Week of February 7, 2007

The surge in the state Houses

With so much attention being paid to women's "firsts" on the national political scene, it's time to pay some attention to a "first" being made on a different level. Earlier this week, Nevada state Rep. Barbara Buckley was elected to serve as the first woman Speaker of the Nevada State Assembly. Blazing the path for women's "firsts" is nothing new for Speaker Buckley. Prior to this honor, Buckley was the first woman to hold the position of majority leader in the Nevada State Assembly.

EMILY's List has every reason to celebrate Speaker Buckley's success, as it is yet another milestone in the remarkable rise of women leaders in state legislatures around the country and a testament to the incredible influence of the EMILY's List Political Opportunity Program (POP).

EMILY's List began POP in 2001 to counteract the declining numbers of women in state and local office around the country. In just under six years, POP has helped increase the number of Democratic women serving in state and local races and significantly bolstered the pipeline of women leaders, putting more women in charge of legislative bodies than ever before.

In the 2006 election cycle, EMILY's List not only helped fight off tough challenges and maintain Democratic control in 19 state legislative bodies, but our women played a critical role in winning the majority in seven new chambers and put three new women in power in legislative bodies.

Senate Presidents Sylvia Larsen (N.H.) and Judith Robson (Wis.) and State House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher (Minn.) earned the top spots in leadership from their states' newly minted Democratic majorities – due in large part to the support of elected EMILY's List women.

Overall, EMILY's List contributed directly to 267 pro-choice Democratic women's campaigns and helped 196 women in 31 states win state legislative and key local races in 2006. We endorsed candidates in 23 statewide races and an unprecedented 20 of those women won!

Democratic women now represent:

  • All four of the women attorney generals
  • Eight of the 11 women lieutenant governors
  • Six of the nine women governors

And seven Democratic women now serve as secretary of state throughout the country, including the critical presidential battleground state of Ohio where new elections chief Jennifer Brunner is reforming the state's troubled system.

This increase in women in executive office shows that the pipeline from local office to state leadership is healthy and strong. Women who enter politics at the local level find it an important stepping stone to a future in federal politics. In 2006, six of our endorsed women who won top tier federal races were previously supported or trained though our POP program.

Thanks to EMILY's List and POP, Democratic women are proving themselves to be strong leaders and voices for change across all levels of government.