EMILYs List Celebrates AAPI Heritage Month and Calls for Greater Representation of AAPI Women in EL

For Immediate Release
May 1, 2021

EMILYs List Celebrates AAPI Heritage Month and Calls for Greater Representation of AAPI Women in Elected Office and Senior Leadership 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Emily Cain, executive director of EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, released the following statement recognizing Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month:

“At this critical moment and always, EMILYs List stands with the AAPI community, whose leadership and fortitude in the face of an exponential rise in targeted racial hate crimes and violence, continues to embody resilience. We celebrate AAPI women leaders like Vice President Kamala Harris, who made history as the first Asian American and Black woman elected to the second highest office in the nation, and who are paving the way for more women in the AAPI community to run for office and seek leadership positions. Still, there is significant progress to be made as only 3% of the House of Representatives and 2% of the Senate are represented by Asian American members of Congress.”

“In the midst of these threats, Rep. Grace Meng (NY-06) and Sen. Mazie Hirono (HI) introduced the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act and Senator Tammy Duckworth (IL) called upon the Department of Justice to prioritize combating violent acts that address the spike in anti-Asian American hate and bring these perpetrators to justice. As AAPI women work collectively at every level of political office to advocate for the safety of their community, it is a powerful reminder of the progress that can be made when our government reflects those it serves.”

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, 157 women to the House, 26 to the Senate, 16 governors, and more than 1,300 women to state and local office. More than 40 percent 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.