• Press Release

EMILYs List Endorses Rachel Payne for Congress in California’s 48th District

February 21, 2018

EMILYs List Endorses Rachel Payne for Congress in California’s 48th District

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today EMILYs List, the nation's largest resource for women in politics, endorsed Rachel Payne for Congress in California’s 48th Congressional District. Stephanie Schriock, president of EMILYs List, released the following statement:

“Rachel Payne is a hardworking leader whose experience and leadership in the technology industry means that she knows how to create a new American economy that works for middle-class families. As the first member of her family to go to college, Rachel worked several part-time jobs, pursued scholarship opportunities, and took out loans to pay her way through school. Her determination led to a career in Silicon Valley, an MBA from Stanford, and ultimately she become a leader at Google.org, a charitable arm of Google. While at Google.org, Rachel used her experience and passion for bettering people’s lives to spearhead policy and infrastructure improvements that benefit poor and rural communities around the world.”

“In contrast, 'Putin's favorite Congressman' Dana Rohrabacher is more likely to be recruited as a Russian spy than stand up for Southern California families. Not to mention his disastrous record siding with Paul Ryan's health care plan that would have cost more than 2.5 million Californians their health insurance. EMILY's List is proud to support Rachel Payne as she works to flip this critical seat and bring her experience and expertise to Congress.”

Last year, EMILYs List placed Congressman Dana Rohrabacher “On Notice” as one of its top targets for 2018. Rachel is challenging vulnerable Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, a dangerous extremist who has been called “Putin's favorite Congressman” and works to advance an agenda that hurts the California working families he was elected to represent. Our path to taking back the House runs straight through this district where Hillary Clinton narrowly outperformed Donald Trump in 2016. 

EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, has raised over $500 million to support pro-choice Democratic women candidates – making them one of the most successful political organizations ever. Our grassroots community of over five million members helps Democratic women wage competitive campaigns – and win. We recruit and train candidates, support strong campaigns, research the issues that impact women and families, and turn out women voters. Since our founding in 1985, we have helped elect 116 women to the House, 23 to the Senate, 12 governors, and over 800 to state and local office. Forty percent of the candidates EMILYs List has helped elect to Congress have been women of color. Since the 2016 election, thousands of women and counting have reached out to us about running for office. To harness this energy, EMILYs List has launched Run to Win, an unprecedented effort to get more women to run at the local, state, and national levels.