Flagstaff Mayor Coral Evans Nominated for EMILYs List’s Gabrielle Giffords Rising Star Award
April 10, 2017
Flagstaff Mayor Coral Evans Nominated for EMILYs List’s Gabrielle Giffords Rising Star Award
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, announced that Mayor of Flagstaff, Arizona Coral Evans is a 2017 nominee for their Gabrielle Giffords Rising Star Award.
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 Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams in 2014, Boston City Councilwoman Ayanna Pressley in 2015, and Colorado House Speaker Crisanta Duran in 2016.
“Coral is a dedicated public servant and a tireless advocate for working families,” said Stephanie Schriock, president of EMILYs List. “As mayor, Coral has hit the ground running as she works to make the city of Flagstaff more inclusive for all residents and focuses on education and economic development. Her career is filled with trailblazing moments and the EMILYs List community is thrilled to nominate her for the Gabrielle Giffords Rising Star Award.”
In 2008, Coral Evans made history by becoming the first woman of color elected to Flagstaff’s city council. In 2016, she broke another barrier by becoming the first person of color elected as mayor in Flagstaff and the first African American woman elected as mayor in Arizona. Coral also works as the executive director of a nonprofit serving the historically Hispanic neighborhood of Sunnyside. There she founded a small business incubator which primarily serves women seeking to start their businesses. Coral is widely known as a fierce and vocal advocate for social justice.
The Gabrielle Giffords Rising Star Award winner will be chosen with community input.
Coral Evans is nominated alongside:
- Teresa Benitez-Thompson, Nevada Assembly Majority Leader
- Nicole Galloway, Missouri State Auditor
- Lorena González, Seattle City Councilmember
- Helen Gym, Philadelphia Councilwoman
- Jennifer McClellan, Virginia State Senator
EMILY’s List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, has raised over $500 million to support pro-choice Democratic women candidates – making them one of the most successful political organizations ever. Our grassroots community of over five million members helps Democratic women wage competitive campaigns – and win. We recruit and train candidates, support strong campaigns, research the issues that impact women and families, and turn out women voters. Since our founding in 1985, we have trained nearly 10,000 women to run and helped elect 116 women to the House, 23 to the Senate, 12 governors, and over 800 to state and local office. Forty percent of the candidates EMILY’s List has helped elect to Congress have been women of color – including every single Latina, African American, and Asian American Democratic congresswoman currently serving.
