EMILY's List PAC to give Kamala Harris $10 million boost

EMILY's List, a political action committee that aims to elect female candidates who are pro-abortion, will reportedly be spending "tens of millions of dollars" to boost Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2024 election.

Politico reported that "such an investment in support of a sitting vice president is politically unprecedented," adding that the funding "reflects the lack of broader efforts that have been made to date to help bolster the vice president amid persistently low approval ratings."

EMILY’s List states that the organization’s efforts helped elect or re-elect over 489 pro-abortion candidates to local, state, federal, and gubernatorial offices during the 2022 election cycle, including Katie Hobbs in Arizona, Kathy Hochul in New York, Ilhan Omar in Minnesota, and Pramila Jayapal in Washington.

“A President Harris would be even worse than a President Biden because she campaigned as a progressive fighter and had to moderate herself when she became Biden’s running mate. And to be completely frank, she’s smart. She’s an accomplished prosecutor. She was a United States senator. And she does have the resume to match," a senior Republican strategist told Politico.

“She is a boogeyman that Republicans can [and will] use when it comes to pushing their message," they added.

EMILY’s List president Laphonza Butler, who has been a longtime Harris ally, told the outlet that the funding is not to redefine Harris but rather to "remind" voters of the politician.

“We’re going to tell the story about who she is, what she’s done, support her at every turn and really push back against the massive misinformation and disinformation that’s been directed towards her since she’s been elected,” said Butler.

The PAC is in the planning stages of the exact extent of the investment, but Butler confirmed to the outlet that the investment will be in the tens of millions of dollars range.

When asked what EMILY’s List would spend the money on, Butler said she would not "take anything off the table at this point," adding that the group would target specific voters across the internet.

“Some age groups and demographics get their information from things like YouTube or from TikTok. For some demographics, they are much more interpersonal and in terms of how they get and disseminate information,” Butler added.

“The White House team themselves didn’t fully understand early on the differences that when you have a woman in this role, it has to look different. You have to do it differently. You can’t just do it the way you would with a white man, because again, people have never seen it before,” one ally of Harris told Politico. “Once that narrative, as you say, kind of got set in and, you know, that doesn’t mean it’s accurate.”

EMILY’s List spent around $10 million when it was announced that Harris would be Biden’s running mate.