EMILYs List Statement on Voting Rights

For Immediate Release
January 18, 2022

EMILYs List Statement on Voting Rights

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, as the Senate debates vital legislation on voting rights, EMILYs List President Laphonza Butler released the following statement:

“EMILYs List was founded to elect Democratic pro-choice women. We know that representation matters, as does the critical work those women do to protect abortion rights everywhere from state houses to city halls to the halls of Congress. Our mission can only be realized when everyone has the freedom to have their voice heard safely and freely at the ballot box. Ongoing Republican efforts at voter suppression don’t just undermine our mission, but the very democratic ideals that should be at the center of our government. Protecting the right to vote is fundamental to our work and to our electoral system. We are grateful for all of our endorsed candidates who continue to fight hard to protect these rights.

“EMILYs List is laser-focused on the 2022 elections–holding the House and Senate, electing governors and state legislators. Understanding that access to the ballot box and confidence in election results are critical to our work and our country, we have joined with many others to impress upon Sen. Sinema the importance of the pending voting rights legislation in the Senate. So far those concerns have not been addressed.
 
“We have not endorsed or contributed to Sen. Sinema since her election in 2018. Right now, Sen. Sinema’s decision to reject the voices of allies, partners and constituents who believe the importance of voting rights outweighs that of an arcane process means she will find herself standing alone in the next election. 
 
“Electing Democratic pro-choice women is not possible without free and fair elections. Protecting the right to choose is not possible without access to the ballot box. So, we want to make it clear: if Sen. Sinema can not support a path forward for the passage of this legislation, we believe she undermines the foundations of our democracy, her own path to victory and also the mission of EMILYs List, and we will be unable to endorse her moving forward.
 
“We are at an inflection point in the fight for voting rights and reproductive freedom, and Democrats must stand together to protect those critical rights. EMILYs List is proud to stand with Democratic pro-choice women doing that work, today and every day.”

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.