Statement on the Acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse of All Charges

For Immediate Release
November 19, 2021

Statement on the Acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse of All Charges

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, a Wisconsin jury found Kyle Rittenhouse not guilty in the fatal shooting of two men during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin last year. The almost all-white jury cleared Rittenhouse, 18, on all five charges related to his actions during protests over the shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake, by a white Kenosha police officer. Laphonza Butler, president of EMILY's List, the nation's largest resource for women in politics, commented on Rittenhouse's acquittal of all charges:

“Today's verdict shows us that we have a long way to go in this country to fix our justice system and end the systemic racism that puts people of color–and even those who support their rights–at risk. Today, we think about the families of Jacob Blake, Anthony Huber and Joseph Rosenbaum, as well as Gaige Grosskreutz, and we double down on our work to elect the women who will change these laws and this system.”

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.