Raskin Announces Endorsement from 9 Former Presidents of Woman's Democratic Club of Montgomery County

Press Release

With fewer than 100 days left until the April 26th Primary Election, Maryland Senator Jamie Raskin announced the endorsement of nine former presidents of the region's leading woman's political group in Montgomery County.

"The support of these key Democratic leaders is big news and shows Senator Raskin's broad and deep support among women in the 8th District," said Raskin's Deputy Campaign Manager Christa Burton. "Jamie has been endorsed by the Sierra Club, Attorney General Brian Frosh and the Congressional Progressive Caucus, but it's hard to think of a more important grassroots endorsement in this campaign than from the women who've led our local Democratic forces for over four decades and created one of the strongest county Democratic parties in America."

Dorothy Barthelmes, Madeleine Sigel, Roberta Hochberg, Anne Healy, Susan Messitte, Daphne Bloomberg, Carole Brand, Jane Merkin and Beth Tomasello, all of whom served as president of the Woman's Democratic Club of Montgomery County, have enthusiastically endorsed Raskin's surging campaign for Congress in the 8th District. Their collective leadership over the largest and most active Democratic club in Montgomery County spans four decades, dating back to 1973.

Carole Brand, who served two terms as President (1999-2001, 2001-2003), said, "Jamie is an effective, proven legislator, responsive to constituents' concerns, and with a strong record of working hard to make life better for the citizens of Maryland. That's why Jamie Raskin is my choice for Congress!"

The former presidents' backing of Raskin's congressional candidacy underscores a groundswell of endorsements he has received from women political leaders across the 8th Congressional District. More than 550 women have enlisted in the Women Win With Jamie team, a grassroots effort to spread his message of effective progressive leadership to woman voters throughout the Congressional District.

Another former president, Jane Merkin (President 2011-2013), stated that Senator Raskin "knows how to work across the aisle, how to build coalitions and how to compromise. These are the skills which we all know are currently lacking in the U.S. Congress -- and which Jamie will bring to a Capitol Hill that sorely needs them." Merkin pointed to Raskin's leadership in the successful fights for marriage equality, voting rights, gun safety and environmental protection.

The Woman's Democratic Club, formerly known as the Woman's Suburban Democratic Club of Montgomery County, is an activist group of political women and men, including those in the legislature and prominent in state and county government. Founded in 1956 by women who ran Adlai Stevenson's Bethesda campaign office, the club began its tradition of hosting stellar speakers in 1957 by featuring Eleanor Roosevelt. Senator Raskin has been a dues-paying member of the club, as well as a featured speaker, for nearly 15 years.

Among Raskin's most recent supporters is Town of Chevy Chase council member Kathy Strom, a three-term former mayor of the Town of Chevy Chase. Strom joined 11 other female elected officials within the 8th District who support Raskin's campaign, including Senators Susan Lee and Karen Montgomery, Delegates Sheila Hixson, Kathleen Dumais, and Karen Lewis Young, Glen Echo Mayor Debbie Beers, Takoma Park Mayor Kate Stewart, Chevy Chase Board of Managers member Minh Le, Board of Education current and former members Patricia O'Neill, Judith Docca, Rebecca Smondrowski and Shirley Brandman.

"This news is enormously gratifying," said Senator Raskin. "These endorsements are worth their weight in gold because serious grassroots support like this is earned over years of hard work, common struggle and public service and cannot be bought. I look forward to continuing to work with these great activists for victory in April and November and for big progress in Congress and in America."

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