Press Release
NARAL Pro-Choice California Congratulates Reproductive Freedom Champions on their Victories in the California State Legislature
For Immediate Release: Monday, December 7, 2020
Contact: [email protected]
California — Today, as the Senate and Assembly swear in the 2021-2022 class, NARAL Pro-Choice California celebrates the victory of 41 NARAL-endorsed candidates, including eight new members, to the state legislature. Their collective victories protect the reproductive freedom majorities in the state Assembly and Senate.
As these members were sworn in, NARAL Pro-Choice California Director Shannon Olivieri Hovis released the following statement:
“NARAL Pro-Choice California and our nearly 300,000 members across the state congratulate these candidates on their significant victories. Now, hundreds of thousands more Californians will finally have elected officials committed to upholding our fundamental freedoms, including the constitutional right to abortion. These results solidify California’s commitment to continue to be a beacon for protecting and expanding reproductive freedom.”
Among these victories, reproductive freedom fighters Dave Min (SD-37) and Josh Newman (SD-29) defeated two anti-choice, anti-freedom Republicans, moving the state Senate further in line with the majority of Californians. Former Assemblywoman and former Vice Chair of the Women’s Legislative Caucus Monique Limon (SD-19) will succeed retiring Senator Jackson in the state Senate, carrying on her legacy on women’s rights and gender equality. Reproductive freedom champion Susan Eggman (SD-05) will strengthen the fight for freedom and justice in the San Joaquin Valley and Josh Becker (SD-13) and John Laird (SD-17) will represent the 84% of Californians who support reproductive freedom on the peninsula and much of the central coast.
In the Assembly, Alex Lee (AD-25) made history by becoming the first openly bisexual state lawmaker, and Chris Ward (AD-78), Lisa Calderon (AD-57), and Steve Bennett (AD-37) will champion issues that affect women and families.
NARAL reached over 3 million voters in key states, including California, through its historic 2020 electoral program. NARAL’s investment in California included holding more than 40 voter contact events activating more than 300 volunteers who made over 10,000 calls, sent nearly 20,000 postcards, and 300,000 texts in support of NARAL-endorsed candidates up and down the ballot.
NARAL Pro-Choice California’s seven action councils located in Orange County, Los Angeles, San Diego, the Inland Empire, Glendale, Antelope Valley, and Bay Area played a major role in NARAL’s organizing activities, including hosting phonebanks and textbanks. NARAL partnered with Courage California, Black Women for Wellness Action Project, and California League of Conservation Voters to lead the We Woke We Vote voter education series.
Key to NARAL’s strategy was reaching, persuading, and mobilizing key voter segments including low-propensity voters and soft-partisan persuadable voters who are motivated by Trump and Republicans’ commitment to ending Roe v. Wade, criminalizing abortion, and punishing women.
NARAL Pro-Choice California PrivacyPAC is the only statewide, non-partisan, pro-choice political action committee leading the effort to elect state champions for reproductive freedom in California. In 2020, PrivacyPac endorsed 31 incumbent reproductive freedom champions as well as 18 state legislative candidates who were running to unseat anti-choice incumbents or seize open seats in the general election—15 of whom are women, people of color, and/or LGBTQ. PrivacyPAC contributed close to six figures to state legislative campaigns this cycle through direct and in-kind contributions.
Read more about NARAL’s endorsed candidates here.
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For over 50 years, NARAL Pro-Choice America and its network of state affiliates and chapters have fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom—including access to abortion, contraception, and paid family leave—for every body. NARAL is powered by its more than 2.5 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 7 in 10 Americans who believe every person should have the freedom to make the best decision for themselves about if, when, and how to raise a family.