely on donations, but it’s still true—you make a huge difference in the journalism we’re able to produce. We’re incredibly grateful.

Our amazing development team launched a membership program this year, with different tiers that offer benefits like exclusive access to the Boom! Lawyered Facebook group and a private Discord with Gandy. If you’d like, you can check it out to help sustain our work for years to come.

The post Rewire Wrapped: RNG’s Best of 2025 appeared first on Rewire News Group.