EMILYs List Statement Congratulating Liz Shuler on Becoming the First Woman to Lead the AFL-CIO

For Immediate Release 

August 20, 2021

EMILY's List Statement Congratulating Liz Shuler on Becoming the First Woman President to Lead the AFL-CIO

Today, the AFL-CIO Executive Council announced that Liz Shuler will serve as the first woman president in the labor federation’s history. Shuler will serve 56 unions and 12.5 million members. The Executive Council also elected United Steelworkers International Vice President Fred Redmond to succeed her as secretary-treasurer, the first African American to hold the number two office. It will be the most diverse team of officers ever to lead the AFL-CIO. EMILYs List’s Executive Director Emily Cain released the following statement on the historic announcement:

“EMILYs List is thrilled that longtime trade unionist and advocate Liz Shuler has been selected to serve as the first woman president of the AFL-CIO. Liz grew up in a union household and worked as an organizer at the IBEW Local 125 at Portland General Electric. Having worked with Liz, I know she believes ‘in her bones’ in the labor movement and her record of uplifting and advocating for workers’ rights proves it. With Liz at the helm, we know that the AFL-CIO will continue its important work of fighting inequality, protecting workers, and advocating on behalf of women and people of color who have historically been marginalized.”

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, 158 women to the House, 26 to the Senate, 16 governors, and more than 1,300 women to state and local office. More than 40 percent 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.