Together with family, friends and staff, we watched Dr. Judy Chu being sworn in as the Congressional representative for California District 32. Congratulations to Representative Judy Chu! And congratulations California – we are fortunate to have such an experienced, dedicated elected official representing our state in Congress, especially during these difficult times.
Sitting with Rep. Chu’s [...]

While running his campaign, President Barack Obama promised that, if elected, his administration would champion the rights of women, especially in the area of equality. True to his pledge, he has already begun working on this vital issue, a mere 53 days into his Presidency. As the Founder of CALIFORNIA LIST, a group that fosters [...]

Congratulations to Congresswoman Hilda Solis who was confirmed as Secretary of Labor this afternoon!
Secretary Hilda Solis is one of the reasons that I founded the CALIFORNIA LIST. I was working for EMILY’s List and met then California State Senator Hilda Solis, who was running for Congress. She was challenging longtime Congressman Marty Martinez, who she [...]

“My concern is immigration—I think I’ve been shut out of jobs as a restaurant chef on the (Las Vegas) Strip by illegals because the hotels can pay them less.”
“My worry is healthcare—I’ve got a 10 year old autistic son and no one will pay for the coverage I think he needs to help him function.”
“My [...]

The spotlight on the long and historic Presidential election made our electoral season here in California electric. Days before the election candidates for Congress, the Senate and state legislatures were battling until the polls closed.
We are proud of our Democratic women candidates who ran phenomenal and competitive campaigns in really difficult races and WON! While [...]

There are three days left until we go to the polls drawing to a close an electrifying election season. Five of our State Senate and Assembly candidates are in tossup races and need your help to push them over the finish line:
Hannah-Beth Jackson (Senate District 19) is running against faux green energy entrepreneur Tony Strickland, [...]

With all the national attention elected women on the federal level are receiving, it gives the impression that there is a plethora of women elected officials. It is true that there are more women serving in political office, but not in unusually high numbers. In reality, the number of women elected on the state level [...]

Why are we all in shock that a woman whose current residence is the Governor’s mansion in Juneau would be chosen as the GOP vice presidential nominee?  Perhaps it is because she is so cold to our view of democracy and women’s rights that her ideals could have a terrifying effect here in California. She is the [...]

As the Olympic games closed yesterday, the number of women athletes winning gold medals was significant. It reminded me of a recent trip I made to see athletes that were not yet at the level of these girls representing America on the world stage, but no less inspiring: the Girls Volleyball Festival in Reno, Nevada [...]

Term limits continue to keep women legislators trotting one step forward and two steps back in the battle for equal representation. Facing the worst budget deficit in history, legislators returned to Sacramento yesterday.  It is times like these, when experience and institutional knowledge play an important role in negotiations to make sure that the budget [...]

It seems the Bush administration has developed an exit strategy — unfortunately the target is right here on our home soil.  The still-in-office Bush administration is trying to kill two birds with one stone, and those birds are named Health Care and Reproductive Rights.

A progressive Democrat winning an election in a traditionally conservative district is no easy task.  Apparently no one gave that memo to Maryland’s newly elected Congressional representative Donna Edwards.  Edwards was sworn into Congress on June 17th making her the first African American Congresswoman in Maryland’s history.  Edwards took the February primary victory over 8 [...]

The oft-repeated joke on the Senate floor whenever a Democrat-sponsored a “women’s bill” comes up is that Republicans would be voting for the measure if only they had a woman in their caucus. Well, joke no more.With her primary win, Republican Assemblywoman Mimi Walters is likely headed for the state Senate, where she will find herself part of a growing caucus in the Legislature’s upper house.After tallying up the results of the June 3 primary, there could be as many as 14 women in the state Senate in the state Senate in the 2009-10 session

Governor Releases May Budget Revisions.
Parks Win, but Education Still Takes Huge Hit.

With the April 15 income tax filing deadline past and the state now having a better sense of actual revenues for 2008-09, on May 14 the Governor released his revised state budget proposal based on a worsened projected shortfall of $17.2 billion, up $7.5 billion from January.

While the nation’s political attention has been focused on the Democratic presidential primary election, our Democratic women candidates here in California ran competitive campaigns in really difficult races AND won! However, yesterday’s primary was a bittersweet victory.

The pendulum is swinging away from the great strides we made in the early 90’s to even the playing field in the California legislature. Our dreams of equal representation for women are slowly declining. The trend seems to be that we lose two to three elected women legislators every election cycle. Despite yesterday’s victories, we could potentially lose more women legislators in November. Considering less than 28% of the California state seats are held by women, we must remain vigilant to maintain gender representation.

Currently there are 32 elected women in our California State Senate – that’s about 20% Last week I met with Assemblywoman Patty Berg, former chair of the Women’s Caucus to discuss the upcoming primary election. It is sad to report, but our predictions were grim. Pundits and pollsters are predicting that we could [...]

Clint Reilly has a post today that gets it right in a post today, The Bay Congresswomen Power Bloc. He writes,
It is a remarkable fact that while women make up 64 percent of the Bay Area’s Congressional delegation, only 16 percent of the total members of the House of Representatives are female. Even within [...]

Senate District 19 is the KEY State Senate race this year. This is the district that is most likely to flip from Republican to Democratic, delivering a majority large enough to actually pass budgets over Republican obstructionism. Hannah-Beth Jackson is the Democratic candidate for State Senate District 19.

Last year as I watched Debra Bowen being sworn in as Secretary of State I couldn’t help but feel this was a momentous achievement in history. As Secretary of State, Debra Bowen would be heading the governmental body in California responsible for overseeing voter rights and the accountability of the State’s electoral process. [...]

While attending UC Berkeley, I ran the ASUC student body elections and that is where I first met Nancy Skinner who was a candidate for Academic Affairs. Nancy was a young woman who had already recognized her future in the political arena. Nancy won that election to become Vice President of the ASUC [...]