EMILYs List Endorses Lauren McLean for Reelection as Mayor of Boise, Idaho
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, endorsed Lauren McLean for reelection as mayor of Boise, Idaho, as part of the Madam Mayor program. EMILYs List President Laphonza Butler released the following statement:
“Mayor Lauren McLean is a groundbreaker whose passion and dedication to reproductive freedom has made her a critical voice in Idaho, even as the state’s anti-choice Republican extremists have pushed through one of the country’s most radical and dangerous abortion bans. McLean has used her position as mayor to not only protect patients and families, but to focus on making Boise a city that works for everyone. EMILYs List is proud to support her campaign for reelection, and we look forward to seeing all that she will accomplish for Boise in her next term.”
Lauren McLean is Boise, Idaho’s 56th mayor and the first woman elected mayor in the city’s history. She has lived in Boise for over 20 years and first became involved in public service through an effort to preserve Boise’s beautiful foothills. Before becoming mayor, McClean served on the Boise City Council from 2011 to 2019, where she ensured the passage of Boise’s 100% Clean Energy Plan. As mayor, McLean has focused on Boise’s environmental sustainability as well as housing, living wage jobs, and transportation. She has two children with her husband and high school sweetheart, Scott.
In an effort to expand the work of electing and supporting local women leaders serving in executive office, EMILYs List launched Madam Mayor in the summer of 2023, a program to highlight and support women running for local executive office across the country. This program was created acknowledging that women, and particularly women of color, face more misinformation and disinformation when running for office, which hurts their candidacy and has a chilling effect on recruitment. At a time when local executives are facing more challenges than ever before, these attacks have proven especially prevalent for women running in these positions, and the Madam Mayor program will serve as a critical touchpoint for these Democratic pro-choice champions to receive the resources and support they need to serve their communities.
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 $850 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 operations 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, 175 women to the House, 26 to the Senate, 20 governors, and over 1,500 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.
