EMILYs List Congratulates California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis on Her Reelection

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 9, 2022

EMILYs List Congratulates California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis on Her Reelection

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, celebrates Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis’ victory on her reelection. EMILYs List President Laphonza Butler released the following statement: 

“EMILYs List is thrilled to congratulate Eleni Kounalakis on her reelection as California’s lieutenant governor. She became the first woman to be elected California lieutenant governor in 2018 and has worked hard to expand gender equality and LGBTQ+ rights for Californians. She is a champion for reproductive freedom and we are proud to stand with her on this victorious occasion.” 

Eleni Kounalakis is the current lieutenant governor of California and the first woman elected to the position. Kounalakis has a long history of Democratic activism dating back to her work on the 1992 election in which California elected two women to the U.S. Senate and went blue. After the election, Kounalakis spent 18 years delivering homes to middle-class families, working her way up to President of her family business, AKT Development. In 2010, Kounalakis was appointed by President Barack Obama as the U.S. Ambassador to Hungary where she served through 2013. As lieutenant governor, she established a Transgender Advisory Council in order to create a forum to discuss issues impacting the transgender community in California. She and her husband, Dr. Markos Kounalakis, have two sons, Neo and Eon.

 
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 over $700 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 campaigns 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, 159 women to the House, 26 to the Senate, 16 governors, and nearly 1,400 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.