Historic Election Night for EMILY's List Candidates

It was a historic election night for EMILY's List candidates. EMILY's List helped defeat Republicans and elect more pro-choice Democratic women than in any year since 1992. EMILY's List candidates ousted two Republican senators in nasty, expensive races and won the two most competitive governors races in the country. We added at least 11 new Democratic women to the U.S. House, and possibly as many as 13. EMILY's List candidates won dozens of downballot victories, helping bring the number of chambers under Democratic control to at least 60 and putting women in positions of power across the country.

I wanted to share some key highlights from the night with hopefully more to come:

EMILY's List Helps Elect Hagan and Shaheen -- two of the six Senate pick-ups.

• In the history of the U.S. Senate, only 22 Democratic women have ever served in that body. EMILY's List has helped elect 13 of them and this year added two more with the elections of Kay Hagan and Jeanne Shaheen. No Democratic woman had ever been elected to the U.S. Senate in her own right before EMILY's List began in 1985.
• Hagan and Shaheen are respectively the first Democratic women senators to represent their states.
• They are also only the 4th and 5th women to ever beat Republican Senate incumbents in their elections. The other three were also EMILY's List candidates -- McCaskill (MO), Cantwell (WA), and Stabenow (MI).

With four victories earlier this cycle in MA-05, MD-04, CA-37 and CA-12 and the victories on election night, we helped elect the largest new group of Democratic women to the U.S. House since 1992 -- "The Year of the Woman". These Democratic women took out three Republican incumbents and picked up five GOP seats overall. As of today, those victories include:

There are still two races outstanding -- Mary Jo Kilroy in OH-15 and Darcy Burner in WA-08. We are optimistic that once all the votes are counted, they will both emerge victorious.

EMILY's List Helps Elect the Second Largest Group of New Democratic Women to the House in History

• In Florida, Suzanne Kosmas defeated ethically-challenged incumbent Rep. Tom Feeney.
• In Illinois, Debbie Halvorson prevailed against wealthy self-funder Marty Ozinga, switching a Republican seat to a Democratic seat.
• In Colorado, Betsy Markey fought back against nasty personal attacks to defeat right-wing incumbent Rep. Marilyn Musgrave.

Of the six EMILY's List incumbents endorsed this cycle, every one of them was re-elected. In fact, every EMILY's List incumbent who ran for re-election this cycle won. The EMILY's List endorsed incumbents from the 2007-2008 cycle were:

Along with Kay Hagan's victory, North Carolina made history by electing Bev Perdue its first woman governor. The EMILY's List Political Opportunity Program also helped create victories for two other Democratic women running statewide in North Carolina: Janet Cowell, who is the first women elected as state treasurer, and Beth Wood, the first woman elected as state auditor.

• In Arizona, Ann Kirkpatrick won a strong race to defeat mining lobbyist Sydney Hay to take this seat over for Democrats.
• In Nevada, Dina Titus surged to a strong victory over Republican incumbent Rep. Jon Porter.
• In Maine, progressive champion Chellie Pingree won a tough primary and went on to defeat Republican Charlie Summers.
• In Ohio, Marcia Fudge has confirmed her place in the House to continue the tremendous work of the late Stephanie Tubbs Jones.
• Gabrielle Giffords (AZ-08)
• Melissa Bean (IL-08)
• Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01)

It has been 43 years since Democrats controlled the New York state Senate. The EMILY's List Political Opportunity Program has been working with the New York State Democratic Senate Campaign Committee for three election cycles to turn that around. Victories for EMILY's List POP candidates in the Nevada Senate, Ohio House and Wisconsin Assembly helped Democrats gain control in those bodies.

North Carolina's Year of the Woman

• Kirsten Gillibrand (NY-20)
• Carolyn Cheeks-Kilpatrick (MI-13)
• Chris Gregoire (WA-GOV)
• Sandra Kennedy, Corporation Commission, AZ
• Robin Carnahan, Secretary of State, MO
• Denise Juneau, Superintendent of Public Education, MT

EMILY's List Political Opportunity Program (POP) Helps Take Back the New York Senate, Nevada Senate, Ohio House and Wisconsin Senate.

Of the 177 wins, 64 were in open seats and 23 of our candidates were challengers. That makes 87 new women elected to state and local office this cycle!

So far this cycle (we still have a few races that are too close to call), POP helped 177 pro-choice Democratic women win their elections in 31 states including 10 statewide offices:

• Monica Lindeen, Auditor, MT
• Linda McCulloch, Secretary of State, MT
• Janet Cowell, Treasurer, NC
• Beth Wood, Auditor, NC
• Kate Brown, Secretary of State, OR