EMILYs List Announces Six Nominees for 2025 Gabrielle Giffords Rising Star Award
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, announced the six nominees for the 2025 Gabrielle Giffords Rising Star Award, an award that celebrates extraordinary women serving in state or local office. The nominees include Arizona state Sen. Minority Leader Priya Sundareshan, Georgia state Rep. Jasmine Clark, New Mexico state Sen. Cindy Nava, North Carolina state Rep. Lindsey Prather, Pennsylvania state Sen. Amanda Cappelletti, and Virginia state Del. Adele McClure. Each of these nominees represents the best and brightest in the next generation of leaders who are committed to fighting for their constituents against Republican attacks every day. EMILYs List President Jessica Mackler released the following statement:
“This year’s Gabrielle Giffords Rising Star Award nominees give me so much hope at a critical moment for this country — as Republicans are waging relentless attacks on our livelihoods, our fundamental rights and freedoms, and the very fabric of our democracy. We know that this fight to win back power and secure our country is the fight of our generation. And these six incredible Democratic pro-choice women entered into political leadership so they could step into that fight. Now, they are standing up for the people in their states and communities every day. I am thrilled to honor their groundbreaking work, but I know all they are accomplishing is just the beginning. My advice: keep an eye on these women.”
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 and 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 and Texas Judge Lina Hidalgo in 2021; former Georgia state Rep. Bee Nguyen in 2022; Florida House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell in 2023; and Michigan state Sen. Sarah Anthony in 2024.
The Gabrielle Giffords Rising Star Award winner will be chosen with community input. Online voting will open today, Monday March 17, and can be found here.
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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. Over nearly 40 years, EMILYs List has raised nearly $950 million to help 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 most impactful 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, 192 women to the House, 29 to the Senate, 20 governors, and over 1,600 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.
