Close the Gap California

Assemblymember Gail Pellerin (CTG Class of 2022), Chair of Elections Committee, spoke about protecting the vote in CA in this recent apple podcast:

The City by the Bay has become “a launching pad for the most powerful women in politics.” As we witness Oakland-born Vice President Harris’ historic candidacy, we’re reflecting on history-making Bay Area women and feeling fired up to be working at the epicenter of a new era of leadership. 1992’s Year of the Woman happened when California’s first women Senators Dianne Feinstein of San Francisco and Barbara Boxer of Marin County were elected along with Lynn Woolsey and Anna Eshoo, who joined Nancy Pelosi in the House of Representatives. The wave continued to roll with the election of Congresswomen Zoe Lofgren, Ellen Tauscher and Barbara Lee in subsequent elections. What not as many realize is that the next big wave is already underway, as groups with Bay Area roots who recruit, train, and support women candidates - including Close the Gap! - are helping to make racially reflective, progressive women's leadership the new normal, up and down the ballot. Our state legislature is the single most reliable stepping stone to Congress. Statewide, we’ve doubled the number of women serving overall. We’ve TRIPLED the number of women serving at the state level in the Bay Area since 2021. Let’s never go back! Full article: https://buff.ly/4hhFXZQ

Mail In Voting is well underway in California! Fill out your ballots or check your polling location information for November 5th!

Catch Susannah Delano @nooneaskedudoc tonight in Oakland! nooneaskedyoudoc.com

From the @Ohio Capital Journal: Moreno’s comments were made at a town hall in Warren County and first made public by WCMH via a viewer-submitted video. “You know, the left has a lot of single issue voters,” Moreno said. “Sadly, by the way, there’s a lot of suburban women, a lot of suburban women that are like, ‘Listen, abortion is it. If I can’t have an abortion in this country whenever I want, I will vote for anybody else.’ OK. It’s a little crazy by the way, but — especially for women that are like past 50 — I’m thinking to myself, ‘I don’t think that’s an issue for you.’” https://buff.ly/4h9mo5E

Gwen Walz in @womenshealthmag: "It’s never easy to tell this story, and I think all of us who speak about our reproductive challenges wish we didn’t have to. You would think that you’d get used to it, but you don’t. I don’t. Still, it’s too important, and the fight is too real. We have the opportunity to protect our reproductive freedoms. So, I tell my story in the hope that it will empower people to take their own power and change the way forward." Full article: https://buff.ly/4eZXWSo

New report published by The Gender Equity Policy Institute https://buff.ly/4dQxE4d shows "18 to 24-year-old women have a staggering 434 hours less free time a year compared to men their age and there is no evidence that these gender gaps have narrowed in recent years. Policy change and cultural shifts both are necessary to rebalance these household responsibilities and advance gender equity in the United States."

From @axios: "More people have tuned into the WNBA playoffs this year than at any time in the last 25 years. Why it matters: The ratings spike is the latest boon for the league, which has enjoyed surging attendance and ticket prices this season amid an explosion in popularity. By the numbers: The league averaged 970,000 viewers across the first 17 playoff games, a 142% increase from the 2023 playoffs, according to Nielsen data shared by ESPN Thursday."

In memoriam with gratitude. From @19thnews: "Lilly Ledbetter, whose fight for equal pay changed United States law and made her a national icon, died last week. She was 86. Her namesake law, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, was signed 15 years ago by President Barack Obama to help improve legal protections for workers who believe they’ve experienced pay discrimination. Ledbetter experienced that discrimination firsthand during two decades at the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company in Alabama, where she learned via an anonymous tip that she was being paid less than the men in her same position specifically because she was a woman. Her case made it to the Supreme Court in 2007, but she lost in a 5-4 decision because the court determined she was outside the 180-day window to sue her employer. In a dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg urged Congress to pass a law to change the 180-day provision. Then-New York Sen. Hillary Clinton proposed the bill, and Obama signed it — his first as president. Ginsburg later hung a signed copy of it in her Supreme Court chambers. After the case, Ledbetter continued to advocate for workplace equity. In 2023, the pay gap between men and women widened for the first time in 20 years, with women working full- or part-time earning 75 cents for every $1 White, non-Latino men earned. Earlier this year, Ledbetter said that “the fight continues” on equal pay. "Lilly Ledbetter never set out to be a trailblazer or a household name. She just wanted to be paid the same as a man for her hard work," Obama wrote in a tribute over the weekend. "Lilly did what so many Americans before her have done: setting her sights high for herself and even higher for her children and grandchildren.” ✍️: @chabelicarrazana, economy and child care reporter 📷: @reuters

Sharing this cool #bts photo from when Susannah Delano was featured as an American Queenmaker on The Seismic Sisters Show @seismicsisters last month: https://buff.ly/4ePLTaL