You’ve probably heard of EMILY’S List, the national women in government group who helps female, liberal-leaning candidates win races around the country. You might not have known EMILY’s List has a Super PAC: Women Vote! The group has been around for many years but the Supreme Court decisions of the last decade have opened the flood gates for outside spending groups, and Women Vote! has since grabbed at the opportunity to expand.
Like many Super PACs, Women Vote! spends much of its money on advertisements supporting select women running for office and criticizing their campaign opponents. The Super PAC arm is run by Melissa Williams, who previously ran independent expenditures for Emily’s List’s House and gubernatorial races in 2012. S EMILY’s List also endorses candidates each cycle, bringing a wave of media coverage and attention to the candidates selected. With ads and an expanding mailer operation, EMILY’s List/Women Vote! are among the top liberal outside spenders each cycle.
The success of EMILY’s List/Women Vote! has somewhat mirrored that of the Democratic Party over the last ten years. There have been undeniable successes, like 2012 when 12 out of 17 fully endorsed candidates won their races; and there have been disappointing election years, like the 2020 cycle. Despite some tough Novembers, Women Vote! has displayed an ability to course-correct, try new strategies, and approach its ad spending holistically, in keeping with growing trends among ad experts. For more on Women Vote!’s strategies and why a down year in 2020 doesn’t mean the group has lost its way, read our full brief on the super PAC.
Emily’s List and Women Vote! both attract significant donations each election cycle. As a traditional political action committee, Emily’s List’s donor rolls have a high number of small contributions—nearly 90% of individual donations in 2020 were $200 or less. Women Vote!, the super PAC, is able to accept contributions of any size, and has become a go-to spot for some of the biggest liberal mega-donors.
Consistent among the top Women Vote! donors at the start of the decade were investor Donald Sussman, media mogul Fred Eychaner, former NYC mayor and presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg, and philanthropist Nancy Beeuwkes. Unions and other liberal groups were also key donors for Women Vote! during the Obama years, including SEIU, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, America Votes and America’s Families First. Women Vote! started taking in larger sums from peer super PACs in 2016. That year, Women Vote! quadrupled its fundraising total from 2014, with Priorities USA Action leading all donors by far with $14 million total in contributions that cycle—which makes sense, given Priorities supports the Democratic presidential nominee and Hillary Clinton was poised to become the first woman president.
The trick for Women Vote! will be maintaining the level of enthusiasm and engagement sparked by people’s distaste for Trump now that he’s out of the White House—a question many liberal organizations are struggling with. That said, Women Vote! may be in a better position to have success in the coming election cycles compared to its peers; for more on why, read our full brief on EMILY’s List/Women Vote!.