Special Olympics athletes, staff and supporters from across the United States gather each year in Washington, DC to meet with members of Congress in order to advocate for critical federal support of the organization’s work. Among the large number of delegation members attending the 2025 Capitol Hill Day was Special Olympics Chief Executive Officer Mary Davis. While Davis may not find herself on Capitol Hill every day, in fact, she could be anywhere in the world at any given moment, her time at Capitol Hill Day highlights her unique leadership style and the inherently natural connections she makes with Special Olympics athletes.
“It’s always an exciting day up here on The Hill and having an opportunity to meet with members of Congress and explain our story,” Davis says about her 10th Capitol Hill Day. “I love that we can involve the athletes from practically every state, some of their family members, coaches and Unified partners. A day on The Hill with all those stakeholders is a microcosm of Special Olympics.”
No stranger to early hours, Davis began her day of meetings bright and early with Nebraska, followed by Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut and Ohio. State delegations only visit members of Congress from their state, but Davis bounces around to attend meetings with representatives and senators who are on the United States House and Senate Appropriations Committees. Bills passed by the Appropriations Committees regulate the expenditure of the money by the government of the United States and for more than two decades, have provided Special Olympics with critical federal funding to support our work. This approach to Hill Day requires Davis to be up to date and informed on the work each Special Olympics Program does locally, along with needing to make instant connections with the delegation members from that Program. And she does just that, making eye contact with each athlete who shares their story, looking to echo the message of the athletes and feed off the authentic personalities in the room.
Near the end of her first meeting, Davis asked the staff member what Special Olympics should do following this event and how the organization could continue to make the case that its work remains critical. Davis showed this type of proactive behavior throughout the day. In each meeting, she asked the right questions and ensured each member of Congress knew the message and what it entailed. Those moments showed how authentic Davis is in what she does.
Sulynnette Vega-Ledesma was the athlete representative for Special Olympics Alaska. During the first few minutes of the meeting with Senator Lisa Murkowski, Vega-Ledesma was asked to be brave and share her story without reading from the speech she had written. With her soft voice, Vega-Ledesma captured the attention of the small meeting room. Everyone could feel the emotion and the importance of Vega-Ledesma’s story as she spoke about her family and the impact Special Olympics has had on her.
“At first, I was not going to share my story because I’m not a person who often shares, I’m more of an inside person and not a spotlight person but the years I’ve been with Special Olympics, they’ve helped me be more confident and taught me how to be comfortable talking about personal experiences,” Vega-Ledesma says about getting to share her story. And she’s not the only one who’s noticed the growth.
“I had full confidence that she was going to do amazing, and I think it was a really great opportunity for Sulynnette to be able to have the opportunity to prove to herself that she was capable of doing an off-script speech like that,” Sarah Arts, President/CEO, Special Olympics Alaska, says. “She crushed it, she did so great.”
That meeting, in particular, set the tone for the rest of the day. In the cafeteria, Davis joked about how “Vega Ledesma’s story and voice must be included” in any story about Capitol Hill Day, underscoring an important point. Whenever athletes get to share their stories, it’s a powerful reminder that we all have common experiences and when individuals feel empowered to speak their authentic truth, the Special Olympics movement is stronger. That collective strength is incredibly important during events like Capitol Hill Day.
“The success of this year's Hill Day was really important because we have a new Congress. That means that there are lots of new federal representatives who have just taken office in the Senate and in the House of Representatives,” Meredith Pierce, Vice President of Government Relations, says. “Some of them come to their new roles knowing a lot about Special Olympics. Some of them might know just a little bit about us, and some might not know about us at all. So, Hill Day is a really important time for our athlete leaders to share their personal stories and raise awareness about Special Olympics, what we do, and our longstanding partnership with the U.S. Government.”
There was so much curious energy present during meetings, much of it coming from members of Congress and their staffs. Regardless of their level of Special Olympics knowledge, each asked questions and were engaged in meaningful conversations with the athletes, including Senator Bernie Moreno from Ohio. During his conversation with Special Olympics Ohio delegation members, Moreno asked many questions about the organization’s work and how federal funding impacts the success of that work. Each meeting evolved in a similar fashion, allowing Special Olympics athletes to shine and underscoring the importance of self-advocacy.
“I hope that the biggest takeaways for our athlete leaders this year were that their presence is important and that their voices matter. There are no better representatives of Special Olympics than our athlete leaders,” Pierce says. “Special Olympics athletes come to Capitol Hill Day with such powerful stories to share about their experiences with Special Olympics in their home states, and they are the ones who really make the case for continued support for Unified Champion Schools and Special Olympics Health. Without our athlete leaders and their willingness to share their experiences in our movement, we simply wouldn't have a Capitol Hill Day.”
Throughout the week, hundreds of athlete stories were shared with members of Congress in 340 meetings. The most powerful voices in the Special Olympics movement were on full display, but they can’t quiet after Hill Day.
Davis encourages Special Olympics delegation members to take these efforts “back in their own state so they have the opportunity to invite those representatives to their local events and engage members of Congress at the local level.”
As Women’s History Month concludes, Capitol Hill Day provides an excellent reminder of the strong women who continue to make an impact within Special Olympics, whether it be by sharing their own stories or echoing the words of others, from Mary Davis, once a Presidential candidate for Ireland and now leading the global organization, to athletes from across the country.
