Arizona Women Celebrate Speaker Pelosi!

January 4, 2007

Women Leaders Celebrate Speaker Pelosi Shattering the “Marble Ceiling” and Making History Being the First Woman Elected to Lead the U.S. House of Representatives and to be Speaker of the House

(Phoenix, AZ) –Emerge Arizona and Arizona List are celebrating the historic event of the swearing in of the first woman Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi. Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi becomes the 52nd Speaker of the house – a position that is second in line for the Presidency. Gabrielle Giffords is also being sworn into office today making her the third woman Arizona has sent to Congress; Governor Napolitano is being inaugurated as well – she received more votes in November than any other governor in Arizona ever.

In addition, an unprecedented number of women Democrats are poised to take office on Monday. Many are graduates of Arizona Emerge, an organization dedicated to training Democratic women to run for office; and many were endorsed candidates of Arizona List, a political committee modeled on EMILY’s List that works to elect pro-choice women Democrats to state and local office in Arizona.

Rebekah Friend, Emerge Arizona Co-Chair and the first woman President and Executive Director of the Arizona AFL-CIO stated, “Emerge Arizona is celebrating more than just Speaker Pelosi, we are also celebrating the re-election of Governor Janet Napolitano, Congresswoman elect Gabrielle Giffords. In Arizona we have added 6 Democratic women to the state legislature, in both the house and the Senate and several of our Alumni have been elected to key positions in the Arizona Democratic Party, is has been a historic year for women at the Nations Capitol in addition to State Capitol. When women are elected, we all win!”

Pamela Sutherland, Executive Director of Arizona List stated, “2006 was a banner year for everyone in Arizona. Not only was our fantastic Governor reelected, but we have a number of pro-choice women Democrats coming to Phoenix to help bring a more balanced perspective to Arizona governance. Arizona has risen again to the top in terms of women in government, which helps all of the state. Fourteen of our fifteen endorsed candidates won in their general election races, including Amanda Aguirre and Lynne Pancrazi in Yuma, Lena Saradnik in Tucson, and Jackie Thrasher in Glendale!”

“The Emerge program is having its intended impact: our graduates are running smart campaigns, using their Emerge networks and winning their races. For more women to shatter the marble ceiling, we must continue our work to recruit and train and inspire women who are the next generation of talent,” stated Dana Kennedy, Executive Director of Emerge Arizona.

Emerge Arizona is a political leadership training program for Democratic women in Arizona. The Emerge mission is to identify, educate and inspire Democratic women who want to pursue elective office at the local and state level in Arizona. Emerge makes a long-term investment in these future leaders by honing their political skills; expanding their knowledge of local issues; and connecting them with mentors. Emerge was started in San Francisco, CA by a small committed group of women who were concerned how term limits showed a decline in women running for office and wanted to reverse this trend. This same group of women had the forward sight to launch Emerge America, a national organization based in San Francisco that identifies and develops community-based affiliate programs designed to recruit, educate and inspire talented and diverse Democratic women who want to pursue elective office at the local, state and national levels. Speaker Pelosi serves on the Advisory Board. She knows the importance of mentoring other women because she was mentored by Sala Burton for her first Congressional election. She has served as a major financial contributor to Emerge, donating $10,000 from her PAC to the organization. Emerge Advisory Board members also include Senator Barbara Boxer, Governor Janet Napolitano, Ann Lewis, Susie Tompkins Buell and Naomi Wolff. Major financial supporters include Senator Hillary Clinton, Susie Tompkins Buell and Barbara Lee.
Arizona List is a political committee founded in 2004, and dedicated to electing pro-choice women Democrats to state and local office in Arizona. Since then, Arizona List has grown to over 1200 members statewide making it the largest Democratic organization in Arizona outside of the Democratic Party. This year, Arizona List-endorsed candidates won in overwhelming numbers: 14 of their 15 endorsed candidates won their general election races. Representative-elect Lena Saradnik was elected to the Arizona House from predominately Republican District 26 on Tucson's northwest side, and is glowing in her compliments of Arizona List.