To:                   Interested Parties

From:              Stephanie Schriock, President of EMILY’s List
RE:                  MEMO: 2014 State of Play – One Year Out
Date:               November 11, 2013
 
With one year before Election Day, 2014 will be a landmark year for EMILY’s List women. Across the country, voters want more women leaders – the momentum from the historic 2012 cycle has continued well into 2013. And the success of our organization – now three million members strong – makes it clear that voters are excited about electing women. 
 
Today, EMILY’s List is poised to elect more women at all levels than ever before. Here is why:
 
1. More women are engaged in politics at all levels – and they want to elect women.
 
Since 2010, Walmart has held focus groups of voting moms who shop at Walmart at least once a month and have one or more children under 18 at home. For the first time in October 2013 focus groups, Walmart Moms made it clear that they want to give women leaders a shot in government.
 
It’s a monumental shift: women have long been frustrated with out of touch leaders, and now they’re ready to elect women who understand the challenges they and their families face.
 
According to the Walmart Moms report, “The lack of faith in Washington has encouraged moms to take things into their own hands. […] Instead of giving up or dropping out of the system, most moms express resolve to take action – supporting each other when government fails to help, educating themselves to make better voting choices, participating in local elections and primaries, getting involved in their communities. They are less likely to support a particular political party, are willing to ‘throw them all out,’ and are looking for candidates — especially women — who can lead with logic, common sense and compassion rather than ego.”  [Walmart Moms Research, 10/2013]
 
2. Trends in 2013 elections show that EMILY’s List women can win.
 
Municipal success this year has made 2013 the “Year of the Woman Mayor.” EMILY’s List helped elect eight women mayors in major and mid-sized cities across the country in 2013, critical to building the pipeline to be tomorrow’s governors, senators, and presidents.
 
Women executive leaders inspire other women to run for executive leadership seats, and are a critical line of defense from the extreme Republican agenda to restrict the rights and opportunities for women and working families at the local level.
 
In 2013, every EMILY’s List-supported incumbent was reelected, and our women have led crowded fields in highly competitive special elections for House seats in Illinois and Massachusetts.
 
Our 2014 candidates are strong leaders with extreme, out-of-touch opponents whose agendas prove to energize our community and voters:
·         In Texas, voters are excited to elect Wendy Davis to continue fighting for women and families as the next governor.
·         In Wisconsin, voters are energized to help Mary Burke to take down Scott Walker and his backward agenda.  
·         In Pennsylvania, voters are looking forward to electing Allyson Schwartz and putting an end to Tom Corbett’s extreme agenda.
And Democrats’ two biggest opportunities to take over U.S. Senate seats rest with EMILY’s List women:
·         In Georgia, Michelle Nunn to be the next commonsense leader to represent the state in the U.S. Senate.
·         In Kentucky, voters are looking to Alison Lundergan Grimes to end the Mitch McConnell era of gridlock in Washington.
We saw it in Virginia, where African American, Latina, and single women – who traditionally don’t turn out in off year elections – came out in 2012 numbers, and Ken Cuccinelli and his anti-woman agenda lost by a 42-point margin among unmarried women.
 
The bottom line: if you don’t respect women, don’t expect them to give you a seat at the table.
 
3. Organizational strength of EMILY’s List is at a record high, and continues to grow.
 
This week, we were proud to announce that the EMILY’s List community has reached three million members, up from around 500,000 members in 2010. Our growth is the result of growing enthusiasm for women candidates and to make sure that women have a voice at all levels of government.
 
Our community has what it takes to elect record numbers of pro-choice Democratic women across the board in 2014 and beyond. From training and supporting candidates for local offices through our Political Opportunity Program, to raising millions to support our state and federal candidates, to building a base to elect our first woman president through our Madam President campaign, EMILY’s List will continue to be central to the goal of electing more women.
 
BACKGROUND
·         Walmart Moms Focus Group [10/2013]
·         EMILY’s List Celebrates “Year of the Woman Mayor” [EMILY’s List, 11/6/13]
·         Women’s votes help Terry McAuliffe eke out a win [MSNBC, 11/5/13]
 
EMILY’s List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, has raised over $350 million to support pro-choice Democratic women candidates – making it one of the most successful political action committees in the country. Throughout its 28 year history, the organization has recruited and trained over 8,000 women to run, worked to elect 101 pro-choice Democratic women to the House, 19 to the Senate, 10 governors, and over five hundred women to state and local office. Since its founding in 1985, EMILY’s List helped elect 97% of the Democratic women of color in Congress, including every single Latina, African American, and Asian American Democratic woman currently serving. And during the 2011-2012 cycle, EMILY’s List had the largest number of members and donors in its history and raised a record-breaking $52 million dollars. With the help of this growing community — now three million members strong — EMILY’s List helped elect an historic number of candidates in 2012 including 19 new women to the House, six Senate incumbents, three new Senators, and 186 state and local officials.
 
Press Contact:
Marcy Stech