The Democratic Attorneys General Association and Emerge America Announce Partnership on 1881 Initiative

The Democratic Attorneys General Association and Emerge America Announce Partnership on 1881 Initiative 

1881 Initiative Sets Goal to Elect Women to Fifty-Percent of the Democratic State Attorneys General Seats by the End of 2022

Washington, D.C.— The Democratic Attorneys General Association (DAGA) and Emerge America, the nation’s premier organization that recruits and trains Democratic women to run for office, announced today that they are partnering on DAGA’s 1881 Initiative. Co-chaired, by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey and Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum and named after the year two women first threw their hats in the ring for the office of attorney general, the 1881 Initiative aims to attract and support the most qualified and talented woman candidates through trainings, events and serving as a resource and sets a goal to elect women to half of all Democratic state attorney general seats by the end of 2022 cycle. Emerge America will serve as the first official 1881 Initiative training partner, bringing its proven candidate training program to the table and teaching DAGA’s candidates the ins-and-outs of running for office. DAGA will provide an attorney general-specific lens to the trainings.

“We’re thrilled to be partnering with DAGA and excited to train the amazing Democratic women who are running for attorney general in states across the country,” said Andrea Dew Steele, Founder and President of Emerge America. “Our organization has a growing focus on getting Democratic women elected to law enforcement positions, so partnering on this initiative is a perfect fit. The women running for the attorneys general offices represent a great hope for our country’s future. With them elected to the highest law enforcement position in their states to protect us from the daily attacks on our rights, I think we will all sleep better at night.”

“As we gear up for the 2018 election cycle, I am thrilled that DAGA is partnering with Emerge America,” said Oregon Attorney General and 1881 Initiative co-chair Ellen Rosenblum. “With the proven training and support of Emerge, all of our highly qualified women state attorney general candidates will be better able to hit the ground running—and they will win!”

“For women to run and women to win, they need more support and access to the best campaign thinking – now more than ever,” said Massachusetts Attorney General and 1881 Initiative co-chair Maura Healey. “With Emerge America as our partner, I know more women will find the best path to victory and more women will have a chance to stand up for our shared values as attorneys general.”

Currently, only five state attorneys general are Democratic women, so the work of both organizations is more important than ever. The 2018 candidate landscape includes potential female candidates in Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and South Dakota.

“We have committed to identifying, encouraging and electing greater numbers of well-qualified women to the state office of attorney general.” said Sean Rankin, Executive Director at the Democratic Attorneys General Association. “Through our partnership with Emerge America, we are laying the groundwork necessary to see a room with equal representation of women by our 2022 cycle.”

DAGA and Emerge America work to change the face of politics and create a government that more accurately reflects the people it represents. DAGA provides political and policy support to Democratic state attorneys general in their mission to create opportunities to help hard-working students and families, defend the rights of immigrants and their children, protect access to affordable and quality healthcare, safeguard environmental protections, promote equality and serve as the People’s lawyer. Recently, the organization launched a new model for strategic partnerships to support their efforts focused on helping Democratic attorneys general win and communicating more effectively with voters, including those in red states. Since 2002, Emerge America has trained more than 3,000 Democratic women to run for office. In the 2017, 152 of their 208 alumnae on election ballots won their races—a 73 percent win rate.

DAGA and Emerge America will release more information about their partnership in the coming weeks.

For more information on DAGA, please visit: https://www.democraticags.org/.

For more information on Emerge America, please visit: https://www.emergeamerica.org/.

 

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