About Emerge
Emerge is fundamentally changing the face of politics in this country by breaking down barriers, opening doors, and creating pathways for Democratic women to get involved in politics.
We are the nation’s premier organization that recruits and trains Democratic women to run for office. We are the only political organization that focuses on effective state and national programming that gives women the tools they need to run and win, as well as building an inclusive sisterhood of alums and a network of alumnae, staff, boards, and volunteers who are on-the-ground 365 days a year to support women through their candidacies at every level and once they are elected.
Since 2002, Emerge has offered a unique, in-depth training program that provides aspiring women leaders with cutting-edge tools and training to run and win elected office. Emerge has trained over 5,500 Democratic women to run and more than 1,200 Emerge alums serve in elected office today. Our organization hosts national and regional trainings, oversees locally-based training programs, expands operations to new regions where women’s voices are excluded, partners with local political groups who empower the community, and increases program offerings to meet the growing need for candidate training and alum networking across the country.
Who We Are
Emerge is building infrastructure to have a lasting impact on our nation’s political landscape, and we are directing our focus where it’s needed most. We also aren’t just training women to run for office, we are creating an ecosystem around our alums to foster emerging leaders and ensure they succeed.
We are lifting up the New American Majority and clearing the way for those whose voices have for too long been left out of the conversation — Black, Brown, and Indigenous women and women of color, as well as LGBTQ+, young, and unmarried women. As the United States achieves its multiracial and multicultural destiny in the next two decades, our goal is to reach 100,000 of these women and prepare them to lead our country into a more just and equitable future.
Our curriculum is created to teach new and effective campaign strategies that work across the country in partnership with what will work in local communities. As a locally-focused organization with national resources, we are able to repower political structures at every level and pack the pipeline from local to federal with Democratic women ready to run. Emerge alums are equipped with the tools they need to run in their neighborhoods, their cities, their states–everywhere.
The strength of Emerge is also in the sisterhood. It’s not something we’ve built or made, it’s who we are, at our core. Emerge alums across the country are more than friends or colleagues, they are sisters, and they show up. They whip votes in a state legislature, they write the first campaign check, they bring food when a sister’s partner passes away, they watch each other’s kids when the town meeting goes late, and they make the first congratulatory call when election results are in. Our organization is uniquely effective, because our women understand that we are strongest when we work together and lift each other up. When an Emerge alum climbs to higher office or achieves success, she immediately reaches back and pulls up another woman. When an Emerge alum breaks down a barrier, she looks across the country for another woman trying to make change and lends her support. When an Emerge alum gets to the front of the line, she doesn’t stand there alone. She turns around and reaches back for another woman to pull forward.
Overall, Emerge women have helped:
- Flip both chambers of the Nevada State Legislature to blue
- Reclaim Democratic majorities in the Maine and Oregon State Houses
- Flip the New Mexico and Pennsylvania State Houses to Democratic control
- Flip the Maine, Connecticut, and Virginia State Senates
- Establish the first majority-woman state legislature in Nevada
- Turn the Oregon and New Mexico State Houses to majority-woman
- End the Republican Supermajority in the Georgia State Senate
- Create Democratic trifectas in Maryland, Massachusetts, and Michigan
- Create Democratic supermajorities in the Vermont Senate and California State Legislature
