John,
I wanted to share some exciting news with you: Virginia Kase Solomón was just named the next president of Common Cause!
Virginia, the current CEO of the League of Women Voters, will be our organization’s tenth president, the third woman, and first Hispanic person to hold the office! Here’s what she had to say about her vision for our pro-democracy agenda:
“I believe that Common Cause plays a unique role in the fabric of our country. Common Cause’s original goal, to be the 'People’s Lobby,' remains critical today as we see our democracy backslide. Together, I believe we can reintroduce Common Cause to a new generation of people in all 50 states -- and become more powerful than ever before.”
We’re excited to get started -- Virginia is a nationally recognized democracy leader who has testified multiple times before Congress on free and fair elections.
In 2020, she was named to People en Español’s Most Powerful Women of the Year list, and in 2022 and 2023, she was named one of the 500 Most Influential People in Washington by Washingtonian Magazine.
There's a lot of important work ahead, and you'll hear directly from Virginia about it soon. But just know this -- Virginia is a lifelong social justice and civil rights advocate:
- At the age of 23, she co-founded a youth-led nonprofit where she organized at-risk youth to build their power and fight for employment and educational opportunities.
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She helped pass the Maryland DREAM Act, which allows undocumented high school graduates who qualify to access in-state tuition at Maryland colleges.
- At the League of Women Voters, she led the “No Excuses Campaign” that successfully pressured President Biden to support carving out voting rights bills from the filibuster.
If you have a message you’d like to share with Virginia as she takes on this new role, please reply to this email and we will pass it along.
With Virginia’s leadership and your help, we’ll continue safeguarding our democracy so it works for all of us -- starting with an even stronger Common Cause.
In Common Cause,
Martha Tierney, Board Chair
and the team at Common Cause
P.S. We’re ready to hit the ground running with Virginia Kase Solomón at the helm. Please consider chipping in to help shape the future of Common Cause.