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EMILY's List

Motto	Ignite Change
Formation	1985; 34 years ago (1985)[1]
Founder	Ellen Malcolm
Purpose	To elect pro-choice Democratic women to political office
Headquarters	Washington, D.C., U.S.
Membership	3 million[2]
President	Stephanie Schriock
Budget	$44,878,362 (2014)[3]
Revenue	$44,206,357(2014)[3]
Website	www.emilyslist.org

EMILY's List is an American political action committee (PAC) that aims to help elect pro-choice Democratic female candidates to office. It was founded by Ellen Malcolm in 1985.^[4] According to the Washington Examiner, EMILY's List is "the nation's most influential pro-choice political action committee."^[5]

The group's name is an acronym for "Early Money Is Like Yeast", Malcolm commenting that "it makes the dough rise".^[4] The saying is a reference to a convention of political fundraising: that receiving lots of donations early in a race is helpful in attracting subsequent donors.

Emily's List bundles contributions to the campaigns of pro-choice Democratic women running in targeted races.^[6][7]

From 1985 through 2008, EMILY's List had raised and spent $240 million for political candidates.^[1] EMILY's List spent $27.4 million in 2010, $34 million in 2012, and $44.9 million in 2014.^[3] The organization was on track to raise $60 million for the 2016 election cycle, much of it earmarked for Hillary Clinton, whose presidential bid EMILY's List had endorsed.^[8][9]

History and mission

Ellen Malcolm attending an EMILY's List event.

EMILY's List was founded in 1985, when 25 women met in the home of Ellen Malcolm. Founding members included Barbara Boxer, Ann Richards, Anne Wexler, and Donna Shalala.^[7] In 1986, early financial support from EMILY's List helped elect Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, the first female Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate in her own right (not appointed or filling a seat of a deceased husband).^[1][10]

The group's mission is to cultivate a donor network to raise money for pro-choice female Democratic candidates. To become an official EMILY's List member, an individual must pay $100 to join EMILY's List, and agree to donate a minimum of $100 each to two U.S. Senate, U.S. House, or gubernatorial candidates. Members make their donations directly to EMILY's List, which bundles the checks together and forwards them to candidates.^[11]

In her book When Women Win: EMILY's List and the Rise of Women in American Politics, Ellen Malcolm, the founder of the organization, stated that "creating progressive policies and promoting them can be incredibly valuable. But those policies will never be implemented unless enough politicians are elected who support them."^[12] They focused specifically on pro-choice women because they felt that "women couldn't be equal until they had control over their bodies."^[13]

They chose to focus on raising early money for women because women were not getting money from the Democratic party and thus were not winning races even if they were qualified,^[14] and they felt that early money could help convince people that their campaigns were credible and would help them raise more money later on.^[15]

For the 2006 election cycle, EMILY's List raised about $46 million for candidates and the group was listed as the biggest PAC in the nation by Political Money Line.^[16] EMILY's List endorsed 31 candidates in 2006, eight of whom were victorious.^[7]

In 2008, EMILY's List endorsed 22 U.S. House candidates, two U.S. Senate candidates, and three gubernatorial contenders.^[7] The PAC helped elect two new female senators, Kay Hagan of North Carolina and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, and supported the gubernatorial election of Bev Perdue of North Carolina, the re-election of Gov. Christine Gregoire of Washington, and the successful elections of twelve new women to the United States House of Representatives.^[10]

EMILY's List criteria for picking candidates include staff recommendations, viability, "demographics and history of the district, analysis of opponents or potential opponents, analysis of candidate's education, political experience, etc., demonstrated success at fund-raising, poll data to demonstrate name recognition and grass roots support."^[15]

Staff

Stephanie Schriock took over as President of EMILY's List in 2010. Amy Dacey was the executive director of EMILY's List from 2010 through 2013.^[17]

The organization's board of directors includes Ellen Malcolm, Stephanie Schriock, Joanne Howes, Ranny Cooper, Diana Bell, Mary Beth Cahill, Judith-Ann Corrente, Shefali Razdan Duggal, Ted Gavin, Rebecca Haile, Nikki Heidepriem, Judith Lichtman, Debra L. Ness, and Laura Ricketts.^[18]

Programs

The Political Opportunity Program (POP) was established in 2001 to encourage pro-choice Democratic women to run for state and local office. POP targets its resources toward pro-choice Democratic women running for state legislatures, state constitutional offices, and local offices.^[19]

Women Vote!

In 1995, EMILY's List began a program called Women Vote!^[20] in order to promote a higher voter turnout among women Women Vote! is Emily's List's independent expenditure arm which communicates directly with voters.^[7]

Madam President

In 2013, EMILY's List announced its Madam President campaign, saying "There is a mandate for women's leadership in this country. But we have yet to break through the final glass ceiling and put a woman at the top of the Democratic ticket and into the Presidency."^[21] Madam President now houses the former social media presences of Ready for Hillary PAC which did grassroots organizing in preparation for Hillary Clinton's presidential candidacy.^[22]

Criticism

EMILY's List has received criticism from progressive groups and Democratic Congressional candidates, who say that the group is on the "wrong side of the political divide" by supporting ostensibly pro-choice female candidates, regardless of how conservative they are on economic issues, and sometimes endorsing female candidates who are less supportive of reproductive rights than a male opponent. Criticism has also been raised at EMILY's List for not endorsing pro-choice female candidates in primary elections. They would like to see EMILY's List expand its definition of "women's issues" to include economic issues like a higher minimum wage and expanded Social Security. Others have said that the group simply needs to focus its resources better, staying out of races where there is already an incumbent progressive Democrat and focus on other races instead.^[23]

Democrat Marcy Kaptur criticized EMILY's List for being too narrow in focus by emphasizing abortion rights over other progressive issues, such as the minimum wage, that also affect women.^[7]

EMILY'S List in the past has received some criticism from how much money they are accepting and where that money is going to as being a Political Action Committee or PAC. In Nick Hoffman's article EMILY's List v. FEC^[24] he discusses EMILY's List as a non-profit that has had trouble with the Federal Election Commission or FEC. Hoffman accuses EMILY's List of arguing with the FEC over how much money should be allowed to be given to campaigns. EMILY's List has been criticized for pushing the allowance of no limit on how much money can be donated to campaigns.^[24]

EMILY's List has also had criticism over exactly how much influence they have had in past elections. Rebecca J. Hannagan et al., article "Does an EMILY's List Endorsement Predict Electoral Success or Does EMILY Pick the Winners?"^[25] conducted research as to how much influence does EMILY's List have in a campaign. The research was set up to show exactly whether or not an endorsement got a candidate elected, did not get a candidate elected, or nothing happened. The research showed that the endorsement helped those who were mostly likely not to be endorsed, hurt candidates that people did not know whether or not they were going to be endorsed by EMILY's List, and did nothing for those who were expected to be endorsed in the first place. The article also analyzed the women's Political Action Committee that EMILY's List or "EList" has been an ally to the democratic party helping more and more democratic party candidates becoming the "grand dame" of Women's PACs. ^[26]

Endorsements

Endorsed candidates

EMILY's List provides trainings, recruits women to run, and endorses and funds female political candidates. EMILY's List is listed as an “important source of candidate support,”^[27] in a 2010 article in the Harvard International Review.

Candidates endorsed by EMILY's List include:

Presidential

During the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries, when NARAL endorsed Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton, EMILY's List was strongly critical. EMILY's List President Ellen Malcolm said, “I think it is tremendously disrespectful to Sen. Clinton - who held up the nomination of a FDA commissioner in order to force approval of Plan B and who spoke so eloquently during the Supreme Court nomination about the importance of protecting Roe vs. Wade - to not give her the courtesy to finish the final three weeks of the primary process. It certainly must be disconcerting for elected leaders who stand up for reproductive rights and expect the choice community will stand with them.”^[33]

After the conclusion of the Democratic presidential primary, EMILY's List moved their support to Barack Obama and was vocal in their opposition to the McCain/Palin ticket.^[34]

On April 12, 2015, EMILY's List endorsed Hillary Clinton for president. The endorsement came within hours of Clinton's announcement that she had formed an exploratory committee to run for president.^[35][7] EMILY's List bundled $855,518 for Clinton, making the group one of the five largest donors to the campaign.^[7]

EMILY's List also endorsed Hillary Clinton in the General election against Donald Trump.^[8]

2012

In 2012, 80% of the candidates endorsed by EMILY's List in the general election won a seat.^[36]

2014

In the 2014 election cycle, EMILY's List endorsed 24 U.S. House candidates, six U.S. Senate candidates, and six gubernatorial candidates. Of these 40 candidates endorsed by EMILY's List, 42.5% won.^[37]

2018

In the 2018 election, EMILY's List endorsed 8 women in gubernatorial races, 12 for U.S. Senate, and 64 candidates for the House of Representatives.^[38]

Similar groups

Similar groups have formed along the same lines as EMILY's List, with some slight variations. The Wish List supports pro-choice Republican women. In 1994, Joan Kirner created a similar organization in Australia by the name EMILY's List Australia.

On the other side of the abortion debate, the Susan B. Anthony List, a pro-life PAC, supports pro-life women and is seen as the pro-life counterpart to EMILY's List.^[39]

Maggie's List is a United States federal political action committee founded in Florida in 2010 to "raise awareness and funds to increase the number of conservative women elected to federal public office."^[40][41]

See also

• EMILY's List Australia


• Maggie's List


• Roe v. Wade


• Susan B. Anthony List


• United States pro-choice movement

References

External links

• EMILY's List website


• PAC recipients list