Cyclist who was fired for flipping off Trump's motorcade won a Virginia election

'Isn’t that sweet justice?'
 By 
Nicole Gallucci
 on 
Cyclist who was fired for flipping off Trump's motorcade won a Virginia election
Juli Briskman is not backing down. Credit: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / GETTY IMAGES

You may not recognize Juli Briskman by name, but there's a good chance you know her as the cyclist who was photographed flipping off Donald Trump's motorcade in Oct. 2017.

As the president's line of cars drove past Briskman one Saturday in Sterling, Virginia, the talented multitasker was seen raising her middle finger confidently in the air multiple times to let Trump know how she felt about him.

A photograph that captured Briskman's bold gesture quickly went viral, and after she told the HR department at Akima LLC, where she worked as a marketing specialist, about the incident, she was fired.


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Now, Briskman is thriving. On Tuesday night, she was elected to serve on the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors in Virginia. She took a seat from eight-year incumbent Republican Suzanne Volpe, and will now represent the Algonkian District.

"Two years ago I was fired for standing up to the backwards agenda of Donald Trump. But now my neighbors in Algonkian District have backed me up and rejected the Trump agenda," Briskman, 52, told HuffPost in an interview. "We worked really hard on this campaign. It was a tough race. I’m excited to create a Loudoun County that works for everyone."

Back in 2017 after Briskman was fired in wake of the viral photo, she told HuffPost that, "In some ways, I’m doing better than ever."

"I'd do it again," she said when initially asked about the controversial gesture, and it's clear that her action didn't discourage the people of Virginia from supporting her in this race.

Briskman is thrilled to have flipped the district she's lived in for more than 20 years from Republican to Democrat, a district that just so happens to house the Trump National Golf Club.

"It’s feeling fantastic, it’s feeling surreal," she told the Washington Post. "The last two years have been quite a ride. Now we’re helping to flip Loudoun blue."

"Isn’t that sweet justice?" she asked. And the answer is abundantly clear.

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Nicole Gallucci

Nicole is a Senior Editor at Mashable. She primarily covers entertainment and digital culture trends, and in her free time she can be found watching TV, sending voice notes, or going viral on Twitter for admiring knitwear. You can follow her on Twitter @nicolemichele5.

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