FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 21, 2022
CONTACT: Summer Kim [email protected]
ATLANTA – Care in Action celebrates endorsed candidate Bee Nguyen’s win in the Democratic primary runoff election for Georgia Secretary of State. Care in Action is the national policy and advocacy home for more than 2.5 million domestic workers – home care workers, nannies, and house cleaners. Interviews with Care in Action Georgia State Director Jasmine Bowles, Care in Action Senior Advisor Jenn Stowe, and canvassers are available upon request.
“Bee Nguyen and all our endorsed legislative candidates who have won their primaries will ensure that women and working families are cared for once elected to office,” said Heather Cronk, interim co-executive director of Care in Action. “Heading into the general election this November, domestic workers, who have kept Georgian families afloat during a devastating pandemic, will be out knocking on doors and talking to voters to make sure that these candidates win their elections.”
In recent years, the domestic worker movement has mobilized in record numbers to elect progressive candidates of color who center on the needs of working people. In just three weeks leading up to the primary runoff election, Care in Action Georgia made over 13,700 phone calls and conducted voter outreach in support of Nguyen’s candidacy. Care in Action also made 850,000 calls and knocked on hundreds of doors for Nguyen and 13 other endorsed candidates, including Stacey Abrams for Governor and Nikema Williams for US Congress, leading up to the May primary elections. In the coming months, the organization will conduct voter engagement and outreach to more than a quarter-million voters through phone banking and canvassing.
“The wins of Bee Nguyen and all of our endorsed candidates signal what domestic workers have known all along – that women of color are strong leaders with popular legislative priorities,” said Care in Action Georgia State Director Jasmine Bowles. “There’s too much at stake this fall for us not to be out in full force, and it is all on the ballot. Home care workers, nannies, house cleaners, and their families know that Georgia can do better than we have for the last four years. They know that we can and should have a smart and effective government capable of delivering results for working people all across our state.”
Care in Action is continuing the political legacy of the domestic workers’ movement. In 2018, under the leadership of then-Deputy Director Nikema Williams, Care in Action Georgia endorsed its first class of candidates – all women of color running for office across the state – and ran one of the largest voter-contact programs in the state to elect Stacey Abrams as governor. In 2020, the domestic worker movement contacted voters 27 million times during election season, followed by nearly 6 million voter contact attempts and knocked on over 1 million doors during the Georgia Senate runoffs in the course of only seven weeks. This work helped Georgians send Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock to Washington and gave Democrats control of the U.S. Senate for the first time in six years.
The following endorsed candidates won their primaries:
Georgia Governor
Stacey Abrams
US Congress
Nikema Williams
Georgia Secretary of State
Bee Nguyen
Georgia Senate
Nabilah Islam (SD7)
Nikki Merritt (SD9)*
Georgia House of Representatives
Park Cannon (HD58)*
Kim Schofield (HD63)*
Lydia Glaize (HD67)
Tish Naghise (HD68)
Sandra Scott (HD76)*
Ruwa Romman (HD97)
Shelly Hutchinson (HD106)*
Regina Lewis-Ward (HD115)*
Joyce Barlow (HD151)
* denotes incumbents
Care in Action was founded in 2016 at the request of domestic workers who knew they needed to build political power to fight back against the previous administration’s attacks. Care in Action believes that women of color voters are the key to progressive victories and will elect candidates that support all families and workers in policy decisions, including domestic workers and immigrants. Georgia is a place of purpose and intention for Care in Action — not only did the domestic workers’ movement begin in Atlanta in the 1880s, but Dorothy Lee Bolden also started the modern-day domestic workers’ movement in Atlanta when she founded the National Domestic Workers Union of America in the 1960s. Her one stipulation: every member must register to vote.
Care in Action is the policy and advocacy home for women who care, working on behalf of more than two million domestic workers and care workers across America. Among the fastest-growing sectors in our economy, domestic workers are also among the most vulnerable and undervalued. As a mostly women and majority women of color workforce, this growing constituency consistently and overwhelmingly supports progressive values in American political life. Learn more at www.careinaction.us.
Paid for by Care in Action, Inc. (45 Broadway, Suite 320, New York, NY 10006) and Care in Action, PAC (45 Broadway, Suite 320, New York, NY 10006) and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.