Kathy Hochul

1. Three women awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

The polls are open now for the special election in New York's 26th district, and a national spotlight is on the outcome, for good reason: with polling showing EMILY's List candidate Kathy Hochul in the lead, the GOP is shaken by a Democratic woman whose platform includes protecting Medicare from those who'd prefer to dismantle it. On this exciting day, we wanted to share these great photos of Kathy from the campaign trail.

We've been working hard today to elect more Democratic women -- and a look at what our EL women on the Hill did today reminds us why!

It seems like such a simple concept of fairness: equal pay for equal work. And yet, even in 2011, women are still fighting to earn the same amount as their male counterparts for the same work. On average, a woman earns 77 cents to every man’s dollar, and it gets even worse for women of color – black women earn 62 cents for every white man’s dollar, and Latina women earn 53 cents.

Kathy Hochul’s spectacular win in last May’s special election was truly one for the books: a Republican congressman resigned in disgrace in a seemingly safe district, but Kathy grabbed the seat in an upset that reinvigorated Democrats and stunned the GOP. Perhaps someone else might have rested on her laurels after such an accomplishment, but Kathy Hochul did no such thing.

The power of the EMILY's List community can be measured in numerous ways. It can be seen in the legislation our women fight for in Congress. It's in our members who make phone calls and contributions to help further our candidate's races. And, it's most certainly in the extensive network of political staffers and young campaign workers that are touched by the EMILY's List program.