EMILYs List Invests More Than $850,000 in North Carolina General Down-Ballot Races
For Immediate Release
October 21, 2020
EMILYs List Invests More Than $850,000 in Effort to Flip the North Carolina General Assembly and Elect More Women to Statewide Office
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today with just two weeks until Election Day, EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, announced that it has invested a record $867,000 in the fight to flip the North Carolina General Assembly from red to blue and support six women in their bids for statewide constitutional offices. This is EMILYs List’s largest financial investment in North Carolina’s state legislative races and is part of an ongoing effort to flip legislative chambers by increasing the number of pro-choice Democratic women serving across the country.
“Health care, education, and reproductive freedom are on the ballot in North Carolina, and we know that our 34 endorsed candidates running up and down the ticket have what it takes to win their races and turn North Carolina blue,” said Stephanie Schriock, president of EMILYs List. “For too long, Republicans in the General Assembly have relied on shameful, undemocratic tactics, egregious partisan gerrymandering, and baseless lies to advance their unpopular agenda. With early voting in full swing and so much at stake for women and families, we are confident that our historic investment will make the difference in the final push toward Election Day and help our women flip both chambers. Once elected, we have no doubt they will hold Republicans accountable, expand Medicaid for 500,000 North Carolinians, and draw fair maps when redistricting begins in 2021.”
EMILYs List has endorsed Yvonne Lewis Holley for lieutenant governor, Jenna Wadsworth for commissioner of agriculture, Jessica Holmes for commissioner of labor, Jen Mangrum for state superintendent of public instruction, Elaine Marshall for secretary of state, and Beth Wood for auditor.
Democrats in North Carolina need to flip five seats in the Senate and six seats in the House to gain the majority. This cycle EMILYs List has endorsed 28 pro-choice Democratic women for the General Assembly: Ernestine Bazemore (SD-03), Donna Lake (SD-07), Sarah Crawford (SD-18), Natalie Murdock (SD-20), Helen Probst Mills (SD-25), Terri LeGrand (SD-31), DeAndrea Salvador (SD-39), Natasha Marcus (SD-41), Julie Mayfield (SD-49), Emily Nicholson (HD-01), Cindy Deporter (HD-02), Virginia Cox-Daugherty (HD-12), Marcia Morgan (HD-19), Linda Cooper-Suggs (HD-24), Vernetta Alston (HD-29), Rosa Gill (HD-33), Julie von Haefen (HD-36), Sydney Batch (HD-37), Kimberly Hardy (HD-43), Frances Jackson (HD-45), Verla Insko (HD-56), Nicole Quick (HD-59), Evelyn Terry (HD-71), Aimy Steele (HD-82), Gail Young (HD-83), Christy Clark (HD-98), Becky Carney (HD-102), and Rachel Hunt (HD-103).
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 60,000 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.
