California State Rep. Sabrina Cervantes Nominated for EMILYs List’s Gabrielle Giffords Rising Star Award

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, announced that California state Rep. Sabrina Cervantes is a nominee for the 10th annual Gabrielle Giffords Rising Star Award. EMILYs List President Laphonza Butler released the following statement: 

“From democracy to reproductive health care, LGBTQ+ civil rights to environmental protection, Sabrina Cervantes has been an advocate and a champion for the people of California. She has been such a dedicated and effective legislator that 39 of her bills have been signed into law; bills that advance progress and make a demonstrable impact on the lives of Californians. Cervantes is a role model and the embodiment of what the Gabrielle Giffords Rising Star Award means, and EMILYs List is thrilled that she is one of this year’s nominees.”

In 2016, Assemblymember Sabrina Cervantes became the first Latina millennial elected to California’s Assembly, currently representing California’s 58th Assembly District. Throughout her elected service, 39 of her bills have been made law, including expanded maternal health care access, protections for sexual assault victims, and non-discrimination policies for foster parenting based upon sexual and gender orientation. Prior to the Assembly, she worked in nonprofits and advocacy, also directing the California Voter Registration Project to increase voter participation. Cervantes was first endorsed by EMILYs List in 2016.

Named in honor of the dedicated and courageous Gabrielle Giffords, the Rising Star Award celebrates an extraordinary woman serving in state or local office. The award honors a woman who demonstrates the sort of commitment to community, dedication to women and families, and determination and civility that have been the highlights of former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ career, in and out of office. Previous Rising Star Award recipients include former Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams in 2014, former Boston City Councilwoman Ayanna Pressley in 2015, former Colorado House Speaker Crisanta Duran in 2016, Philadelphia City Councilwoman Helen Gym in 2017, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx in 2018, and California Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo in 2019; former Ohio House Minority Leader Emilia Sykes in 2020; Harris County, Texas Judge Lina Hidalgo in 2021; and former Georgia Rep. Bee Nguyen in 2022. 

The Gabrielle Giffords Rising Star Award winner will be chosen with community input. Online voting can be found here. 

Sabrina Cervantes is nominated alongside:

Shea Backus, Nevada State Representative
Joanna McClinton, Pennsylvania Speaker of the House
Danica Roem, Virginia State Delegate
Fentrice Driskell, Florida State Representative
Michelle Au, Georgia State Representative

EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, works to elect Democratic pro-choice women up and down the ballot and across the country with a goal of fighting for our rights and our communities. Our work is centered around a fundamental vision: Run. Win. Change the World. EMILYs List has raised $850 million in service to that vision and has helped Democratic women win competitive elections by recruiting and training candidates, supporting and helping build strong campaigns, researching the issues that impact women and families, running one of the largest independent expenditure operations for Democrats, and turning out women voters to the polls. Since our founding in 1985, we have helped elect the country’s first woman as vice president, 175 women to the House, 26 to the Senate, 20 governors, and over 1,500 women to state and local office. More than 40% of the candidates EMILYs List has helped elect to Congress have been women of color. Visit www.emilyslist.org for more information.