NARAL Pro-Choice, April 2, 2012
Pro-choice PAC endorsed 44 candidates, contributed $178,500 to campaigns in first quarter of 2012
Washington, D.C. –Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, this morning announced another round of endorsements for the 2012 cycle from her organization’s political action committee. The organization’s PAC closed out the first quarter of this year with nearly $180,000 in contributions to candidates for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.
“From attacks on contraceptive coverage in the Senate to an all-male panel testifying against birth control in the House, Americans have seen many reasons why we need more pro-choice leaders in Congress to end this War on Women,” Keenan said. “In each of these races, voters will see a clear contrast between a pro-choice candidate who shares their fair-minded mainstream values and an anti-choice candidate who wants to take away personal, private decisions from women and their doctors. In addition to these contributions, our member activists are energized and ready to roll up their sleeves to help these champions win in November.”
Keenan said that, in 2011, the House held eight votes on choice-related issues, the highest number in more than a decade. Thus far in 2012, House committees have passed two anti-choice bills and held four hearings focused on choice-related issues. On the Senate side, lawmakers last month narrowly rejected the far-reaching Blunt amendment. The Blunt amendment would have allowed corporations and insurance companies to refuse to cover birth control and other essential health-care services required under health reform.
In Senate races, Keenan said NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC’s most-recent endorsements include incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and two candidates in open seats currently represented by pro-choice senators: Rep. Mazie Hirono in Hawaii and Rep. Martin Heinrich in New Mexico. The PAC earlier had endorsed Reps. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Shelley Berkley of Nevada, who are running for the U.S. Senate. Each of these candidates received the maximum PAC contribution of $10,000.
In races for the House, NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC endorsed and contributed $50,000 to 11 candidates challenging anti-choice incumbents. The group includes five candidates who are running for seats they narrowly lost in 2010: Ami Bera in California’s 7th District, former Rep. Bill Foster in Illinois’ 11th District, Ann McLane Kuster in New Hampshire’s 2nd District, former Rep. Dan Maffei in New York’s 25th District, and Manan Trivedi in Pennsylvania’s 6th District. The PAC also endorsed challengers in six other races: Kathy Boockvar in Pennsylvania’s 8th District, Val Demings in Florida’s 10th District, Pat Kreitlow in Wisconsin’s 7th District, John LaFerla in Maryland’s 1st District, and Rob Zerban in Wisconsin’s 1st District.
In races for open House seats, the PAC endorsed and contributed a total of $22,500 to five candidates: Lois Frankel in Florida’s 22nd District, Denny Heck in Washington’s 10th District, Steven Horsford in Nevada’s 4th District, John Oceguera in Nevada’s 3rd District, and former Rep. Dina Titus, who is running in Nevada’s 1st District.
The PAC also endorsed and contributed $5,000 each to Rep. Betty Sutton, who is running in Ohio’s 16th District, and Ron Barber, who is running for a special election in Arizona’s 2nd District.
In January, the PAC endorsed and contributed $36,000 to a slate of key pro-choice leaders in the House: Reps. Lois Capps (D-Calif.), Judy Chu (D-Calif.), Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.), Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), Donna Edwards (D-Md.), Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.), and Henry Waxman (D-Calif.). The PAC also endorsed House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Whip Steny Hoyer.
See more information about NARAL Pro-Choice America’s electoral work.
Contact:
Ted Miller, 202.973.3032
War on Women 
Posted on April 3, 2012