Tennant to Rally Supporters on Women's Equality Day with Special Guest Helen Holt
Press Release
West Virginia Secretary of State and U.S. Senate nominee Natalie Tennant will host an event today in Charles Town with former Republican West Virginia Secretary of State Helen Holt to commemorate Women's Equality Day. Tennant will lead a rally with West Virginia women, followed by a phone bank to encourage women to vote.
Women's Equality Day is celebrated annually on August 26 to observe the passage of the 19th amendment to the Constitution, which granted women the right to vote.
"This race is not about electing the first woman, it's about electing the best woman for West Virginia. It's about the mom who can't be home to do homework with her kids because she's working two minimum wage jobs -- the young woman entering the workforce only to earn 30 cents less for every dollar her male colleagues make -- and the women depending on Medicare to take care of their elderly parents. I will be their voice in the U.S. Senate," Tennant said.
Ms. Holt is the first woman to hold statewide office in West Virginia, serving as West Virginia's Secretary of State from 1957 to 1959. When Ms. Holt was born in 1913, women did not have the right to vote. Ms. Holt, a Republican, has endorsed Tennant's candidacy for the United States Senate.
"I served as a Republican secretary of state and Natalie's a Democrat, but we both have always shared a willingness to put party affiliation aside and put West Virginia first," Holt said.
At today's event, Tennant will highlight what's at stake for West Virginia women in this election.
Tennant's opponent, Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito, has consistently voted against West Virginia women on important issues:
-Capito has voted five times against Equal Pay, even though West Virginia women, on average, earn just 70 cents for every dollar a man makes.
-Capito has voted eight times against raising the minimum wage, even though 2/3 of all minimum wage workers in West Virginia are women.
-Capito has long championed privatizing Social Security. Without Social Security, more than half of West Virginia women over age 65 would be living in poverty.
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