20 for 2020

JUST IMAGINE A FEMINIST CONGRESS!

20 for 2020

The Santa Barbara Women’s Political Committee believes that voters must put candidates with feminist values into offices where policy and legislation is made. We need to elect feminist candidates who will work to improve the quality of life for women, who will protect reproductive rights, extend the deadline for the ERA and fight for social justice.

There are many promising candidates running this November, but we focused on these 20 (for 2020). We chose nine of the most critical races and then 11 others. Support feminist goals by helping to elect these candidates by donating what you can to their campaigns, volunteering to phone bank, urging family and friends in these states to vote for these candidates.

WE NEED THESE FEMINISTS IN OFFICE:

  • Barbara Bollier, US Senate, KS – bollierforkansas.com
  • Sara Gideon, US Senate, ME- saragideon.com
  • Theresa Greenfield, US Senate, Iowa – greenfieldforiowa.com
  • Jaime Harrison, US Senate, SC – jamieharrison.com
  • Mark Kelly, US Senate, AZ -markkelly.com
  • Amy McGrath, US Senate, KY – amymcgrath.com
  • Katie Porter, US Congress, CA45 (inc) – katieporter.com
  • Christy Smith, US Congress, CA25 – www.christyforcongress.org
  • Jeanne Shaheen, US Senate, NH – jeanneshaheen.org

OTHER CANDIDATES TO SUPPORT:

  • Tedra Cobb, US Congress NY CD 21 – tedracobb.com
  • Sharice Davids, US Congress KS CD 3 – shariceforcongress.com
  • Wendy Davis, US Congress TX CD21 – wendydavisforcongress.com
  • Jahana Hayes, US Congress CT CD 5 – jahanahayes.com
  • MJ Hegar, US Senate, TX – mjfortexas.com
  • Gina Ortiz Jones, US Congress TX CD23 – ginaortizjones.com
  • Lucy McBath, US Congress GA CD6 – lucyforcongress.com
  • Adam Schiff, US Congress CA CD28 – schiff.house.gov
  • Donna Shalala, US Congress FL CD27 – donnashalala.com
  • Desiree Tims, US Congress OH CD10 – timsforcongress.com
  • Candace Valenzuela, US Congress TX CD24 – candacefor24.com

Here are their brief bios. To learn more, visit their websites.

WE NEED THESE FEMINISTS IN OFFICE:

Barbara Bollier is a member of the Kansas State Senate, representing District 7. She assumed office on January 9, 2017 and is now running for the US Senate. A former Republican member of the Kansas House of Representatives, she represented District 25 from 2010 to 2013 and District 21 from 2013 to 2017. In December 2018, Bollier announced that she was switching her party affiliation from Republican to Democrat. She said, “Morally, the [Republican Party] is not going where my compass resides. I’m looking forward to being in a party that represents the ideals that I do, including Medicaid expansion and funding our K-12 schools.”

Sara Gideon– Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives, led implementation of legislation aimed at helping working families and addressing the opioid crisis; worked to protect women’s rights; and championed work training legislation. Gideon supports expanding access to reproductive care and opposes appointing anti-choice judges. She says standing with the LGBTQ+ community has always been important to her and she is dedicated to working for full equality for all. Gideon is running against Susan Collins, a longtime Senator from Maine who voted to defund Planned Parenthood, against strengthening equal pay protections, and voted for Brett Kavanaugh for the U.S. Supreme Court.

Theresa Greenfield – Her father was a crop duster so she is a strong advocate for small farmers; a widow with two children put herself through college with financial aid; she is pro-choice, and a strong supporter of public education and community colleges, including job training, as well as social security and workers compensation. Greenfield is running for a Senate seat in Iowa against Joni Ernst, who voted to defund Planned Parenthood; to repeal Obamacare without a replacement plan; and against strengthening equal pay protections and ensuring that women are fairly compensated for their work.

Jaime Harrison supports access to affordable health care, equal pay, women’s reproductive rights and re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act.  As Senator, Harrison will champion paid family and sick leave as well as tax credits for childcare. The son of a single teenage mom, and raised by his grandparents in Orangeburg, South Carolina, he overcame the challenges of grinding poverty with the help of teachers and mentors who believed in him. Help him defeat conservative and pro-Trump Sen. Lindsey Graham.

Mark Kelly – a retired US Navy pilot and NASA astronaut, is running in a tough race for a US Senate seat in Arizona against incumbent Martha McSally. He thinks that Washington is broken and our country needs independent leadership focused on solving the problems we all face. He supports a woman’s right to choose, family access to adequate healthcare and nutrition programs and paid family leave. Kelly considers equal pay a justice issue that predominately affects women and will work to remove barriers to women’s success. He is a gun owner who believes in stronger gun safety laws. Kelly will work to improve early childhood education programs as well as the ability for students to receive post-secondary training without massive debt.

Amy McGrath – Retired Marine Corps Lt. Col. and fighter pilot, running in Kentucky against Mitch McConnell, an obstructionist Senate Majority Leader who has blocked almost all the legislation sent to the Senate by the House. She is pro-choice; supports LGBTQ+ equality in the military and elsewhere; considers climate change a national security threat; is against the border wall and Big Pharma; is a gun owner; is in favor of medical marijuana; comprehensive immigration reform and the DREAM Act. McGrath also supports investing in education and has a firm commitment to health care as a basic right and would like to build on the existing law.

Katie Porter flipped this seat from red to blue in 2018 (south-central Orange County), and now faces a tough re-election fight against Republicans working hard to take it back. Katie has spent nearly 20 years as a consumer advocate taking on Wall Street banks and powerful financial institutions that try to take advantage of middle-class and low-income families. She is committed to increasing economic opportunity for middle-class families and taking on the special interests that take unfair advantage of those pursuing the American dream. Her expertise in economics is needed in Congress.

Christy Smith – is running in California’s 25th Congressional District, which flipped from red to blue in 2018 with the election of Katie Hill, who later resigned. This seat is critical for Democrats to keep the House majority. Smith, who was the speaker at this year’s SBWPC Presidents Circle Luncheon, is running against newly elected incumbent Mike Garcia. She is a champion for her community in the CA Assembly and will continue to fight for working families in Congress. Improving public education is one of her top priorities. She is also committed to protecting and expanding access to quality, affordable health care and lowering prescription drug costs. In the CA Assembly, she authored legislation to increase access to affordable mental health services.

Jeanne Shaheen – is the first woman in U.S. history to be elected both as a Governor and a United States Senator. She is a considered a trailblazer with a reputation for working across the aisle. Shaheen is known for her common-sense leadership, hard work and dedication to improving the lives of the middle class. She has served in the Senate from New Hampshire since 2009 and is a champion for women at home and around the globe. In 2018, she worked to broaden the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). In 2016, President Obama signed into law the Shaheen-authored Sexual Assault Survivors’ Rights Act, a federal bill of rights for sexual assault survivors. She has also been a consistent supporter of Planned Parenthood and has led bipartisan efforts to permanently repeal the Trump administration’s expanded Global Gag Rule.

Other Feminist Candidates:

Tedra Cobb – a proven community leader and is running for Congress in New York’s 21st District (Syracuse), to fight for working families. She started a community health agency to provide preventive screening to hundreds of residents. Her opponent is Elise Stefanik, one of the leading defenders of Donald Trump. This is an opportunity to turn a red seat blue. Cobb wants to create opportunities for young people; expand access to affordable health care coverage and job training for recovering addicts; promote preventive care and wellness programs, including mental health and childhood health and nutrition; and reduce gun violence. She advocates adding sexual orientation to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and upholding Roe v Wade.

Sharice Davids is running for re-election in Kansas for CD 3. She is a member of the Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) people and made history as the first Native American woman elected to Congress. She served as a White House Fellow during the final year of the Obama administration. She will advocate for continued expansion of Medicaid, fight for legislation that brings down the price of prescription drugs and wants to make higher education more affordable for all. As a woman and a Native American, she will continue to fight for equity. Davids flipped this seat from red to blue in 2018, and now faces a tough reelection fight.

Wendy Davis – a former Republican, now Democrat, who was on the Fort Worth, TX City Council. Wendy rose to national prominence in 2013 when she put on her pink sneakers and held a 13-hour filibuster to protect women’s reproductive freedom in Texas. Her fight ultimately led to a successful and landmark decision in the U.S. Supreme Court, strengthening the landscape for abortion rights throughout the country. Davis is challenging Republican Congressman Chip Roy, a vulnerable freshman whose record of failure has hurt the working families he was elected to serve. Davis is endorsed by Planned Parenthood.

Jahana Hayes is the U.S. Representative for CD 5 of Connecticut. She was elected in 2018 as the first African American Congresswoman from that state, and this is her first public office. A high school teacher, Hayes first garnered widespread notoriety when she was named National Teacher of the Year in 2016 by President Barack Obama. She traveled the country and the world engaging public education stakeholders in policy discussions meant to improve outcomes for students. Hayes ran a successful grassroots campaign for the open seat vacated by former Rep. Elizabeth Esty in 2018, and now faces a tough reelection fight.

MJ Hegar – a strong advocate for expanding opportunities for women and families. When she learned that she was unable to apply for a military job she wanted after she could no longer be a pilot, Hegar became a plaintiff in the ACLU’s lawsuit against the U.S. Secretary of Defense, who ultimately repealed the combat exclusion policy that had been limiting women’s opportunities for advancement in the military. She is running for the U.S. Senate against Republican John Cornyn, who has spent nearly two decades in Washington and who voted to defund Planned Parenthood, repeal the Affordable Care Act without a replacement plan, and against strengthening equal pay protections and ensuring women are fairly compensated for their work. MJ Hegar stands in opposition to these actions.

Gina Ortiz Jones ran for office for the first time in 2018 and came within 1,000 votes of flipping Texas’ 23rd District. She would be the first Asian American, first openly LGBTQ person, and first Iraq War veteran woman to represent Texas in Congress. At a time when opportunities are disappearing for families like hers, she stepped up to run again to continue her lifelong fight for Texan working families. Jones says she’s proud to be a candidate who is “openly gay, openly first generation, openly veteran, openly Asian-American, openly everything,” she has said. “Right now is not the time to be closeted or be ashamed of who you are or who you love.”

Lucy McBath is a powerful advocate for social justice running for re-election to Congress. In 2012, her son Jordan Davis was shot and killed at a gas station in Florida for playing music too loudly in his car. Losing her son to gun violence intensified her lifelong commitment to community activism and social justice. She served as a national spokesperson for Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action. Georgia’s 6th Congressional District, once held by Newt Gingrich, had been under Republican control since 1979 and had never been represented by a Democratic woman or a person of color until McBath’s historic victory. She faces a tough re-election fight.

Adam Schiff represents California’s 28th CD. Now in his 10th term in the House, he serves as the Chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and was the face of the 2019 impeachment hearing investigating Donald Trump. He is pro-choice, and as vice chair of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus, says, “I strongly believe everyone, regardless of race, gender, religion or sexual orientation, should be treated equally under the law.” He faces Republican Eric Early, who called Schiff “a national disgrace” for leading “the impeachment sham.”

Donna Shalala – A current member of the House, representing Florida’s 27th District. Prior to her election in 2018, she worked in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development during former president Jimmy Carter’s administration and served as Secretary of Health and Human Services under former President Clinton from 1993 to 2001. She faces a tough reelection fight against Republican Maria Elvira Salazar. Shalala wants to close the gender wage gap, and expand family leave so both women and men have the flexibility to raise children and care for sick loved ones. She believes that women should be kept safe from gender-based violence, and that reproductive freedom must be protected.

Desiree Tims – A candidate for election to the U.S. House to represent Ohio’s 10th Congressional District. The granddaughter of a sharecropper, she left school at the age of 6 and then became the first in her family to go to college (and more recently graduated from Georgetown University Law School). She worked as a lobbyist and judiciary director at the League of Conservation Voters; a senior advisor to Child Care Aware of America; an aide to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand; an aide to Sen. Sherrod Brown; and as an associate and White House intern for President Barack Obama. She is running against Michael Turner (R), a nine-term incumbent who is considered moderate right of center.

Candace Valenzuela is running for US House of Representatives from CD24 in TX. If elected she would be the first Afro-Latina member of Congress. She supports criminal justice reform and police accountability, women’s right to choose, immigration reform, curbing gun violence, protecting the environment and working for income equality. She has served on her local school district board and works as a teacher for special needs youth. Endorsed by Barack Obama, John Lewis, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Julian Castro, Katie Porter. She attended college in California and recently visited Santa Barbara to seek support for her campaign.