San Francisco, Calif—Emerge America (www.emergeamerica.com) ran 172 women at every level in 14 states across the country on Tuesday. Of those 172, an impressive 54% won their races.
Some of the bright spots:
• With the election of Kathleen Taylor, Emerge Oregon now has seven women serving in the state house. Six women won re-election, bringing the number of women in the state legislature to 33%.
• Kiah Morris, Emerge Vermont Class of 2014, is the first African-American woman elected in the Vermont State House in over 25 years.
• Emerge Kentucky graduates help to hold the KY state legislature in Democratic hands, the only Democratically-run state house in the South.
• We had 10 women elected to the Maine State House.
• Libby Schaaf, an Emerge California graduate, is now the Mayor of Oakland, California
“Our candidates took on extremely difficult races, challenging popular Republicanincumbents. They waged brave fights against insurmountable odds and are well poised torun again,” said Andrea Dew Steele, Founder, Emerge America. “Many succeeded in a very tough year. What’s more, the training and experience will continue to help them as future candidates and leaders for the Democratic Party.”
Emerge is the premier training program for Democratic women. We inspire women to run; we hone their skills to win. Our goal is clear: to increase the number of Democratic women in public office. While women comprise over 50% of the electorate, they still hold less than 20% of the elected offices in this country. Emerge America is working hard to rectify that. Our affiliates actively recruit, train, and support Democratic women to give them the critical skills, confidence, and network they need to run for office and WIN.
November 6, 2014
Contact: Andrea Dew Steele, 415-509-7825