Democrats—many of whom are female—are staging an assault on the Senate to increase our ranks in that august, predominantly male body, and to aid in the battle to tip the scales back toward sanity. As Women’s History Month comes to a close, let’s help these candidates make herstory.
Though much of our attention has been focused on presidential primary battles, we really need to understand what is at stake here—especially the future of the Supreme Court—and show these sisters our support.
Currently, out of 100 Senators, 20 are women, and 14 of those 20 are Democrats. Two are retiring: Maryland’s Barbara Mikulski, the longest serving female Senator who was first elected in 1986 and is known as the “Dean of the Senate,” and California’s Barbara Boxer, who took office in 1993.
Some of these races have the potential to help give Democrats the Senate majority. Your contributions through Act Blue can help make that happen.
At a time in history when many of the gains women have made are under attack from right-wing extremist Republicans, more than ever we need to step up to the plate and support Democratic women running for office so that they can fight side by side with men who support us and issues dear to us. We must also acknowledge contributions made by groups like EMILY’s List.
EMILY's List — the largest national resource for women in politics — was created by Ellen R. Malcolm in 1985 to fund campaigns for pro-choice Democratic women, and strategically torch-light the balance of power in our government.
The name “EMILY's List” was an acronym for "Early Money Is Like Yeast" (i.e., it makes the dough rise). The saying is a reference to a convention of political fundraising that receiving major donations early in a race is helpful in attracting other, later donors. Now we know EMILY is more than a slogan — she’s a candidate, a voter, an operative, a member. If you’ve sought out this website because you want to ignite progressive change in your community — EMILY is probably you.
And as catalysts of change, we’ve changed too. Today’s EMILY’s List goes beyond fundraising with a strategic approach to recruiting candidates, winning elections and mobilizing voters. We are a driving force behind many of the campaign victories that bring the progressive decision making power of pro-choice Democratic women to office.
North Carolina
Several battleground states where we can potentially flip a seat from R to D involve woman candidates, and North Carolina is one of them. It’s not going to be easy, but don’t forget that Barack Obama won the state in 2008 and narrowly lost in 2012. Massive voter registration drives are taking place there, along with protests and legal efforts against voter supression.
Candidate Deborah Ross has been endorsed by Emily’s List:
As the daughter of a Vietnam-era Air Force veteran and a mom who taught pre-school, Deborah Ross grew up believing that service to country and community is a part of living our values. “I was raised to believe you could do anything — be anything — but too many people in North Carolina today feel that's becoming harder and harder,” she has said. Deborah has put her values into action throughout her career in public service. As an attorney for over twenty-five years, Deborah’s work has focused on fighting for fairness, equality, and opportunity for all North Carolinians. As the former executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina, and as a member of the North Carolina General Assembly for 10 years, she passionately and effectively defended access to reproductive health care, including birth control. Deborah served in the North Carolina state House from 2003 to 2013, where she quickly earned a reputation as one of the most effective legislators in the state and as a tireless champion for women and working families. Deborah was an outspoken opponent of then-Speaker Thom Tillis and the extreme anti-woman, anti-family agenda he advanced in the Republican-led Assembly. Deborah has long been a champion for policies that give working families a fair shot, and when elected she will be a forceful advocate for women’s access to healthcare, ending gender discrimination in pay, and economic security for working families.
She is running against incumbent Republican senior Sen. Richard Burr and is currently polling about 9 points behind him.
New Hampshire
The American Prospect reported:
First-termer Kelly Ayotte is probably the most vulnerable Republican in the Senate. She’s facing a strong opponent in popular Democratic Governor Maggie Hassan, who announced her Senate bid in October. New Hampshire voters have supported Democrats in five of the past six presidential races. This gives Hassan an edge.
Hassan is currently polling about 4 points behind Ayotte, the Republican incumbent, who is a right-wing nightmare. Ayotte is a tea party damsel who is one of the most hawkish members of the Senate.
Hassan has a campaign ad out which goes after Ayotte for her stance on the Supreme Court vacancy.
From EMILY’s list:
Maggie Hassan is running to represent New Hampshire in the U.S. Senate, where she’ll fight for hardworking women and families in the state. When her son Ben was diagnosed with cerebral palsy 26 years ago, Maggie realized that the reason he would be able to go to school with the other children in their community was “because of the advocates and families who had come before us.” Shortly after Ben’s diagnosis, Maggie became an advocate herself, balancing her job as an attorney with working with Concord politicians to make better policies for children. Growing up, her father taught her that “policies that don’t help people are bad policies,” and Maggie has spent her career in public service motivated by that same belief.
A pragmatic problem-solver with New Hampshire values
From her time in the New Hampshire state legislature to her years serving as the state’s governor, Maggie has shown she knows what to do to get things done — and she’s done it with pragmatism and compassion. Because of Ben’s diagnosis, issues like equal pay, access to public education, and access to affordable insurance are deeply personal for her. Maggie is pro-choice and strongly supports the right of women to make their own reproductive health care decisions. As governor, she worked to expand access to Medicaid coverage for some of New Hampshire’s most vulnerable citizens and, under her watch, New Hampshire was named one of the best states in the country for child well-being.
Arizona
Back in February, American Prospect stated:
It is possible that Arizona voters are getting tired of Republican John McCain, who has served in the Senate since 1987 and was the GOP’s losing presidential nominee in 2008. Political handicappers give McCain an edge but predict that he’ll have the toughest re-election fight of his career and could be defeated if the Democrats nominate a strong candidate and invest the money needed to run a good campaign. He is likely to run against Representative Ann Kirkpatrick, the toughest Democratic challenger he has ever faced. A strong Democratic turnout, especially among women, could give Kirkpatrick a victory.
Well, Kirkpatrick is in, and a strong showing in the presidential primary for Hillary Clinton bodes well for Kirkpatrick’s chance to end McCain’s tenure.
EMILY’s list:
Born and raised in the White Mountains of Eastern Arizona, Ann’s earliest roots are in the small timber town of McNary and on the White Mountain Apache Nation, where her father ran the general store and her mother taught school. From her time as Sedona’s city attorney to serving in the Arizona State House, she’s never stopped fighting for her state’s hardworking families. In 2008, Ann took her fight to Washington, when she was elected to represent Arizona’s First District in the U.S. House of Representatives. In Congress, Ann has been a consistent champion for the issues that matter most to families. She’s put practicality over politics, voting for a bipartisan budget agreement in 2013 to break the gridlock in Congress and even cosponsoring legislation with a conservative Republican who once ran against her to bring more jobs to Arizona. Through it all, Ann has never stopped living her Arizona values of hard work and resilience, working across the aisle to find commonsense solutions and get the job done.
An effective leader who will stand up for the issues Arizonans care about
In Congress, Ann defended the right of Arizona women to make their own reproductive health care decisions, cosponsored the Paycheck Fairness Act, voted to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, and stood up to Republicans seeking to defund Planned Parenthood. She has been a strong advocate for families in her district, fighting for a cost-of-living adjustment to help get seniors through the recession and introducing bipartisan legislation to clear the backlog at the Department of Veterans Affairs. In her first term in Congress, more of Ann’s bills and amendments were passed than almost any other freshman representative’s.
Kirkpatrick is tying John McCain to Donald Trump.
She’s also going after McCain on his flip-flops on immigration, and again tying him to Trump. This ad is also in Spanish.
Nevada
Harry Reid’s retirement (we’ll miss you, Harry) has put the state in play for both parties. Reid has given his blessing to Catherine Cortez Masto, former attorney general of Nevada from 2007 through 2015. Due to term limits she did not run for the job after serving twice.
The Nevada Democratic primary for the Senate race will be held June 14, 2016, and Cortez Masto is the presumptive nominee. It was assumed her Republican opponent would be Rep. Joe Heck, but at the last minute, Sharron Angle, wing-nut loser from 2010 has jumped into the race, creating problems on the Republican side.
EMILY’s List:
Born in Nevada, Catherine Cortez Masto has deep roots in the Silver State. Serving for eight years as her state’s attorney general, she worked to keep Nevada communities safe, strengthening state laws to prevent domestic violence and protecting middle-class families from fraudulent mortgage schemes and predatory lenders. Before she was elected to serve as Nevada’s chief law enforcement officer, Catherine served as the assistant county manager for Clark County and was a federal criminal prosecutor in the United States Attorney’s Office in Washington. She’s dedicated her career to fighting for women, middle-class families, and hardworking Nevadans looking for a fair shot — and now she needs our help to take her fight all the way to the U.S. Senate.
An opportunity to elect the first Latina to the U.S. Senate
When Catherine is elected, she’ll be the first woman Nevada has ever elected to the Senate — and the first Latina senator in U.S. history. With a strong belief in the power of women’s leadership, Catherine has said that women “bring a different and much-needed perspective to the table. Nevada could benefit from more women in leadership roles and so could our country.” As a pro-choice Democratic woman from a red-leaning state — and as the first Latina in the Senate — we need Catherine’s perspective at the table fighting for Nevada in Washington. Let’s give her our full support early on and show her opponents the EMILY’s List community is on her side.
Illinois
Rep. Tammy Duckworth won the Illinois primary for Senate and has been endorsed by Daily Kos. Her opponent, Republican Sen. Mark Kirk is:
a faux-moderate with a dangerous mouth that's both offensive—he once declared that "the black community" is one "we drive faster through"—and inflammatory: Last year, he said that Obama wants to "get nukes to Iran" and termed the nuclear deal "the greatest appeasement since Chamberlain gave Czechoslovakia to Hitler."
Kirk has also said he would endorse Donald Trump if he wins the Republican presidential nomination.
EMILY’s List:
Born in Bangkok, Thailand, Tammy is a Veteran of the Iraq War, a former assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, a former head of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs, and a retired lieutenant colonel in the Illinois Army National Guard. In Iraq, Tammy was flying a mission north of Baghdad in November of 2004 when her helicopter was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. Tammy’s crew landed safely, but she lost both of her legs and shattered her right arm in the blast. She received the Purple Heart for her injuries. During her recovery and beyond, Tammy has remained committed to public service, advocating for veterans and disability rights and fighting for Illinois’ working families. Fluent in Thai and Indonesian, Tammy holds a master’s degree in international affairs and a PhD in Human Services.
Women are also running for the seats being vacated by Mikulski and Boxer. In Maryland, the Democratic primary battle is between Donna Edwards, endorsed by Daily Kos and Emily’s List, and Chris Van Hollen. Edwards currently has a slight lead in the polls. There has not been an African-American woman in the Senate since the election of Carol Moseley-Braun, who was the first—and only—black female in the Senate. Edwards is black and a progressive.
Boxer’s seat is being vied for on the Democratic side by Kamala Harris and Loretta Sanchez. Harris is African-Indian American, and is currently California’ attorney general. Sanchez is Mexican-American and serves in the House, representing California's 47th congressional district. Harris is currently leading in the polls.
Katie McGinty is running in the Pennsylvania primary, and senior Sen. Patty Murray is running for re-election in Washington—both endorsed by EMILY’s List. Lastly, Caroline Fayard, a conservative Democrat who calls herself “pro-life, pro-business,” is vying for David Vitter’s Senate seat in the Louisiana “jungle” primary.
Before closing, let’s acknowledge the leadership and example set by Sen. Barbara Mikulski. It’s going to be hard to imagine the Senate without her in it.
Growing up in the Highlandtown neighborhood of East Baltimore, Mikulski learned the values of hard work, neighbor helping neighbor and heartfelt patriotism. She often saw her father open the family grocery store early so local steelworkers could buy lunch before the morning shift.
Determined to make a difference in her community, Mikulski became a social worker in Baltimore, helping at–risk children and educating seniors about the Medicare program. Social work evolved into community activism when Mikulski successfully organized communities against a plan to build a 16–lane highway through Baltimore’s Fells Point neighborhood. She helped stop the road, saving Fells Point and Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, both thriving residential and commercial communities today.
Mikulski is a trailblazer. Her first election was a successful run for Baltimore City Council in 1971, where she served for five years. In 1976, she ran for Congress and won, representing Maryland’s 3rd district for 10 years. In 1986, she ran for Senate and won, becoming the first Democratic woman Senator elected in her own right. She was re–elected with large majorities in 1992, 1998, 2004 and 2010.
She addressed the 2012 Democratic National Convention and said:
The women of the Senate are like the U.S. Olympic team: we come in different sizes, but we sure are united in our determination to do the best for our country! We've built families, businesses, and communities. We're Sunday school teachers and former governors, prosecutors and moms in tennis shoes. I was a social worker for Baltimore families. Now I'm a social worker building opportunities for families throughout America.
We work on macro issues and macaroni and cheese issues. When women are in the halls of power, our national debate reflects the needs and dreams of American families. Women leading means that Congress is working to create jobs, make quality child care more affordable and strengthen the middle class because we understand that America grows the economy and opportunity from the middle out, not the top down.
These are our priorities. These are President Barack Obama's priorities. We know that every issue is a women's issue. And equal pay for equal work is an American issue. The 77 cents that women make for every dollar men earn makes a real difference to our families—families stretching to make every dollar count.
We are so proud that the first law signed by President Barack Obama was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. That first bill was about America's first principles: equality, opportunity and prosperity. Republicans in the Senate blocked our efforts to go further and end pay discrimination once and for all. We, the women of the Senate, with President Obama by our side, will keep fighting—our shoulders square, our lipstick on—because you deserve equal pay for your hard work.
Thank you for your service, Sen. Mikulski. Here’s hoping 2016 will see more seats in the Senate filled by your sisters.
It can happen. We just have to get out the vote.