August 17, 2015

Priorities USA and EMILY’s List ‘Madam President’ Campaign Announce Partnership to Mobilize Women Voters

Groups to raise and spend over $20 million to engage critical voting bloc

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Priorities USA Action and EMILY’s List’s Madam President project announced a new, joint partnership to educate and engage women voters on the stakes in the 2016 elections. The groups will aim to raise and spend over $20 million to mobilize key groups of women, particularly young women, in support of Hillary Clinton, who is running on an agenda that will expand economic opportunity for women and families.

Madam President is a project of WOMEN VOTE!, EMILY’s List independent expenditure arm. Priorities USA Action is a leading Democratic independent expenditure PAC best known for effectively defining the 2012 Republican nominee.

In 2012, women voters were the deciding factor in the reelection of President Obama, when he defeated Mitt Romney by 12 points among women. In 2016, women are poised to make an even greater impact, including millennial women whose population will, for the first time, outnumber women of the baby boomer generation.

“Women voters are the key to winning the 2016 elections, for Hillary Clinton and for Democrats up and down the ballot,” said Stephanie Schriock, President of EMILY’s List. “We are thrilled to be joining forces with Priorities to make sure every woman in this country understands that with a Republican in the White House, our rights, freedoms and opportunities will be on the chopping block.”

This election cycle, all 2016 Republican candidates for president have pledged to block access to healthcare, oppose equal pay and fair wages for women in the workplace, and have worked to restrict access to the ballot box.

“The entire Republican field is a case study in extremism, and we must fight back against their agenda that would marginalize opportunities for women of every race, age, and economic background,” Guy Cecil, Co-Chair of Priorities USA. “We are proud to stand with EMILY’s List in support of Hillary Clinton, and we are excited to work together to help elect our country’s first woman president.”

The groups will work to engage women voters through targeted paid media and other voter contact efforts in key battleground states throughout the 2016 election cycle.

Priorities USA Action
Priorities USA Action was founded in 2011 to educate and engage Americans to speak out against the outdated views of the far right that threaten our democracy and undermine the middle class. Despite being vastly outspent by Republican groups in 2012, Priorities played a critical role in reelecting President Obama with what Politico called “one of the sharpest and most effective attacks against Romney” and what Mother Jones described as “a relentless and brutally effective ad campaign.” Between now and Election Day, Priorities will work to help elect Hillary Clinton by sharing stories of everyday Americans and educating voters about the critical issues at stake in this election.


WOMEN VOTE!
WOMEN VOTE! is EMILY’s List’s independent expenditure arm which works to educate and mobilize women voters on behalf of pro-choice Democratic women candidates, which helps turnout voters for Democrats up and down the ballot. Launched in 1995, the EMILY's List WOMEN VOTE! project combines polling and research, sophisticated message testing, the latest innovations in data and technology as well as good old-fashioned voter contact to mobilize millions of women voters across the country.

In 2014, EMILY’s List had the largest WOMEN VOTE! program in the organization’s history spending $13.8 million in seven statewide races and in 11 states total. Despite a rough election for Democrats, WOMEN VOTE! was able to help EMILY’s List add Democratic women in the House, hold on to a key Senate seat, and double the number of Democratic women governors.