EMILYs List Endorses Two Women Leaders for Election in Minnesota

For Immediate Release

November 19, 2021

EMILYs List Endorses Two Women Leaders for Election in Minnesota 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, endorsed Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and State Auditor Julie Blaha in their reelection campaigns. Laphonza Butler, president of EMILYs List, released the following statement:

“Lt. Gov. Flanagan and State Auditor Blaha have proven to be tireless champions for the people of Minnesota and EMILYs List is thrilled to continue supporting them. With these two women in leadership, the state has taken great strides to increase transparency and accountability, protect workers’ rights, and improve the lives of Minnesota’s families. We know that progress in Minnesota hinges upon reelecting these two leaders and EMILYs List is proud to stand with them as they run for reelection.”

Peggy Flanagan is a St. Louis Park, MN native and graduate of St. Louis Park public schools. She attended the University of Minnesota and went on to serve on the Minneapolis Board of Education from 2005 to 2009. She later worked at Wellstone Action and the Children’s Defense Fund — Minnesota. She was first elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2015 and later helped form the People of Color and Indigenous Caucus. She was elected as Minnesota’s 50th lieutenant governor in 2018. Flanagan is an enrolled member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe and is only the second Indigenous woman in the nation elected to Executive Office, and the only one currently holding Executive Office. 

Julie Blaha was first elected as Minnesota’s state auditor in 2018. She previously worked as a math teacher and labor leader. As the chief financial officer of the Minnesota AFL-CIO, Blaha analyzed budgets and resource allocation. She also worked to pass the historic, bipartisan pension bill as a member of the Public Employee Pension Coalition. As president of Anoka-Hennepin Education Minnesota, Blaha advanced anti-bullying legislation for LBGTQ+ students and ensured schools had adequate funding.

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.