Lillian's List of NC

Lillian’s List has a unique leadership role in the progressive community. We’re the only organization in North Carolina with the mission of recruiting, training and promoting pro-choice Democratic women to run winning campaigns for the General Assembly. We focus on pro-choice Democratic women because we know they prioritize protecting our families, our jobs and our health.

Right now Lillian’s List is leading the way as we work to target specific districts and find promising candidates to run for 2012. Board member and chair of our Candidate Committee Elizabeth Kolb Cunningham sat down with us to answer questions about Lillian’s List’s recruiting strategy.

LL: What is Lillian’s List doing to find great candidates for the 2012 campaign season?

EC: We’ve been working with our partner organizations to analyze the newly redrawn districts to make strategic decisions about where we recruit. Data like voter registration, voter history and performance of previous Democratic candidates help us identify where we can make the biggest difference. We’ve chosen to target 15 of the most important districts, which helps us focus our members’ resources where they’ll have the most impact.

LL: Why did you recruit so aggressively in the new districts approved by the Republican-controlled General Assembly when lawsuits make the district lines uncertain?

EC: Women can’t wait! We see a path to take back the General Assembly in 2012 by finding the best pro-choice Democratic women candidates who can win. Lillian’s List had to jump ahead of everyone else; if we had sat back and waited, opportunities to increase women’s representation in the legislature could have evaporated.

LL: What’s the next step for Lillian’s List?

EC: We want our members to know that no matter how the district lines look in the coming months, we have a plan! While we hope the lawsuit will make some positive changes in these districts, North Carolina women can’t afford to wait to move ahead. We’ve been making the plans behind the scenes, but it will be up to our friends and supporters to help us follow through with them in 2012. We hope you’ll join us – this is our chance to take back North Carolina!

Lillian's List looks forward to introducing our TEAM LILLIAN featured candidates - new and incumbents - at our campaign kick-off at the downtown Marriott in Raleigh on Wednesday, March 21 from 11:30-1 p.m. Mark your calendar now!