Dear Friends,
We hope by this time, you’ve had a chance to celebrate the election of President-Elect Biden and Vice-President Harris. Kamala’s election as the first woman, first Black woman, and first Asian woman as Vice-President was a sweet victory, one Democrats and history will never forget.
In the 2017-2018 legislative session, only one of 26 members representing Allegheny County was female. WTF was founded in 2017 to continue the progress towards closing the massive gender gap in Pennsylvania politics by providing financial support to female candidates. Over the past three years, we have endorsed over 30 progressive candidates in Western Pennsylvania, and provided over $63,000 in campaign support.
In January, we will experience four of our endorsed candidates Jessica Benham, Sara Innamorato, Emily Kinkead, and Summer Lee being sworn into office. These eminently qualified women will quadruple the number of Democratic women representing Allegheny County. These women are only the beginning of “Herstory” in Western Pennsylvania. These new members demonstrate we can elect strong, diverse, compassionate leaders.
Our endorsed candidates, Pam Iovino, Kolbe Cole, Lissa Geiger Shulman, Sharon Guidi, Michele Knoll, Sara-Summer Oliphant, and Emily Skopov ran in Republican districts, with the hope of flipping seats and in turn turning the PA House and Senate blue. They ran powerful and strategic campaigns, Unfortunately, the races were lost. In the time of a Democratic victory for the Biden/Harris ticket we had hoped for coattails in these difficult races. The pandemic, battle for funds, and voter suppression by Republicans created a climb to victory that could not be navigated in 2020.
We must now turn our focus to the Spring Primary and our commitment to fostering a pipeline for women preparing to seek higher office. We still have a huge gap in gender parity in all levels of government. With more than 1,000 seats up for election in Western PA, we must have energy and funds dedicated to building on our 2019 success. WTF will continue the battle to identify and support bold and capable women running for school board, city council, township supervisor, and county council in Western Pennsylvania.
Join us in these efforts, please send donations today… small or large, we will use those funds to increase diversity in our ranks. I want to help continue WTF's success and donate $20.21 to help elect bold and capable women in Western Pennsylvania. Thank you, Your friends at WTF Pittsburgh