EMILYs List Endorses Darden Rice for Mayor of St. Petersburg, FL

For Immediate Release

June 30, 2021

EMILYs List Endorses Darden Rice for Mayor of St. Petersburg, FL

Today, EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, endorsed Darden Rice in the race for mayor of St. Petersburg, Florida. Emily Cain, executive director of EMILYs List, released the following statement:

“EMILYs List is thrilled to endorse Darden Rice for mayor of St. Petersburg. A dedicated public servant with experience as a St. Petersburg City Council member, Darden has worked tirelessly on issues like environmental protection, economic development, and affordable housing. We are confident that as mayor, Darden will use her experience and passion to build a cleaner, healthier, and more prosperous St. Petersburg.”

Darden Rice was first elected to the St. Petersburg City Council in 2013, where she has since championed a number of landmark initiatives, including a universal curbside recycling program and a wage theft prevention ordinance. In 2016, Rice was honored with the “Outstanding Green Elected Official” award from the U.S. Green Building Council for her achievements in environmental progress. She previously worked in conservation for groups like the Sierra Club and on health care reform for Progress Florida. She was also president of the St. Petersburg area chapter of the League of Women Voters. If elected, Rice would be the first openly gay person and second woman to serve as St. Petersburg mayor. 

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.