WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Laphonza Butler, president of EMILY’s List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, released the following statement recognizing Domestic Violence Awareness Month:
“EMILY’s List is proud to stand with survivors of domestic violence, our partner advocates in the space, and political offices that work to protect victims. Domestic violence takes a serious toll on the mental, physical, social, and economic health of our communities. We are proud of our candidates who push for legislation to combat domestic violence at all levels of government. On the federal level, Reps. Katie Porter (CA-45), a domestic violence survivor herself, and Katherine Clark (MA-05) led a group of House members to urge for funding to help survivors early on in the pandemic. Also, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18) reintroduced the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act (VAWA) this year. On a state level, Tameika Isaac Devine, the EMILY’s List candidate for mayor of Columbia, SC, began her career prosecuting domestic violence cases; , and state Sen. Jen Jordan (GA-SD06) has introduced legislation that would prohibit those convicted of misdemeanor crimes of family violence from possessing a gun.
“In a given year, more than 10 million people of all genders are physically abused by a partner. Since the onset of COVID-19, the country has seen a dangerous rise in domestic violence. With renewed attacks on access to abortion and reproductive health care, Republicans have the gall to continue to stall the renewal of the Violence Against Women Act. Plain and simple, it’s inexcusable behavior that they should be held accountable for at the ballot box in 2022. Our mission at EMILY’s List is to help elect Democratic pro-choice women who will work to safeguard our communities from domestic and sexual violence.”
EMILY’s 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, 158 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 EMILY’s 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.
Original source can be found here.
