In the past few posts, I’ve had the opportunity to promote some highly qualified women running for the Senate and the House. But as we all know, women candidates don’t get to Congress by themselves. As Rep. Lucy McBath explains, "When I first decided to run for this office, I had never run for office before. I needed to go someplace where I knew that I would have the support, nurturing, resources and information to begin this great adventure."
Luckily for Lucy and so many of the women who are stepping up to leadership, a number of national, state and local organizations are working to improve their chance of getting elected. There are still many barriers for women seeking political leadership, and gratefully, many more organizations being formed and initiatives put into action to make it more likely that women who take the risks to run — to woman up — will also win. Here is some information on some of these groups and the important work they do!
Boot Camp for Candidates
EMERGE, She the People, Higher Heights for America, the WIN List and Supermajority are just a few of the organizations that support progressive women candidates through recruitment and training. These groups are the backbone of many campaigns. They provide essential services from candidacy announcement to Election Day, including recruiting women to run, training women for campaigning and office, and providing connections to mentors and other women leaders.
EMERGE recruits, trains, and provides a powerful network to Democratic women candidates. As Rep. Deb Haaland puts it, "Emerge gave me the nuts and bolts of every facet of running a campaign. They taught me how to do public speaking, how to fundraise, how to canvass, all of these tools that you learn about how a campaign runs." Since 2002, EMERGE has trained over 4,000 women for office, and as of March 2020, over 700 of its alumni have been elected.
She the People brings together a national network of women of color — voters, organizers, movement builders, elected leaders — to transform democracy. It played a major part in the selection of Kamala Harris as the 2020 Democratic VP pick and is currently fundraising to implement “the largest mobilization effort of women of color in American history.”
Black women constitute the largest and most politically active demographic of women of color voters. Higher Heights for America works to harness their power by expanding Black women's voting participation and elected representation. One great resource on HHA's website is the Chisholm 50 Sisters to Watch List — a roundup of 50 Black women whose elected leadership will help shape and advance progressive policies across the country. Today, Black women are 4.3% of all state legislators compared to 2.3% in 1999, and they make up nearly 15% of all women state legislators.
In my home state of Georgia, the WIN List recruits, trains, and supports Democratic women for state office. WIN List was started by one woman, Melita Easters, and in the past 20 years, it has helped elect and re-elect more than 70 endorsed women. Georgia now has the highest percentage of Democratic women in any Southern legislature, the highest number of Black women legislators for any state, and we’re ranked 20th nationally for the percentage of women in the legislature, rising from 31st when the WIN List was founded. It not only stands as an effective local model for other states but also as an inspirational example of what one woman can achieve by starting her own PAC.
Supermajority is a new home for women's activism, training and mobilizing a community of all ages, races, and backgrounds to fight for gender equality together. Founders Ai-jen Poo, Alicia Garza, and Cecile Richards remind us that women are the majority in the United States — 51 percent of the population! — and the majority of volunteers, donors and voters. Yet women still don’t have legislative and political power. Join up and get involved in Supermajority's women-to-women voter engagement program by following it on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to stay connected on social media.
These organizations and others, including Get Her Elected and VoteRunLead, are building a much needed pipeline for progressive women leaders in politics. And I also want to mention four nonpartisan groups that support women of all ideologies: CAWP, IGNITE, She Should Run and League of Women Voters. All of these orgs are offering virtual meet-ups, webinars and conversations with candidates on their websites in the weeks leading up to the election. I urge you to visit their sites and get involved!
Like my own initiative, Connected Women Leaders, these organizations understand that creating a network of past, present, and future women leaders is critical to reaching true representation for all of us. As Aimee Allison says, "I founded She the People from the conviction that we need to lift each other up, we need to create spaces where we can talk to each other and unite in the common cause of justice."
Funding Her Campaign
Once a woman leader has been recruited and trained, the next hurdle she must overcome is funding her campaign. Organizations like Fund Her, Emily’s List and the Victory Fund are dedicated to financially backing women candidates. Although the organizations differ in the criteria candidates must meet for endorsement, they align in their goal to place progressive women in office.
Fund Her provides the financial support to ensure progressive, accomplished women are well-positioned to win at the state level. So far, Fund Her has helped 17 women get elected, and in 2018, the same year the organization began, the state of California saw the largest single-year increase in women leaders in politics. Fund Her has already endorsed 43 women in state and local races across the country and has a state flip rate of 100% in Virginia!
Emily’s List works for and funds the campaigns of pro-choice Democratic women to become leaders in legislative bodies and executive seats both nationally and locally. This year alone Emily’s List is endorsing over 600 women candidates for office and have helped over 1,200 women get elected into national and local office.
Founded in 1985 by Ellen R. Malcolm, Emily's List is a catalyst for change: “…Every day. Every election victory. We are helping to put women into office who have the power to put progressive change to work…”.
The LGBTQ Victory Fund is working to increase the number of openly LGBTQ+ officials at all levels of government. Hundreds of LGBTQ+ candidates won their races with the support of Victory Fund. They are working to elect hundreds more.
Funding is an immense obstacle for many women leaders to overcome. Fund Her says, “Studies show that women lack access to traditional funding sources and have a harder time raising money to mount campaigns. But when women are elected, they pass 50% more laws than their male colleagues.” These organizations give candidates the boost they need to get elected and get to work.
Get Out the Vote
While almost 70% of Americans believe that women in leadership positions would improve the quality of life in the United States, 57% of women say that our country is not ready to vote for and elect women leaders. This gap between what people think and how people act is where organizations like Rock the Vote, Black Voters Matter Fund, and Fair Count step in.
Rock the Vote pioneers innovative ways to make democratic participation more accessible and defends young people’s right to vote.
Black Voters Matter Fund increases power in minority communities by promoting effective voting, to enable people to be more involved in decision making and determining their own destiny. Earlier this year, BVMF held a Virtual Bus Tour with civil rights advocates, policy experts, and health care professionals to engage Black voters in 13 states, and it's working on a major voter outreach initiative to educate, engage and mobilize Black voters ahead of the November election in key states.
Fair Count partners with Hard to Count (HTC) communities to achieve a fair and accurate count of all people in Georgia and the nation in the 2020 Census, and to strengthen the pathways to greater civic participation.
Stacey Abrams, former Georgia congresswoman and founder of Fair Count, says, “Women are not only more than half of the voting population, they are an essential part of how leadership happens.” As our home state of Georgia experiences voter suppression like never before, organizations that encourage voters to know and exercise their rights as American citizens are more important than ever.
“Voter suppression begins by believing that power is more important than people,” Stacey says. These voting organizations remind us that we the people hold the power, through our vote.
As my Woman Up campaign continues, I encourage you to think about how you as a reader can Woman Up and support these organizations and the candidates they endorse.
I can think of no better call to action and conclusion to this post than what Ai-Jen Poo, executive director of Supermajority, says about the future of politics:
“Women are marching, running for office, donating to, and advocating for causes and campaigns, and voting in record numbers. We can be the most powerful force in America — if we do the work together.”
Onward!
— Pat
