EMILY’s List: Where History Is Made

EMILY’s List is a political network that elects pro-choice Democratic women by raising money for their campaigns, helping them build effective campaigns and mobilizing women voters. Read below to learn more about how EMILY’s List makes history for pro-choice Democratic women candidates.

United States Senate

EMILY’s List has helped the only Democratic women who have been elected to the U.S. Senate in their own right in the history of the country.

* Barbara Ann Mikulski is the first Democratic woman elected to the U.S. Senate in her own right from Maryland (1986).
* Dianne Feinstein is the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from California (1992).
* Carol Moseley-Braun is the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Illinois (1992).
* Patty Murray is the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Washington (1992).
* Mary Landrieu is the first woman from Louisiana elected to a full term in the U.S. Senate (1996).
* Jean Carnahan is the first woman to serve in the U.S. Senate from Missouri (2000).
* Hillary Clinton is the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from New York (2000).
* Debbie Stabenow is the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Michigan (2000).
* Claire McCaskill is the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Missouri (2006).
* Amy Klobuchar is the first woman elected in her own right to the U.S. Senate from Minnesota (2006).

Governors

Voters know that government works well when women are in charge. Nine times we’ve helped elect Democratic women as governor.

* Ann Richards was the first woman governor of a large state (Texas, 1990).
* Barbara Roberts is the first woman governor of Oregon (1990).
* Jeanne Shaheen is the first Democratic woman governor of New Hampshire (1996).
* Ruth Ann Minner is the first woman governor of Delaware (2000).
* Jennifer Granholm is the first woman governor of Michigan (2002).

U.S. House of Representatives

When EMILY’s List started supporting House candidates — and Nancy Pelosi was first elected to Congress — there were only 12 Democratic women in the House. Today, there are 50 Democratic women in the House, who helped Nancy Pelosi become the first woman Speaker.

Here are just a few of the “firsts” for women in the House:

* Patsy Mink was the first woman elected to the U.S. House from Hawaii (1965 and 1990).
* Leslie Byrne is the first woman elected to the U.S. House from Virginia (1992).
* Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky is the first woman elected in her own right to the U.S. House from Pennsylvania (1992).
* Karan English is the first woman elected in her own right to the U.S. House from Arizona (1992).
* Blanche Lincoln is the first woman elected in her own right to represent Arkansas in the U.S. House (1996).
* Tammy Baldwin is the first woman elected to the U.S. House from Wisconsin (1998).
* Shelley Berkley is the first Democratic woman elected to represent Nevada in the U.S. House (1998).
* Stephanie Herseth is the first woman elected to the U.S. House from South Dakota (2004).
* The first sisters to serve together in the U.S. House are Reps. Linda and Loretta Sanchez of California.

Building a Representative Democracy

* Carol Moseley-Braun is the first (and only) African American woman elected to the U.S. Senate (1992).
* Lucille Roybal-Allard and Nydia Velazquez are the first Democratic Hispanic women elected to the U.S. House (1992).
* Barbara-Rose Collins was the first African American woman elected to the U.S. House from Michigan (1990).
* Cynthia McKinney is the first African American woman elected to the U.S. House from Georgia (1992).
* Stephanie Tubbs Jones is the first African American woman elected to the U.S. House from Ohio (1998).
* Gwen Moore is the first African American elected to the U.S. House from Wisconsin (2004).
* Tammy Baldwin the first openly gay woman elected to the U.S. House (Wisconsin, 1998).