EMILYs List Endorses Gina Ortiz Jones in Texas’ 23rd District

For Immediate Release
May 22, 2019

EMILYs List Endorses Gina Ortiz Jones in Texas’ 23rd District

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, endorsed Gina Ortiz Jones for Congress in Texas’ 23rd District. Stephanie Schriock, president of EMILYs List, released the following statement:

“EMILYs List is proud to stand with Iraq War veteran Gina Ortiz Jones as she continues her fight for Texas’ working families. Gina is a first-generation American who has dedicated her life to defending the values of hard work and equal opportunity. From a young age, Gina witnessed firsthand how public policy can impact hardworking families like hers and she's now running for Congress to protect the same opportunities she was afforded. 

Gina spent her career — first as an Air Force intelligence officer and later as an economic and national security expert — defending our country and fighting to expand opportunities. Instead of representing his constituents, Congressman Hurd has spent his time in Congress prioritizing the GOP’s extreme agenda: voting time and again to strip away health care and women's rights. It’s high time that Texans have a new voice in Congress, and we’re excited to help Gina flip this seat from red to blue.”

Gina Ortiz Jones is a dedicated public servant, daughter of a single mother, and a first-generation American running for Congress to expand access to affordable, high-quality health care and economic opportunity for hardworking Texans. She ran for office for the first time in 2018 and came within 1,000 votes of flipping Texas’ 23rd District. She is challenging vulnerable incumbent Congressman Will Hurd, who has routinely prioritized his party’s extreme agenda over the interests of the working families he was elected to serve. In the 23rd District, Hillary Clinton bested Donald Trump by more than three points in 2016, and we have the opportunity to help Gina flip this seat and strengthen the House majority. Gina would be the first Asian American, first openly LGBTQ person, and first Iraq War veteran woman to represent Texas in Congress.

EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, has raised over $600 million to elect pro-choice Democratic 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 strong campaigns, researching the issues that impact women and families, and turning out women voters to the polls. Since our founding in 1985, we have helped elect 150 women to the House, 26 to the Senate, 16 governors, and nearly 1,100 women to state and local office. Nearly 40 percent of the candidates EMILYs List has helped elect to Congress have been women of color. During the historic 2017-2018 cycle, EMILYs List raised a record-breaking $110 million and launched a record independent expenditure campaign. We helped elect 34 new women to the House, including 24 red-to-blue victories; enough seats to have delivered the U.S. House majority alone. Since the 2016 election, more than 46,000 women have 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.