EMILYs List Response to Rep. Jason Lewis’ ‘Slut’ Statements

For Immediate Release

July 18, 2018

EMILYs List Response to Rep. Jason Lewis’ ‘Slut’ Statements

Washington, D.C. — A CNN review of Rep. Jason Lewis’ radio shows and previous comments revealed a slew of degrading statements about women. EMILYs List Vice President of Communications Christina Reynolds released the following statement in response:

“Time and again, Jason Lewis has shown us just how little he respects or understands women. In November, women — and all of our allies — have an opportunity to return the favor by sending him home and replacing him with Angie Craig, a qualified woman who will respect all of her constituents.”

BACKGROUND:

CNN: A GOP congressman once lamented not being able to call women 'sluts' anymore

“In one instance, while arguing that 'young single women' vote based on coverage of birth control pills, Lewis said those women were not human beings and were without brains.”

“Lewis repeatedly expressed disbelief that people could no longer refer to women as sluts.”

“…he called young female voters 'ignorant of the important issues in life' who needed to be educated.”

“Lewis on several more occasions described women voters as guided by emotion instead of reason and said they voted solely on the issue of free birth control…”

“Lewis argued that ‘young single women’ who voted based on coverage of birth control pills had ceased to be human beings…. ‘You're not, you're without a brain. You have no, you have no cognitive function whatsoever.’”

EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, has raised over $500 million to support pro-choice Democratic women candidates – making them one of the most successful political organizations ever. Our grassroots community of over five million members helps Democratic women wage competitive campaigns – and win. We recruit and train candidates, support strong campaigns, research the issues that impact women and families, and turn out women voters. Since our founding in 1985, we have helped elect 116 women to the House, 23 to the Senate, 12 governors, and over 800 to state and local office. Forty percent of the candidates EMILYs List has helped elect to Congress have been women of color. Since the 2016 election, thousands of women and counting have reached out to us about running for office. To harness this energy, EMILYs List has launched Run to Win, an unprecedented effort to get more women to run at the local, state, and national levels.