Press Release Nevada
Press Release
NARAL Pro-Choice America Celebrates Senator Mark Kelly’s Victory in Arizona’s U.S. Senate Race
For Immediate Release: Saturday, November 12, 2022
Contact: [email protected]
NARAL Pro-Choice America Celebrates Senator Mark Kelly’s Victory in Arizona’s U.S. Senate Race
Phoenix — Yesterday/today, Arizona voters reelected NARAL-endorsed candidate Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) to the U.S. Senate. Sen. Kelly’s victory over anti-choice, anti-freedom Republican candidate Blake Masters marks a huge win for reproductive freedom.
In response to Sen. Kelly’s victory, NARAL Pro-Choice America President Mini Timmaraju released the following statement:
“NARAL Pro-Choice America and our 75,000 members in Arizona congratulate Senator Mark Kelly on his reelection and are grateful for his leadership as we fight back for reproductive freedom. If this race has made one thing clear, it’s that anti-choice extremists do not represent the values of the 9 in 10 Arizonans who support the freedom to decide and deserve a leader who will fight for their fundamental freedoms.”
NARAL Pro-Choice America Southwest Regional Director Caroline Mello Roberson said:
“During his time in the U.S. Senate, Senator Mark Kelly has fought for reproductive freedom time and again. NARAL is thankful to have Sen. Kelly with us in the fight for our fundamental rights. We look forward to continuing our work together to protect and expand reproductive freedom in the U.S. Senate.”
During his time in the Senate, Sen. Kelly has been a leader in the fight for reproductive freedom, earning a 100% on NARAL’s Congressional Record on Reproductive Freedom. Sen. Kelly is a cosponsor of critical legislation to protect and expand reproductive freedom, including the Women’s Health Protection Act and the Global Health, Empowerment, and Rights (HER) Act.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization—ending the constitutional right to abortion and opening the door for extremist state lawmakers to put total bans on abortion in place. This decision is already having a devastating impact throughout the country as 15 states including Arizona, are enforcing extreme or total bans on abortion. The people hurt most by these bans and restrictions are those who already face barriers to accessing abortion care—including women; Black, Latina/x, Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and Indigenous people; those working to make ends meet; the LGBTQ+ community; immigrants; young people; those living in rural communities; people with disabilities, and other historically oppressed communities.
NARAL endorsed Sen. Kelly as part of its largest-ever midterm electoral program to elect candidates up and down the ballot during this critical moment in the fight for reproductive freedom. The program focuses on deep field investments in phone banking, door knocking, youth organizing, and canvassing, along with a robust communications campaign to support endorsed candidates and ballot initiatives in Arizona, Georgia, California, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Nevada. Read more about NARAL’s endorsed candidates here.
NARAL’s work in Arizona includes:
- Knocking on over 2,000 doors, making nearly 36,000 calls, and sending over 51,000 texts;
- Hosting 43 candidate events with local reproductive freedom champions;
- Hiring organizing staff on the ground in Arizona to elect champions to statewide seats for the first time; and
- Deploying NARAL Pro-Choice America president Mini Timmaraju to fight side-by-side with champions and get out the vote in key races.
Key components of our midterm campaign include:
- Harnessing the full power of our 4 million members to mobilize their communities through traditional organizing tactics. In total, we knocked on over 330,000 doors, made nearly 707,000 calls, sent over 868,000 texts, and filled over 4,860 volunteer shifts.
- Continuing to broaden the impact of our cutting-edge research into voter sentiment on abortion, including our pioneering freedom-centered messaging, by training candidates, volunteers, and activists to speak to their communities in ways we know align with their values and move them to act on their beliefs.
- Rolling out a pilot program in Michigan with 14 organizers working on seven four-year college campuses and over 20 community college campuses to enroll voters and activate over 721 volunteers.
- Endorsing candidates in over 200 races nationwide for federal and state offices.
- NARAL, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, and EMILY’s List announced a partnership in May to collectively spend a historic $150 million on the 2022 midterms to elect reproductive freedom champions up and down the ballot across the country.
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For over 50 years, NARAL Pro-Choice America has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels—including access to abortion care, birth control, pregnancy and post-partum care, and paid family leave—for every body. NARAL is powered by its 4 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 8 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion.