EMILYs List Statement on Michigan AG Dana Nessel and SOS Jocelyn Benson on Securing the Democratic
For Immediate Release
August 21, 2022
EMILYs List Statement on Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson on Securing the Democratic Party Nomination
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, congratulates Attorney General Dana Nessel and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson on securing the Democratic nomination in their reelection bids. EMILYs List President Laphonza Butler released the following statement:
“EMILYs List is thrilled to support Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson as they secure our party’s nomination and advance to the general election. As Republicans attempt to enforce a draconian pre-Roe abortion ban, we are proud of their leadership and advocacy protecting Michiganders’ rights. Benson is protecting electoral integrity and voting rights at a time when abortion is on the ballot, while Nessel is using the power of her office to ensure that people seeking abortions are not criminalized by the state for accessing essential health care. We’re proud to stand with both women as they fight for the fundamental freedoms of the people of Michigan.”
Dana Nessel graduated from the University of Michigan and Wayne State University Law School. As a prosecutor, Nessel worked to protect vulnerable children and to hold police accountable. As a civil rights attorney, Nessel helped secure marriage equality in Michigan. She founded the Fair Michigan Foundation and created the Fair Michigan Justice Project, which investigates and prosecutes hate crimes committed against the LGBTQ+ community. She was elected Michigan’s 54th attorney general in 2018 and she lives in Southeast Michigan with her wife and twin sons.
Jocelyn Benson is an expert on civil rights law, education law, and election law. She graduated from Harvard Law School and served as the dean of Wayne State University Law School. Previously, she was an associate professor and associate director of Wayne Law’s Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights. Prior to her election, Benson served as the CEO of the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality and co-founded the Military Spouses of Michigan. She was elected Michigan’s 43rd secretary of state in 2018, becoming the first Democratic woman to hold the office.
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.
