WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, EMILY’s List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, announced that St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones is a nominee for the ninth annual Gabrielle Giffords Rising Star Award.
“St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones is a bold, groundbreaking, and inspiring leader dedicated to addressing inequalities in St. Louis so that every community member may thrive,” said Laphonza Butler, president of EMILY’s List. “The first African American woman to serve as the mayor of St. Louis, Jones has made history time and time again throughout her career: she was the first African American woman to serve as assistant to the minority leader in the Missouri House of Representatives and as treasurer of the city of St. Louis.
“In her tenure as mayor, Jones has fought tenaciously to advance equity and inclusion. She introduced a racial equity scorecard to emphasize the deep inequalities in St. Louis after promising to keep in mind the ‘disenfranchised, red-lined, and flat-out ignored’ in every decision she makes. This is a promise to which she has stayed true. Throughout her career, Jones has developed numerous programs to enhance financial literacy in order to fight income inequality and promote equitable access to jobs and entrepreneurship. Mayor Jones has also spoken out against the national attacks on reproductive rights, rallying with other Missourian leaders to call for continued abortion access throughout the United States. She is working to create a united, strong, confident, and equitable St. Louis, and EMILY’s List is proud to nominate her for the 2022 Gabrielle Giffords Rising Star Award.”
EMILY’s List supported Mayor Tishaura O. Jones as St. Louis city treasurer, a position she served in from 2013 to 2021, and endorsed her in her successful 2021 run for St. Louis mayor.
About Mayor Tishaura O. Jones
Tishaura O. Jones made history when she was elected as the first African American woman to serve as mayor of St. Louis. Her historic achievements didn’t start there – she was the first African American woman to serve as assistant to the minority leader in the Missouri House of Representatives and treasurer of the city of St. Louis. Her programs have advanced public safety, increased investment in small businesses, and improved opportunities for children, youth, and families.
About the Gabrielle Giffords Rising Star Award
Named in honor of the dedicated and courageous Gabrielle Giffords, the Rising Star Award celebrates an extraordinary woman serving in state or local office. The award honors a woman who demonstrates the sort of commitment to community, dedication to women and families, and determination and civility that have been the highlights of former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ career, in and out of office. Previous Rising Star Award recipients include former Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams in 2014, former Boston City Councilwoman Ayanna Pressley in 2015, former Colorado House Speaker Crisanta Duran in 2016, Philadelphia City Councilwoman Helen Gym in 2017, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx in 2018, California Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo in 2019, former Ohio House Minority Leader Emilia Sykes in 2020, and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo in 2021.
The Gabrielle Giffords Rising Star Award winner will be chosen with community input. Online voting can be found here.
St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones is nominated alongside:
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Vernetta Alston, North Carolina state representative
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Kate Gallego, Phoenix mayor
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Cecelia González, Nevada state representative
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Christina Haswood, Kansas state representative
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Bee Nguyen, Georgia state representative
EMILY’s List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, has raised over $700 million to elect Democratic pro-choice women candidates. With a grassroots community of over five million members, EMILY’s List helps Democratic women win competitive campaigns – across the country and up and down the ballot – by recruiting and training candidates, supporting and helping build strong campaigns, researching the issues that impact women and families, running nearly $50 million in independent expenditures in the last cycle alone, and turning out women voters and voters of color to the polls. Since our founding in 1985, we have helped elect the country’s first woman as vice president, 159 women to the House, 26 to the Senate, 16 governors, and more than 1,300 women to state and local office. More than 40% of the candidates EMILY’s List has helped elect to Congress have been women of color. After the 2016 election, more than 60,000 women reached out to EMILY’s List about running for office laying the groundwork for the next decade of candidates for local, state, and national offices. In our effort to elect more women in offices across the country, we have created our Run to Win program, expanded our training program, including a Training Center online, and trained thousands of women.
