EMILYs List Endorses Jamie McLeod-Skinner for Congress

For Immediate Release
August 9, 2022 

EMILYs List Endorses Jamie McLeod-Skinner for Congress

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, endorsed Jamie McLeod-Skinner for election to represent Oregon’s 5th Congressional District. EMILYs List President Laphonza Butler released the following statement:
 
“Jamie McLeod-Skinner knows the challenges that everyday Oregonians face when trying to meet their basic needs during a time when inflation is high, education and health care are less affordable than ever, and radical extremists are threatening to take away our civil rights. Her experience working for justice for her community makes her the best candidate for Oregon’s 5th Congressional District, and EMILYs List is thrilled to be able to stand by her campaign. We know that McLeod-Skinner has what it takes to fight for our freedoms, no matter what.”
 
Jamie McLeod-Skinner is a small business owner and emergency response coordinator running for Congress to expand opportunity for Oregonians. Raised in her early childhood by a single mom who worked three jobs at times to put food on their table, McLeod-Skinner knows how tough it is to make ends meet. She went on to pay her own way through college and law school, and dedicated her career to rebuilding communities and protecting our natural resources. She holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, a master’s in regional planning, and a law degree with a focus on natural resources law. McLeod-Skinner began her public service managing the repairs of schools and hospitals in Bosnia and Kosovo before returning to the U.S., where she has managed refugee resettlement programs and worked in city and regional planning. In 2004, she became the first out lesbian to be elected to the Santa Clara City Council. In 2021, McLeod-Skinner led wildfire recovery efforts as Talent’s interim city manager, bringing in millions of dollars in aid and emergency housing. She serves as an elected board member of the Jefferson County Education Service District, and Gov. Kate Brown appointed her to serve on the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board. McLeod-Skinner is a stepmom and lives with her wife in Central Oregon with their dogs, goats, and chickens.

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.