FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 17, 2020
CONTACT
Danielle Noel for Emerge
danielle@emergeamerica.org
202-780-5953
Tonya Williams for EMILY’s List
twilliams@emilyslist.org
615-417-8314
The two organizations will join forces to host biweekly conversations for women who are considering running for office.
Washington, DC–-Emerge and EMILY’s List today announced a joint speaker series as part of their ongoing effort to recruit Democratic women to run for office at the local, state and federal level. The partnership comes to life through a three-part series entitled “Your Road to Public Office” that will highlight women that have transitioned from activist to candidate to elected official and provide campaign skills training for the participants. The panels will feature women trained by Emerge or EMILY’s List, endorsed by EMILY’s List or both.
“There are thousands of Democratic women who are engaged in their communities, but don’t feel like political candidacy is within reach. We need those women at our decision-making tables,” said A’shanti F. Gholar, President of Emerge. “This series is designed to give these leaders the confidence and roadmap to run for office. With our nation currently facing a series of crises, it’s clear that many of our current elected officials are not doing a good enough job representing our communities. Part of the solution is increasing the pipeline of Democratic women who will be ready to run up and down the ballot. We’re proud to be working alongside our longtime partner EMILY’s List to bring this series to life and encourage even more women to step up.”
“At EMILY’s List, we’ve seen the positive impact of more women in office every day for 35 years,” says Stephanie Schriock, president of EMILY’s List. “We are proud to work with Emerge to help share the needed resources and strategies needed to win, and to expand our work together through this speaker series. This is an opportunity to highlight some of the amazing women we have been proud to support and inspire even more women to run for office in the years to come.”
The women featured in each panel will represent a cross-section of identities and offices to demonstrate the full range of women serving in government nationwide and to inspire women who might be considering a run for office. The conversations will take place via Zoom on a biweekly basis and are designed to be honest, authentic and accessible. Elected officials will have the opportunity to be both candid about their experiences as candidates and to engage directly with participants about what it means to lead.
The series’ dates and topics are as follows:
You can find more information on how to sign up for the series here.
Emerge is the nation’s premier organization that recruits and trains Democratic women to run for office. Since 2002, Emerge has trained more than 4,000 women to run for office and there are currently 740 Emerge alums serving in office across the country.
EMILY’s List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, has raised over $600 million to elect pro-choice Democratic women candidates. With a grassroots community of over five million members, EMILY’s List helps Democratic women win competitive campaigns – across the country and up and down the ballot – by recruiting and training candidates, supporting strong campaigns, researching the issues that impact women and families, and turning out women voters to the polls. Since our founding in 1985, we have helped elect 150 women to the House, 26 to the Senate, 16 governors, and nearly 1,100 women to state and local office. Nearly 40 percent of the candidates EMILY’s List has helped elect to Congress have been women of color. During the historic 2017-2018 cycle, EMILY’s List raised a record-breaking $110 million and launched a record independent expenditure campaign. We helped elect 34 new women to the House, including 24 red-to-blue victories; enough seats to have delivered the U.S. House majority alone. Since the 2016 election, more than 55,000 women have reached out to EMILY’s List about running for office laying the groundwork for the next decade of candidates for local, state, and national offices.
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