These four congresswomen of color need your help

 

In 2018, MoveOn members like you helped power a massive blue wave that flipped 40 U.S. House seats from red to blue and elected the most diverse, representative Congress in history.

I'm proud to have been a part of that historic blue wave, and the first woman of color ever elected to Congress from Massachusetts.

Now, the GOP wants to roll back that progress. The right wing and its dark-money groups are doing everything they can to erase the gains we've made and are spending millions of dollars to tear down Democrats in swing districts.

Right now, they're targeting bold, Democratic legislators across the country, including four of my sisters in service—congresswomen of color who are locked in extremely tight races: Lauren Underwood in Illinois, Lucy McBath in Georgia, Sharice Davids in Kansas, and Debbie Murcasel-Powell in Florida.

I've had the pleasure of knowing and serving with each of these remarkable women, and I've seen their leadership first-hand. I want you to know a little more about them.

• The youngest Black woman ever elected to Congress, Lauren Underwood is a registered nurse and health policy expert. Before being elected to Congress, Lauren was appointed by President Obama to serve as a senior advisor at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where she helped implement the Affordable Care Act. In Congress, Lauren has fought to shine a spotlight on racial disparities in health care, and to pass legislation that advances affordable, equitable access to lifesaving care. Now, she's being challenged by an extremist Republican who has gone so far as to lobby to eliminate health insurance for kids.¹
• In 2012, Lucy McBath's teenage son, Jordan Davis, was murdered by a white gunman while sitting in a car with his friends. Since then, Lucy has dedicated her life to fighting to stop the epidemic of gun violence in America. Her fight led her to Congress, where she's already gotten millions of dollars in federal funds allocated to the Centers for Disease Control and National Institutes of Health for gun violence prevention research—for the first time in 20 years. Now, she's being challenged by a right-wing GOP official who has repeatedly suppressed the voices of voters of color.²
• Sharice Davids is the first openly LGBTQIA+ Native American woman to serve in Congress. In 2018, Sharice ousted a longtime Republican incumbent and became the first Democrat elected to represent Kansas in Congress in over a decade. Representative Davids has spent her first term working tirelessly to strengthen public schools, lower the cost of health care and prescription drugs, and make the government work for the people—not for special interests. Now, she's in a tight race against a GOP opponent who helped pass a failed tax experiment that gave millions to special interests and gutted funding for the state's public education system.³
• At the age of 14, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell immigrated from Ecuador to the United States, and she worked in a doughnut shop to help support her family, who shared a one-bedroom apartment. After her father died in a senseless act of gun violence, Debbie became a strong advocate for gun safety legislation. In 2018, Debbie ousted a two-term GOP congressman. Today, she's facing a well-funded GOP candidate in a neck-and-neck race.

Let me tell you, the GOP will stop at nothing to unseat these Democratic members of Congress. They will lie, they will cheat, and they've already shown their willingness to use sexist and racist attacks if it helps their right-wing candidates win.

But we can't let them get the best of us. We must remain focused on ensuring we re-elect these four members of Congress.

Thanks for all you do.

–Representative Ayanna Pressley

Sources:

1. "The Case Against Jim Oberweis," Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, March 18, 2020
https://act.moveon.org/go/141809?t=4&akid=270807%2E3735812%2EgowrEA

2. "The Case Against Karen Handel," Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, June 10, 2020
https://act.moveon.org/go/141810?t=6&akid=270807%2E3735812%2EgowrEA

3. "The Case Against Amanda Adkins," Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, August 5, 2020
https://act.moveon.org/go/141811?t=8&akid=270807%2E3735812%2EgowrEA