Press Release
NARAL Pro-Choice California Celebrates Multiple NARAL-Endorsed Candidates Advancing to General Election
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, March 11, 2020
CONTACT: [email protected]
NARAL Pro-Choice California Celebrates Multiple NARAL-Endorsed Candidates Advancing to General Election
CALIFORNIA —Last week, on Super Tuesday, dozens of reproductive freedom champions endorsed by NARAL Pro-Choice California ran for state legislative office in the 2020 primary elections in California. Twenty-four of those candidates, including 15 candidates for the Assembly and 9 candidates for the State Senate, are likely to advance to the November general election, with other races still too close to call.
“We are excited that so many tireless champions for reproductive freedom are heading to the general election, with so much support from California voters. Californians know what’s at stake for our ability to determine our own futures, including when and if to raise a family” said Shannon Hovis, Director of NARAL Pro-Choice California. “These fearless leaders will help ensure California continues to expand reproductive freedom for every body in California and send a signal of hope to the rest of the country, in the face of ongoing assaults on our rights.”
Candidates Endorsed by NARAL Pro-Choice California Who Appear to have Finished in the Top Two and to be Heading to the General Election:
- AD-02: Assemblymember Jim Wood
- AD-15: Assemblymember Buffy Wicks
- AD-16: Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan
- AD-17: Assemblymember David Chiu
- AD-18: Assemblymember Rob Bonta
- AD-24: Assemblymember Marc Berman
- AD-35: Dawn Addis
- AD-43: Assemblymember Laura Friedman
- AD-51: Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo
- AD-63: Speaker Anthony Rendon
- AD-68: Melissa Fox
- AD-74: Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris
- AD-76: Assemblymember Tasha Boerner Horvath
- AD-78: Chris Ward
- AD-80: Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez
- SD-5: Susan Eggman
- SD-09: Senator Nancy Skinner
- SD-11: Senator Scott Wiener
- SD-15: Ann Ravel
- SD-19: Monique Limon
- SD-21: Kipp Mueller
- SD-23: Abigail Medina
- SD-29: Josh Newman
- SD-33: Senator Lena Gonzalez
NARAL is closely watching the races for SD-28 in which NARAL issued a dual endorsement of Elizabeth Romero and Joy Silver, SD-13 in which NARAL endorsed Shelly Masur, and AD-72, where NARAL endorsed candidate Diedre Thu-Ha Nguyen is currently fighting for the number two spot and has pulled within just seventeen votes of Republican incumbent Tyler Diep.
A 2018 poll by NARAL Pro-Choice California showed that reproductive rights was a key issue for state voters, with eighty percent of respondents saying women’s rights and reproductive freedoms are important to how they vote.
Last year, the California state legislature passed major pieces of legislation to protect and expand reproductive freedom in the state, the College Student Right to Access Act (SB 24), which made California the first state in the nation to expand abortion access to college campuses, and the Dignity in Pregnancy and Childbirth Act (SB 464), which will save lives by addressing bias in reproductive healthcare and reducing California’s high rates of pregnancy-related deaths among Black women.
NARAL Pro-Choice California will work closely with new and returning champions for reproductive freedom to advance additional legislation to ensure that California is taking every step possible to allow people to access the full range of reproductive healthcare and make their own decisions about pregnancy and abortion. NARAL has 2.5 million members nationwide with 246,000 in California alone, and has active networks of volunteer leaders in San Diego, the Inland Empire, Los Angeles, the Bay Area, Antelope Valley, and Orange County.
NARAL Pro-Choice America and its network of state affiliates and chapters are dedicated to protecting and expanding reproductive freedom for all. For more than 50 years, NARAL has worked to guarantee that every woman has the right to make personal decisions regarding the full range of reproductive choices, including preventing unintended pregnancy, bearing healthy children, and choosing legal abortion. Since 1969, NARAL has made history, grown to over 2.5 million members, and met the moments that have defined this fight with action, power and freedom. In recognition of its work defending our constitutional right to choose, Fortune Magazine described NARAL as “one of the top 10 advocacy groups in America.”