EMILYs List Congratulates Gov. Laura Kelly on Advancing to the General Election

For Immediate Release
August 2, 2022 

EMILYs List Congratulates Gov. Laura Kelly on Advancing to the General Election in Kansas’ Gubernatorial Election

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, congratulates Gov. Laura Kelly on advancing to the general election to determine who will serve as Kansas’ next governor. EMILYs List President Laphonza Butler released the following statement:

“Gov. Kelly has been one of the most effective governors of this decade, fighting for reproductive freedom, fully funding Kansas public schools, and leading the state to record-breaking job creation and economic opportunity. Now is the time to reelect her so that she can continue the good work she is already doing, and so that anti-choice Republican extremists do not get to have their way with the state of Kansas. EMILYs List is excited to congratulate Gov. Kelly on her primary victory today, and we know that she has what it takes to triumph in November.”

Gov. Laura Kelly is an experienced leader and public servant who has dedicated her career to fighting for Kansas kids and families. Growing up in a military family, Kelly was taught the importance of serving her community at a young age. She served as the executive director of the Kansas Recreation and Park Association for over a decade, advocating for public parks across the state. Kelly was elected to the Kansas state Senate in 2004 and has been a leader on issues dealing with the state budget, public schools, early childhood programs, health care, and more. She was elected governor in 2018 and has been a champion for working families and growing the Kansas economy. Kelly lives with her husband in Topeka and has two grown daughters.

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