The election is finally over and overall, AAUW members can be pretty happy with the results.  Here are a few highlights:

• One woman was added to each house of Congress: the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, bringing the numbers to 124 (H) and 25 (S).
• Of the total of 149, 54 are women of color.
• With Nancy Pelosi stepping down as Speaker of the House, we lost the most powerful woman’s voice in government, but still have a woman on the minority leadership team, Minority Whip Katherine Clark.
• Governors of 12 states are now women.
• 23% of all mayors across the nation are women, including our brand new and first woman mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass.
• 32 women won seats in the California Legislature (total confirmed 44, 3 pending)
• All executive positions in California except Governor are filled by women, including Secretary of State, Lieutenant Governor, Treasurer, and Controller.
• Proposition 1 prevailed and women’s right to control their own reproductive choices is now enshrined in our constitution.

The state Public Policy Committee thanks each and every AAUW California member who voted, who assisted in our Voter Education (VE) campaign by spreading our messages on social media, who took the pledge to vote for Prop 1 (we had 437 sign up!), and who worked within their branches to do their own VE events.