EMILYs List Congratulates Deidre DeJear on Advancing to the General Election in Iowa

For Immediate Release
June 7, 2022 

EMILYs List Congratulates Deidre DeJear on Advancing to the General Election in Iowa’s Gubernatorial Election

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, congratulates Deidre DeJear on advancing to the general election to determine who will serve as Iowa’s next governor. EMILYs List President Laphonza Butler released the following statement:

“During these challenging times, when governors play a crucial role in protecting reproductive freedom in their states, Iowans deserve a leader who will fight for their right to access health care safely and stand up against the onslaught of restrictive and extreme abortion bans currently being introduced across the country. DeJear is that leader, and she will not only fight to defend the right to choose, but also support small businesses, improve the education system, and protect voting rights. EMILYs List is proud of the work DeJear has already done for the people of Iowa, and we look forward to supporting her in the general election.”

Deidre DeJear was born in Jackson, Mississippi and moved to Oklahoma as a child with her family. DeJear moved to Iowa to attend Drake University, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in journalism. While still a student, DeJear co-founded the nonprofit Back to School Iowa to support youth to continue their education. DeJear built a business in Iowa nearly 15 years ago to support the growing need for small businesses to access affordable marketing tools, empowering over 600 businesses across Iowa. If elected governor, she would be the first Black governor of Iowa and the first Black woman governor in the country.

EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, has raised over $700 million to elect Democratic pro-choice women candidates. With a grassroots community of over five million members, EMILY's List helps Democratic women win competitive campaigns – across the country and up and down the ballot – by recruiting and training candidates, supporting and helping build strong campaigns, researching the issues that impact women and families, running nearly $50 million in independent expenditures in the last cycle alone, and turning out women voters and voters of color to the polls. Since our founding in 1985, we have helped elect the country's first woman as vice president, 159 women to the House, 26 to the Senate, 16 governors, and more than 1,300 women to state and local office. More than 40% of the candidates EMILYs List has helped elect to Congress have been women of color. After the 2016 election, more than 60,000 women reached out to EMILY's List about running for office laying the groundwork for the next decade of candidates for local, state, and national offices. In our effort to elect more women in offices across the country, we have created our Run to Win program, expanded our training program, including a Training Center online, and trained thousands of women.