Women’s Group Adds Arizona’s Martha McSally to 2018 ‘Worst for Women’ Candidates List
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, August 30, 2018
CONTACT: Yasmina Dardari | yasmina@unbendablemedia.com | (407) 922-8149
Women’s Group Adds Arizona’s Martha McSally to 2018 ‘Worst for Women’ Candidates List
‘McSally’s Voting Record Shows Dangerous Disregard for Women’s Rights and Health’
TUSCON, AZ — Today, UltraViolet PAC and American Bridge added Arizona Republican Senate candidate Martha McSally to its list of the worst candidates for women in the upcoming 2018 midterm elections. Just last night, McSally won the Arizona Republican Senate primary.
VIEW MCSALLY’S WORST FOR WOMEN SCORECARD HERE: http://worstforwomen.com/
McSally joined the ranks of 15 members of Congress already named as the ‘Worst for Women’— voting in line with Donald Trump up to 99 percent of the time. She has consistently voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act care, to protect the special interests and profits for the 1%, to defund Planned Parenthood, and against a woman’s right to choose. UltraViolet PAC and American Bridge argue that if elected, McSally would threaten the lives of women across the country—particularly women of color, rural women, and low-income women.
“Women are poised to play a key role in November. We don’t intend to let that opportunity slip by,” explained Karin Roland, Chief Campaigns Officer of UltraViolet PAC, a leading national women’s organization. “Contrary to her claims that she is a champion for women, Martha McSally is an active threat to their lives in every respect, whether in their access to health care, fair workplace protections, or protections and recourse for survivors of gender-based violence. If elected, Rep. McSally will undermine low-income women, women of color, rural women, and immigrant women in federal policy.”
“Congratulations to Martha McSally, who wins her spot on our Worst for Women list based not just upon her record standing against women’s health and economic well-being, but also for her disgraceful, sexist attacks against her opponent,” said Amelia Penniman, Deputy Communications Director, Senate Campaigns, at American Bridge.
In conjunction with the announcement of McSally’s addition to the “Worst for Women,” list, new digital ads on Facebook will link Rep. McSally with the very worst votes she has cast against women and are sourced back to the micro-site and legislative scorecard so voters can learn more about McSally’s support for some of the most extreme anti-woman, racist, anti-immigrant, and homophobic elements of government today.
In creating the list of the ‘Worst for Women’ candidates, American Bridge and UltraViolet PAC conducted an analysis of the voting records from the 114th Congress and 115th Congress and narrowed down a list of those who voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, to defund Planned Parenthood, for the GOP tax scam, against a minimum wage hike, and for an unconstitutional abortion ban. The groups also took into consideration other parts of the members’ records and histories, including sexist remarks or discriminatory practices.
The full list of members of Congress named as the “Worst for Women” include: Rep. Martha McSally (AZ-2); Rep. Don Bacon (NE-2); Rep. Dave Brat (VA-7); Rep. Ted Budd (NC-13); Sen. Ted Cruz (TX); Rep. Ron DeSantis (FL-6); Rep. Glenn Grothman (WI-6); Rep. Karen Handel (GA-6); Sen. Dean Heller (NV); Rep. Jim Jordan (OH-4); Rep. Steve King (IA-4); Rep. Jason Lewis (MN-2); Rep. Kevin McCarthy (CA-23); Rep. Steve Pearce (NM-2); Rep. Pete Sessions (TX-32); and Rep. Scott Taylor (VA-2).
Repeal of the Affordable Care Act. These members all voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ACA has been an overwhelming win for women. It provided health care coverage for many low-income women who previously could not afford it. It ended the industry practice of charging women more than men for insurance policies. It required maternity and newborn care benefits in individual market health plans. It provided free preventive services for women, including contraception and breast pumps for nursing mothers. It protected domestic violence survivors from insurance penalties. It has saved countless women’s lives.
GOP Tax Scam. These members all voted for the GOP tax scam that provided billions in tax cuts to the wealthiest 1% of Americans—of which women are only a fraction. The tax reform bill forced working women and families to pay for benefits for big business and wealthy elites while threatening critical programs for women, including Medicaid, Medicare, child care, housing assistance, Pell Grants, funds for combating violence against women, and more.
Planned Parenthood and Title X. These members repeatedly voted to defund Planned Parenthood and to dismantle Title X, the successful nearly 50 year old family planning program serving four million patients. Planned Parenthood provides preventive care, contraception, cancer screenings, and more for millions of men and women each year. Many of these members, like Cruz and King, are openly opposed to women having access to contraception.
Minimum wage and workers’ protections. All of these members voted against a raise in the minimum wage—which has been stuck at $7.25 for nearly a decade. Two-thirds of minimum wage workers are women and in some states it’s as much as three-quarters. Many of these members are opposed to simple workers’ protections like paid sick days, paid family leave, and pay equity laws. Glenn Grothman once led the fight against pay equity in his state, noting, “money is more important for men.” Karen Handel openly stated, “I do not support a livable wage.”
20 week abortion ban without protections. These members all put politics over women’s lives when they voted for an unconstitutional ban on nearly all abortions after 20 weeks. It also put “onerous reporting requirements” on rape and incest victims and employed junk science that misled Americans.
UltraViolet and American Bridge say Marth McSally is dangerously out of touch and openly hostile to the women constituents and voters she serves.
For more information, or for interview with an UltraViolet PAC spokesperson, please contact Yasmina Dardari at (407) 922-8149 or by email at yasmina@unbendablemedia.com.
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American Bridge 21st Century is a progressive research and communications organization committed to holding Republicans accountable for their words and actions and helping you ascertain when Republican candidates are pretending to be something they’re not.
UltraViolet PAC is a community of over one million people spanning every state and congressional district who fight to end sexism and expand equality at the ballot box and beyond.