EMILY’s List Women Triumph In Primary Season: EMILY’s List Fully Endorsed Democratic Women Victorious in Two-Thirds of Competitive Primaries

WASHINGTON – Following last night’s wins by Lois Frankel in Florida and Elizabeth Esty in Connecticut, EMILY’s List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, is proud to announce victories in two-thirds of the competitive primaries among their fully endorsed candidates during the 2012 election cycle.

“We’ve been saying it for months – and we just keep proving it – 2012 is shaping up to be an historic year for Democratic women,” said EMILY’s List President Stephanie Schriock. “In primary after primary, voters have gone to the polls and said they want to send a Democratic woman to Congress to change the way Washington works.

“The EMILY’s List community has gained over a million members since the Republicans took control of the House in the Tea Party wave of 2010 – and we are thrilled to be backing an incredible number of fantastic candidates. The choice is going to be clear on Election Day – a Republican party obsessed with rolling back the clock for women on everything from birth control to equal pay, or a Democratic party led by strong, dynamic women who have the right priorities for America’s families. That’s why voters are going to go to the polls this November to re-elect President Obama and send him Democratic women to fight for a progressive agenda.”

Since Republicans took the House in 2010 and the number of women in Congress decreased for the first time in 30 years, Democratic women have been making up that ground. Starting with a run of victories in 2011 special elections, EMILY’s List-backed Democratic women erased the 2010 losses. But they didn’t stop there – success in recent primaries means we move into Election Day 2012 poised to increase the number of women in Congress.

During the 2012 election cycle, EMILY’s List has helped the following fully endorsed candidates win competitive primaries:

• Julia Brownley (CA-26)
• Cheri Bustos (IL-17)
• Lois Capps (CA-24)
• Tammy DUckworth (IL-08)
• Elizabeth Esty (CT-05) 
• Lois Frankel (FL-22)
• Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02) 
• Michelle Lujan Grisham (NM-01)
• Mazie Hirono (HI-SEN)
• Grace Meng (NY-06) 

In the 2009-2010 cycle, EMILY's List raised more than $38.5 million to support its mission of recruiting and supporting women candidates, helping them build strong campaigns, and mobilizing women voters to turn out and vote. With a community of more than 1,500,000 members across the country, EMILY's List is one of the largest political action committees in the nation. Since its founding in 1985, EMILY's List has worked to elect 87 pro-choice, Democratic women to the U.S. House, 16 to the U.S. Senate, nine governors, and hundreds of women to the state legislatures, state constitutional offices, and other key local offices. In the 2009-2010 cycle, EMILY's List had the largest number of members and donors in our 27 year history.EMILY’s List’s independent expenditure arm, WOMEN VOTE!, has had a near-perfect success rate, getting involved in the primary races for Julia Brownley (CA-26), Michelle Lujan Grisham (NM-01), Grace Meng (NY-06), Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02), Elizabeth Esty (CT-05), and Tarryl Clark (MN-08), all but one of whom went on to win their primary. WOMEN VOTE! is also active in AZ-09 on behalf of Kyrsten Sinema, whose primary is Aug. 28.Upcoming primaries include Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ-01), Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09), and Maggie Hassan (NH-GOV).