Close the Gap California

Close the Gap California We are closing the gender gap in the California Legislature by recruiting progressive women to run.

To identify and recruit great women, we are partnering with women's organizations in the progressive advocacy communities focused on fighting poverty and the wage gap, fighting to improve our public schools, and working to ensure affordable access to healthcare for women and their families. We also collaborate with women's civic and political organizations. Our goal: to recruit policy-minded progr

essive women to run for open seats between 2022 and 2028! Women are 48 percent of the California State Legislature today.

Susannah Delano at a recent Filipino-American gathering in Sacramento with Asm Jessica Caloza , Daly City Councilmember...
08/07/2026

Susannah Delano at a recent Filipino-American gathering in Sacramento with Asm Jessica Caloza , Daly City Councilmember Juslyn Manolo and Mountain View Mayor Emily Ramos 🇵🇭

How We Achieve Gender ParityClose the Gap has cracked the code for gender parity in politics.In less than a decade, we d...
08/06/2026

How We Achieve Gender Parity

Close the Gap has cracked the code for gender parity in politics.
In less than a decade, we doubled the number of Democratic women in California’s Legislature.

Now, we’re ready to take that success national.
State and local offices are now the decisive battlegrounds for our democracy. These seats control policy and budgets that touch every American life – and they serve as the talent pipeline for federal office.

If we lose ground in the states, we lose the future of progressive power.
If we invest now, we can secure it for a generation.
closethegapca.org

"Q: What was the most important takeaway from the research?A: We must understand that there’s complexity within voting b...
08/05/2026

"Q: What was the most important takeaway from the research?

A: We must understand that there’s complexity within voting blocs. Black women have complex and contradictory feelings toward Harris as a political candidate, as well as where she fits within the American political landscape.

Q: Were there any comments from participants that stayed with you after the study concluded?

A: One participant, Tanisha, discussed supporting Harris while being frustrated with the Biden-Harris administration. Despite these frustrations, she was strategic in her vote choice and decision-making. [Her comments] challenged the common narrative that Black women supported Harris simply because she is a Black woman. Our focus groups showed that many participants engaged in sophisticated political reasoning, weighing representation alongside experience, policy performance, and the broader implications of the election for American democracy. Even though Tanisha felt frustrated, she didn’t withdraw from electoral politics overall."

Full article: https://www.bu.edu/articles/2026/what-motivates-black-women-voters/

"Women in the Midterms:There are 85 women major-party candidates running for governor across 36 states this year, a numb...
08/04/2026

"Women in the Midterms:

There are 85 women major-party candidates running for governor across 36 states this year, a number that significantly exceeds the previous record of 69, set in 2022.
Fifty-one of those women are Democrats, another record, and 34 are Republicans.

On the congressional level, 580 women are currently major-party contenders for the U.S. House, a figure that is just three away from the 2018 and 2020 record of 583 women candidates.

That record could be broken once Louisiana reaches its candidate filing deadline for the House on Aug. 7, according to CAWP.

The number of Democratic House candidates who are women has already reached an all-time high at 387. The remaining 183 women running are Republicans.

In the Senate, 64 women from major parties are running for a seat, exactly half of them Democrats and half of them Republicans. The record for women Senate candidates was set in 2022 at 70."

https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/number-women-seeking-governors-seat-hits-all-time-high

The State Innovation Exchange (SiX) has released their 2026 Midyear Analysis on State Policy Trends in Sexual and Repro...
07/30/2026

The State Innovation Exchange (SiX) has released their 2026 Midyear Analysis on State Policy Trends in Sexual and Reproductive Health report, detailing how state legislators across the country are working to restrict, or protect, reproductive rights and autonomy. Close the Gap California Legislators are highlights!

SiX outlines how many state legislatures have pursued aggressive restrictions on reproductive healthcare this year, including targeting medications and imposing civil and criminal penalties on those who help individuals access abortion care.
Others are working to protect reproductive freedoms, including California.

The analysis specifically cites AB 2448, authored by Assemblymembers Marc Berman and Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (Close the Gap California Class of 2018), and SB 608 by Senator and Women’s Caucus Vice Chair Caroline Menjivar (Close the Gap California Class of 2022).

*AB 2448:would shield patients and medical providers’ security and privacy from out-of-state prosecution, harassment, or retaliation regarding reproductive and gender-affirming care.
*SB 608:would improve public health and protect youth from sexually transmitted infections by strengthening sexual health education and access to contraception.

Additional 2026 bills aimed at protecting reproductive health care sponsored by Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California include AB 1973 by Majority Leader and Women’s Caucus Chair Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (Close the Gap California Class of 2016) to improve access to safe abortion care by ensuring that California is fully leveraging its reproductive health care workforce, and AB 1876 by Assemblymember Dawn Addis (Close the Gap California Class of 2022) to protect transgender, gender-diverse, and intersex patients from discrimination in health care coverage.

Full report here: https://sixrepro.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/SiXs-2026-Midyear-Analysis-on-State-Policy-Trends-2.pdf?emci=a863990a-7484-f111-b337-000d3a1558ce&emdi=80901ec2-e885-f111-b337-000d3a1558ce&ceid=3497114

Without sustained investment in down-ballot infrastructure to build the leadership pipeline at the state and local level...
07/28/2026

Without sustained investment in down-ballot infrastructure to build the leadership pipeline at the state and local levels, we’re in danger of losing the political long game.

Big tech and business interests have gotten the hint. New Meta, Google, and crypto executive-backed PACs spent millions in 12 state legislative races across the state in the June primary. Half of the progressive Labor-backed candidates they worked to block were CTG Class of 2026 members.

We can’t afford to lose crucial state and local policy fights. Down ballot is where progress is possible in this moment. And it’s where leaders who share our values serve as our best defense against eroding federal protections, and as a model for the rest of the nation.

The Pipeline Fund survey data reveals the difficulty of running down ballot and an urgent need for more support and investment in the political pipeline:

*58%of first-time candidates lacked the support they needed to run effectively.
*Just a1-2% shift in spendingto reallocate federal funding to down-ballot infrastructure (including recruitment orgs like CTG!) couldtransform thousands of campaigns.

We’re recruiting for 2028 RIGHT NOW. We’re not only working to reach gender parity in the California Legislature by (or before!) 2028, we’re doubling down on the pipeline by recruiting for County Boards and bringing our unique strategy to critical battleground states Florida and Ohio.

Pipeline Fund survey: https://www.pipeline.fund/news/new-down-ballot-research-underscores-challenges-facing-candidates-gaps-in-electoral-ecosystem/?emci=c1daf6a4-e673-f111-ac9c-000d3a54bed0&emdi=3a745bba-3176-f111-ac9c-000d3a14b6d6&ceid=3497114

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