The Alabama Democratic Women — the official Alabama chapter of the National Federation of Democratic Women — held its first conference over the weekend, hosting more than 200 women at the Hoover Country Club. The event consisted of two panels, a keynote speech from Rep. Merika Coleman, and a surprise video from 2020 presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren that received cheers from across the room, Reckon’s Abbey Crain reported. In her address, Merika Coleman, D-Birmingham, highlighted the bills passed by the women in the Alabama legislature last session, including Rep. Adline Clark’s, D-Mobile, passage of the equal pay bill and Rep. Linda Coleman-Madison’s, D-Birmingham, bill requiring prisons to provide incarcerated women feminine hygiene products. And she pointed to the bills Democratic women should be looking out for this session, including the bill named for Aniah Blanchard that would set up an alert system for missing people ages 18-64 and the extreme risk protection order, which would remove guns from people who show signs of harming themselves or others. In Warren’s submitted video, she offered support for Doug Jones and emphasized the importance of the 2020 election. “We all know, when women fight, women win,” Warren said. “We saw it in 2018, and we’re going to see it again in 2020. This is the most important election of our lifetimes and we need to win the White House, take back the Senate, including my good friend Doug Jones and win up and down the ballet. Stay in the fight and persist.” According to an ADW spokesperson, all presidential candidates were given opportunities to send in a video message, but Warren’s was the only response received. Read more from the conference here. |
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