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Press Release
NARAL Pro-Choice America Celebrates 41 Victories for Reproductive Freedom Champions Advancing to General Election
For Immediate Release: Thursday, June 9, 2022
Contact: [email protected]
California — Today, 41 NARAL-endorsed candidates have finished in the top two and are headed to the November general election. Many other NARAL-endorsed candidates appear poised to finish in the top two.
NARAL Pro-Choice California Director Shannon Olivieri Hovis released the following statement:
“The threat to Roe v. Wade and the legal right to abortion is galvanizing voters across the country, and California’s primaries are further proof. Californians took to the polls to vote for 41 champions and leaders for reproductive freedom to represent them up and down the ballot. Every one of these candidates will protect and advance our freedom to decide if, when, and how to start or grow our families—honoring our values as a Reproductive Freedom State. NARAL and our nearly 300,000 members across the Golden State will continue to mobilize voters to elect these leaders who will protect and advance our fundamental freedoms in November.”
The following NARAL-endorsed candidates have advanced to the general election:
Statewide Endorsements
- Governor Gavin Newsom
- Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis
- Secretary of State Shirley Weber
- Attorney General Rob Bonta
- Treasurer Fiona Ma
- Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara
- Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond
Congressional Endorsements
- Sen. Alex Padilla (U.S. Senate)
- Rep. Ami Bera (CD 6)
- Speaker Nancy Pelosi (CD 11)
- Rep. Barbara Lee (CD 12)
- California State Assembly Speaker pro Tempore Kevin Mullin (CA-15)
- Rep. Judy Chu (CD 28)
- Rep. Norma Torres (CD 35)
- Rep. Katie Porter (CD 47)
- Rep. Mike Levin (CD 49)
Local Endorsements
- Rep. Karen Bass, candidate for Los Angeles Mayor
State Senate Endorsements
- Sen. Mike McGuire (SD 2)
- Sen. Maria Elena Durazo (SD 26)
- Catherine Blakespear (SD 38)
- Joseph Rocha (SD 40)
State Assembly Endorsements
- Asm. Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (AD 4)
- Asm. Lori Wilson (AD 11)
- Asm. Buffy Wicks (AD 14)
- Asm. Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (AD 16)
- Asm. Matt Haney (AD 17)
- Asm. Mia Bonta (AD 18)
- Asm. Phil Ting (AD 19)
- Asm. Marc Berman (AD 23)
- Asm. Ash Kalra (AD 25)
- Asm. Robert Rivas (AD 29)
- Asm. Steve Bennett (AD 38)
- Asm. Luz Rivas (AD 43)
- Asm. Laura Friedman (AD 44)
- Christy Holstege (AD 47)
- Rick Zbur (AD 51)
- Asm. Miguel Santiago (AD 54)
- Asm. Isaac Bryan (AD 55)
- Asm. Reggie Jones-Sawyer (AD 57)
- Speaker Anthony Rendon (AD 62)
- Asm. Chris Ward (AD 78)
Though their races have not yet been called, several other NARAL-endorsed candidates appear poised to advance to the general election, including Malia Cohen for State Controller, California state Senator Sydney Kamlager (CD 37), Dr. Asif Mahmood (CD 40), Paula Villescaz, (SD 6), Dave Jones (SD 8), Sara Aminzadeh (AD 12), Dawn Addis (AD 35) and many more. We are also keeping a close eye on the special election in Assembly District 62 where NARAL-endorsed candidate Tina McKinnor currently leads.
These endorsements come as NARAL Pro-Choice America is ramping up its work to elect candidates up and down the ballot during a critical moment in the fight for reproductive freedom. NARAL, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, and EMILY’s List recently announced a partnership to collectively spend a historic $150 million on the 2022 midterms to elect reproductive freedom champions across the country. Soon, the U.S. Supreme Court will issue its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization—a case about Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban that directly challenges Roe v. Wade. A recent leak of the Court’s draft majority opinion confirmed that the Court is poised to overturn Roe and end the constitutional right to abortion as we know it.
If the landmark abortion rights decision is undone, 28 states are expected to take action to prohibit abortion outright. States like California, which is home to more than a quarter of the nation’s healthcare facilities that provide abortion care, will have an outsized role in providing access to out-of-state abortion care. If Roe is overturned and states move swiftly to ban abortion, California is predicted to see a 2,923% increase in women of reproductive age whose nearest abortion provider would be in the state—from 46,000 to 1.4 million.
In response to nationwide attacks on reproductive freedom, NARAL Pro-Choice California and its allies formed the California Future of Abortion Council (CA FAB Council) to create a blueprint for California’s next steps to safeguard and expand abortion access and announced a legislative package of 13 bills introduced this year that will codify recommendations of the Council.
Read more about NARAL’s endorsed candidates here.
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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 more than 2.5 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 8 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion.