Candidate for Iowa’s Secretary of State Earns Endorsement from Nation’s Leading Pro-Choice Advocacy Group
For Immediate Release: April 12, 2018
Contact: [email protected]
NARAL Pro-Choice America today announced its endorsement of Deidre DeJear in her bid for Iowa Secretary of State.
“As Iowans’ voting rights are under near-constant attack, we need people like Deidre DeJear fighting to ensure that every single Iowan’s right to vote is protected and unobstructed,” said Nicole Brener-Schmitz, political director of NARAL Pro-Choice America. “We know she’ll fight to make it easier for everyday Iowans to exercise their right to vote, especially working moms on a schedule that works for them, and we’re confident she will do everything she can to fight extreme partisanship in service of protecting the state’s democratic process. We’re proud to stand with Deidre.”
“I am proud to have NARAL’s endorsement in our race. In the fight for equality for all, we need champions at all levels of government, and the work NARAL is doing to elect leaders across the country is more critical than ever,” said DeJear. “Earlier this session, the Iowa GOP attempted to pass one of the most restrictive anti-choice bills in the country. Partisanship is tainting our moral compass and unfortunately, the right to exercise one’s vote is also in jeopardy. We need Secretary of States who will take partisanship out of that office, not impose unnecessary restrictions like voter ID and unfairly drawn district boundaries. Our most fundamental right should be sacred—the right to vote.”
DeJear has dedicated her career to bettering her community, focusing on the issue of voter engagement. She developed and implemented a program to educate, motivate, and mobilize low-propensity voters, which resulted in over 5,000 new registrants and more than doubled African American turnout in Iowa in 2012. In 2005, she co-founded Back 2 School Iowa, a non-profit dedicated to collaborating with communities and corporations in order to provide resources to inspire youth in continuing their education and build their careers. In 2008 DeJear began her own small business, Caleo Enterprises that provides entrepreneurs affordable marketing tools and business strategies. If elected, she will be the first black woman to hold statewide office in Iowa.
NARAL Pro-Choice America and its network of state affiliates are dedicated to protecting and expanding reproductive freedom for all Americans. NARAL works to guarantee that every woman has the right to make personal decisions regarding the full range of reproductive choices, including preventing unintended pregnancy, bearing healthy children, and choosing legal abortion. In recognition of its work defending our constitutional right to choose, Fortune Magazine described NARAL as “one of the top 10 advocacy groups in America.”
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