Wisconsin Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer 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 Wisconsin Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer is a nominee for the 2024 Gabrielle Giffords Rising Star Award. EMILYs List President Jessica Mackler released the following statement:  

“Wisconsin Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer has been a beacon of hope to the people of the state’s 66th Assembly District, leading the only chamber in the state with the power to maintain the governor’s veto with poise and passion. She has also been a champion for the LGBTQ+ community, authoring and sponsoring multiple bills to advance protections, defend civil rights, and stand up to discrimination. EMILYs List is thrilled to nominate this pro-choice champion for the Gabrielle Giffords Rising Star Award, and we know that she will continue to fight to make sure every Wisconsite has access to the reproductive health care they need to thrive.” 

Greta Neubauer is a high-achieving Wisconsin assemblywoman passionate about making Wisconsin a better place for everyone. A native of Wisconsin born and raised in Racine, she represents her hometown in the Wisconsin state Assembly and is the first openly queer and youngest legislative leader in Wisconsin since World War II. Before representing the 66th Assembly District, she organized for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign while still in high school and worked as a legislative aide for Cory Mason, now Racine’s mayor, after graduating from Middlebury College in 2015. Throughout her time in the legislature, Neubauer has focused on strengthening Wisconsin’s democracy, winning fair maps, and passing policy that will allow every Wisconsinite to thrive. She was unanimously elected by her colleagues to serve as the Democratic Minority Leader in December of 2021. Neubauer is working tirelessly to win the first Democratic Assembly majority in Wisconsin in well over a decade. She was first endorsed by EMILYs List in 2018.

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, U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley in 2015; former Colorado House Speaker Crisanta Duran in 2016; former Philadelphia City Councilwoman Helen Gym in 2017; Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx in 2018; California Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo in 2019; former Ohio House Minority Leader, U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes in 2020; Harris County, Texas Judge Lina Hidalgo in 2021; former Georgia state Rep. Bee Nguyen in 2022; and Florida House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell in 2023. 

The Gabrielle Giffords Rising Star Award winner will be chosen with community input. Online voting will open on Friday, March 15 and can be found here. 

Greta Neubauer is nominated alongside:

Laura Terech, Arizona state representative

Nabilah Islam Parkes, Georgia state senator

Sarah Anthony, Michigan state senator

Selena Torres, Nevada state assemblymember

La’Tasha D. Mayes, Pennsylvania state representative

Lashrecse Aird, Virginia state senator

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.