Como o cuidado infantil gratuito começou a vencer as eleições nos EUA: ‘Da noite para o dia, as pessoas perceberam o quão essencial era’

“When we talk about free childcare, you can connect to folks whether it’s on an economic argument or just purely that it’s the right thing to do for our kids,” said Hong, a democratic socialist running in Wisconsin’s Democratic primary on 11 August. “I always like to remind folks: if we don’t take care of our kids, who’s going to take care of us?”

For 50 years, US childcare policy lived in the welfare drawer with programs such as Head Start, a free early learning initiative for low-income families, and subsidies focused on keeping poor mothers in the workforce. Anything broader was often shut down by conservatives advocating for families’ “personal choice” over government-run childcare. And while Democratic lawmakers, often women, campaigned on the need for affordable childcare – presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris made it central to their platforms – they had little success.

Then something shifted as the cost of care surpassed college tuition and a pandemic hangover pushed caregivers, and their wallets, to their limits: childcare became a middle-class problem that could no longer be ignored. In November, Zohran Mamdani made universal childcare a cornerstone of his New York mayoral campaign, and two centrists, Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill, won the governorships in Virginia and New Jersey, respectively, running on the same plank. In March, New Mexico became the first state to offer free childcare for all. In the nation’s capital, Janeese Lewis-George won the mayoral primary this summer with universal childcare among her top priorities.

“We’re in an era of real affordability issues,” said Deb Haaland, former secretary of the interior who is currently running for governor of New Mexico. “Universal childcare is good for our economy – it creates jobs, it helps parents go to work without worrying about their children.”

Behind these wins, though, are decades of painstaking organizing. Compounding crises, coupled with organizers’ longstanding work, have catapulted childcare from the sidelines to a kitchen-table issue as politically potent as the price of eggs or a grocery bill. Now, candidates vying for office in the midterm elections are seizing the moment to build on half a century of advocacy and win contests to give families some relief.

Georgetown professor Joan Lombardi, who has advocated for early childhood policy across presidential administrations, distilled the moment into three parts: “First, for more parents today, childcare is their everyday reality. Second, affordability is driving it. And third, we have new innovations coming out of states and communities that can help inform policy decisions.”

From radioactive policy to winning platform

The US almost had a federally funded childcare system more than 50 years ago: Congress passed the Comprehensive Child Development Act, but Richard Nixon refused to sign it, fearing the alienation of his conservative base. At the time, one-third of women with children under age six worked.

In the aftermath of the veto, veteran civil rights activist Marian Wright Edelman founded the Children’s Defense Fund, which kept the vision of universal childcare alive, laying the groundwork for politicians’ childcare policy platforms since the 1970s and other legislative wins, such as the 1990 Child Care and Development Block Grant, which gave low-income families a voucher to pay for childcare.

As more working mothers joined the halls of Congress, so did the push for federal childcare policy. Patty Murray, a senator from Washington state and former preschool teacher with two children, introduced the Child Care for Working Families Act in every Congress since 2017, but it took the pandemic to accelerate her cause: the bipartisan American Rescue Plan in 2021 infused $39bn into childcare – the first time Washington DC paid providers directly for operating costs rather than subsidizing individual slots.

“Childcare facilities shut down, so our nurses couldn’t work, our essential employees couldn’t work,” she said. “And almost overnight, people realized how essential it was.”

Solutions to affordability issues – the high costs of rent, groceries and childcare – have only continued to resonate with voters over the past year. In a sign of the times, the political action committee Campaign for a Family Friendly Economy is pouring $50m into races this midterm cycle. Even the Senate Democratic leadership is making childcare a pillar of their affordability agenda.

“It’s not something people plan for the way they plan for buying a first home – suddenly it falls on their shoulders and they’re figuring it out alone,” Sondra Goldschein, executive director for Campaign for a Family Friendly Economy, said about childcare. “This appeals to people who are older and younger, Democrats and Republicans, people in cities and in suburban and rural areas. It’s just top of mind.”

Universal childcare in the midterms

While there is still no federal law that supports childcare for all families who need it, organizers are pushing states – and running candidates in those states – to fill the vacuum.

In Wisconsin, Hong, a leading candidate for governor, has made a payroll-funded universal childcare guarantee a key part of her platform – a message that particularly resonates after $110m in pandemic-era childcare funding ran out last month.

“We have not seen childcare, paid leave, elder care as part of infrastructure,” Hong said. “It is the care economy that allows us to have communities.”

Hong’s plan would provide free childcare up to 400% of the federal poverty level, a 7% cap on childcare spending for all families and loan-forgiveness programs for early educators. “Não podemos ter uma força de trabalho sustentável sem uma