EMILY's List

EMILY's List — the acronym stands for "Early Money Is Like Yeast" (it makes the dough rise) — is the original women's political fundraising powerhouse, and one of the oldest and most transparent PACs in American politics. Founded in 1985, it bundles donations from over 100,000 individual donors to support pro-choice Democratic women candidates, operating as a hybrid PAC that both contributes directly to candidates and runs independent expenditure campaigns. The Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022 transformed EMILY's List from an important but niche operation into one of the most relevant political organizations in America. Fundraising surged as reproductive rights became a dominant political issue, and EMILY's List-backed candidates found that running on abortion rights was a winning strategy in swing districts. The organization's candidate recruitment pipeline — identifying and training women candidates from local office through Congress — became critical infrastructure for the Democratic Party's response to Dobbs. With $80 million in 2024 spending, EMILY's List is the largest PAC dedicated to electing women. Its fundraising model is distinctive: rather than relying on a few mega-donors, EMILY's List bundles thousands of small contributions from its 100,000+ member network. This gives the organization a claim to genuine grassroots support that mega-donor-funded super PACs cannot make. The model also creates a broad base of politically engaged women who serve as volunteers, advocates, and candidates themselves. EMILY's List has been criticized for supporting only Democratic women, declining to endorse pro-choice Republican women. This partisan stance has intensified since Dobbs, as virtually all Republican-appointed judges voted to overturn Roe and virtually all Republican legislators have supported abortion restrictions. The organization argues that supporting Republican women candidates would legitimize a party that is actively restricting reproductive rights, while critics argue that cross-party support for pro-choice women would be more effective at protecting abortion access. The organization's transparency — both in its fundraising (bundled small donations) and its mission (explicitly supporting pro-choice Democratic women) — makes it one of the most straightforward PACs in a landscape dominated by dark money and hidden agendas. When EMILY's List runs an ad, voters know exactly who is paying for it and why.