EMILYs List Endorses Cheri Beasley for U.S. Senate in North Carolina
For Immediate Release
May 6, 2021
EMILYs List Endorses Cheri Beasley for U.S. Senate in North Carolina
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, endorsed Cheri Beasley for U.S. Senate in North Carolina. Emily Cain, executive director of EMILYs List, released the following statement:
“EMILYs List is proud to endorse Cheri Beasley for U.S. Senate. Cheri is a devoted public servant and experienced leader who has dedicated her career to bettering the lives of North Carolinians. We know that as a U.S. Senator she will champion improved access to health care, quality public education, and the ability to find work that supports a family and retire with dignity.
“As the first Black woman to win a statewide election in North Carolina in 2008, and the first Black woman to serve as chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, Cheri has blazed trails and shattered glass ceilings throughout her entire career. It is only fitting that she is now running to be North Carolina’s first Black woman senator. Cheri has proven that she can win statewide in North Carolina, and we look forward to supporting her as she flips this seat from red to blue and expands the Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate.”
After graduating from college and law school, Cheri Beasley began her legal career as a public defender in Fayetteville, North Carolina. In 1999, she was appointed as a state district court judge and won elections for the position in 2002 and 2006. In 2008, Cheri was elected to the North Carolina Court of Appeals by a commanding 15-point margin, becoming the first Black woman to win a statewide election in North Carolina. In 2014, Cheri was elected associate justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court despite a Republican wave that flipped other Democratic-held seats throughout the state. In 2019, Cheri made history by becoming the first Black woman to serve as chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. If elected, Cheri would be North Carolina’s first Black woman U.S. senator, and only the third Black woman U.S. senator in history.
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, 157 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.
