While the nation's political attention has been focused on the Democratic presidential primary election, our Democratic women candidates here in California ran competitive campaigns in really difficult races AND won! However, yesterday's primary was a bittersweet victory.

The pendulum is swinging away from the great strides we made in the early 90's to even the playing field in the California legislature. Our dreams of equal representation for women are slowly declining. The trend seems to be that we lose two to three elected women legislators every election cycle. Despite yesterday's victories, we could potentially lose more women legislators in November. Considering less than 28% of the California state seats are held by women, we must remain vigilant to maintain gender representation.

Congratulations to the candidates listed below for winning races that were among California's most difficult and most important! We also congratulate all the Democratic women candidates - up and down the ticket - who ran outstanding campaigns! We appreciate all that you have done for Democrats and for women.

Lois Wolk (SD 5, Stockton, Yolo)
Loni Hancock (SD 9, Alameda, Oakland)
Hannah-Beth Jackson (SD 19, Santa Barbara)
Carol Liu (SD 21, Burbank)
Fran Pavley (SD 23, West Los Angeles, Santa Monica)
Mariko Yamada (AD 8, Yolo County)
Alyson Huber (AD 10, Sacramento, El Dorado)
Nancy Skinner (AD 14, Berkeley)
Joan Buchanan (AD 15, Oakland, East Bay)
Fran Florez (AD 30, Fresno, Kern)
Ferial Masry (AD 37, Thousand Oaks)
Bonnie Lowenthal (AD 54, Long Beach)
Diane Singer (AD 60, Orange, San Bernardino)
Norma Torres (AD 61, Pomona, Montclair)
Judy Jones (AD 73, Orange County, North San Diego)

Congratulations to the following incumbents!

Elaine Alquist (SD13, Santa Clarita)
Christine Kehoe (SD 39, San Diego)
Noreen Evans (AD 7, Napa)
Fiona Ma (AD 12, San Francisco)
Cathleen Galgiani (AD 17, Stockton)
Mary Hayashi (AD 18, Oakland)
Anna Caballero (AD 28, Salinas, Monterey County)
Julia Brownley (AD 41, Santa Monica)
Karen Bass (AD 47, Los Angeles)
Wilmer Amina Carter (AD 62, San Bernardino, Fontana)
Lori Saldana (AD 76, San Diego)
Mary Salas (AD 79, San Diego)

Thank you to all our members, donors and supporters. We successfully supported Democratic women candidates throughout California. We continue to make a difference, thanks to your continued support.

CALIFORNIA LIST believes that electing women legislators is important. The women we help elect are the women who will march into Sacramento as champions for universal health care, better education and as protectors of our natural resources. These women are mothers, wives and workers who understand the issues their fellow women face in both the home and employment arenas. This is why electing women matters and maintaining a sustainable pipeline of women moving up the ladder of elected offices is the only way to ensure enough women representatives will be seated.

CALIFORNIA LIST works to help identify strong women candidates to fill the pipeline and actively supports candidates with training, public relations and campaign finance. Our local elections feed seasoned women into the state pipeline and each election cycle we are losing an average of two women electeds. California is suffering a famine of women who can run and win.

JOIN CALIFORNIA LIST TODAY!

We need your help to increase the pipeline and reverse the decline of women electeds. Visit our website to learn more about the benefits of CALIFORNIA LIST membership or to renew your membership. Your membership can make a difference -join us today!

Bettina Duval is the founder of the CALIFORNIA LIST, a political fundraising network that helps elect Democratic women to all branches of California state government.

Currently there are 32 elected women in our California State Senate – that's about 20% Last week I met with Assemblywoman Patty Berg, former chair of the Women's Caucus to discuss the upcoming primary election. It is sad to report, but our predictions were grim. Pundits and pollsters are predicting that we could drop to 25 elected women in our state government. Needless to say, we are worried.

As the founder of the CALIFORNIA LIST, an organization dedicated to electing women in California, I have watched as our legislature consistently loses 2 elected women each successive election cycle. The loss is occurring in our State Assembly, which affects the pipeline of future female leaders. This seriously affects the flow of political leaders moving up the ladder of experience. For leadership, after serving in the Assembly you move to the State Senate and then to a statewide office. The decline in women leaders today will have devastating results that can only become more apparent in the future.

What exactly does this loss mean? As fuel prices take a toll on our economy and California faces a tremendous budget deficit, the choices that will be made in our government in education, health care and transportation are on the table for negotiation. Where will the cuts be made? How will the priorities be established? By record, women consistently champion those issues that affect families, health and environmental concerns. With the dwindling statistics of women elected, who will be the advocates of those societal matters that we as women hold so dear?

I think that the differences that women make in government are subtle. Having women elected officials has opened up the political process and shifted the debate to issues that affect our everyday lives — from health care solutions introduced by Sheila Kuehl to the consumer fraud watchdog policy designed by Jackie Speier to environmental protection laws authored by Fran Pavley. These women are on the political forefront.

Please visit our website at www.californialist.org to learn about our endorsed women who are running for office on June 3nd – women we feel are qualified to help secure a strong future for California. These women are the future leaders of our state — help elect them on Tuesday. Help us reverse the downward trend and build our pipeline of elected women.

Bettina Duval is the founder of the CALIFORNIA LIST, a political fundraising network that helps elect Democratic women to all branches of California state government.

Senate District 19 is the KEY State Senate race this year. This is the district that is most likely to flip from Republican to Democratic, delivering a majority large enough to actually pass budgets over Republican obstructionism. Hannah-Beth Jackson is the Democratic candidate for State Senate District 19.

Hannah-Beth Jackson served six years in the California State Assembly, representing the 35th District, which encompasses portions of Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. She is a tireless advocate for change, having authored more than 60 bills that were signed into law on issues including education, health care, environmental protection, financial privacy, crime victims, reproductive rights, domestic violence, childcare and protecting the rights of consumers. Jackson is an attorney and former prosecutor, who is a co-founder of a non-profit organization.

In the State Assembly, she served as Chair of the Committee on Natural Resources, Chair of the Assembly Select Committee on Coastal Protection and Co-Chair of the Assembly Select Committee on Title IX. Other leadership positions included serving as chair of the Legislative Women's Caucus and chair of the Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee.

Hannah-Beth was named Legislator of the Year by the Consumer Federation of California, the Congress of California Seniors and the California League of Conservation Voters, the National Organization for Women. Other awards include the "Guardian of the Coast Award" from Vote the Coast, the "Wetlands Recovery Award" and "Friend of the Coast Award" from the Wetlands Recovery Project.

Hannah-Beth is a leader in bringing a progressive message to California. Few people know that after leaving the State Assembly she founded Speak Out California to give a statewide voice to progressive values and advocate for progressive policies.

CALIFORNIA LIST is proud to include Hannah-Beth Jackson as one of our endorsed candidates for the June 3rd California primary. I urge you to visit the CALIFORNIA LIST website and please donate to her campaign or one of the other candidates highlighted on our candidate page.

Bettina Duval is the founder of the CALIFORNIA LIST, a political fundraising network that helps elect Democratic women to all branches of California state government.