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Democratic Women Reach Historic Heights in Congress

EMILY's List Celebrates Election of the Largest Number of Women to Congress in History

From the first woman Speaker of the House to historic highs for Democratic women in Congress and state offices to surges in women voting that put Democrats on top in races across the country – EMILY's List members helped make this midterm election into the Year of Democratic Women.

In the U.S. House, victories by 50 Democratic women helped put Democrats in control and elevated Rep. Nancy Pelosi to her historic role as the first woman Speaker of the House. The eight new Democratic women elected to the U.S. House this week puts the number of Democratic women in the House at 50, the highest level ever ... and we're still counting.

Five races are yet to be decided that could increase the ranks of Democratic women in the House: FL-13, OH-02, OH-15, NM-01 and WA-08. EMILY's List members are also anticipating an additional victory in Louisiana, where State Representative Karen Carter advanced to the December 9th run-off against Rep. Jefferson in LA-02.

In the Senate, Democratic control was put solidly in the Democrat's grasp with the hard fought win of Claire McCaskill in Missouri. Her strong message for change and her common sense approach to problem-solving appealed to voters of all stripes. When the campaign committees were still waiting on the sidelines, EMILY's List was the first organization to get into to the senate primary and endorse Amy Klobuchar, who claimed a commanding victory in Minnesota. EMILY's List also worked hard to protect our incumbents and ensure victories by Senators Maria Cantwell and Debbie Stabenow. The re-election of all our incumbents and the addition of McCaskill and Klobuchar brings the number of women in the Senate to a new high of 16, the first gains for Democratic women in that body since 2000.

As you know, EMILY's List is the only organization outside of the campaign committees that makes a major investment in recruiting, training and funding candidates in order to change control of Congress. This cycle, EMILY's List invested nearly $19 million in recruiting, building and supporting strong Democratic campaigns to regain control of Congress and make Rep. Nancy Pelosi the first woman Speaker of the House. More than two-thirds of that investment was dedicated to winning back the House. EMILY's List members contributed more than $11 million to EMILY's List endorsed candidates and another $34 million to support EMILY's List political programs.