Georgia State Rep. Bee Nguyen to receive EMILY’s List award

WASHINGTON — EMILY’s List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, announced that the 2022 Gabrielle Giffords Rising Star Award will be awarded to Georgia state Rep. Bee Nguyen. The award will be presented at the We Are EMILY Gala on May 3, which will feature a panel with the nominees moderated by journalist Joan Walsh.

“EMILY’s List is thrilled to announce that Georgia state Rep. Bee Nguyen is the recipient of the 2022 Gabrielle Giffords Rising Star Award,” Laphonza Butler, president of EMILY’s List, announced in a news release. “Rep. Nguyen made history when she became the first Asian American Democratic woman elected to the Georgia General Assembly. Nguyen has shaped history through her fierce defense of democracy during her time in office as she led the successful effort to restore voting rights to over 53,000 people impacted by a racist voter suppression policy in Georgia and fought back against the Trump campaign’s false claims of fraud after the 2020 presidential election. Rep. Nguyen fiercely advocates at the intersection of reproductive choice and voting rights, challenging the employment of voter suppression tactics to pass anti-choice legislation. She is a proven champion of voting rights, reproductive freedom, and equality.

“Rep. Nguyen has also tirelessly advocated for women’s empowerment and gender equality, and we are honored to celebrate her record of fearless leadership. Before being elected, Nguyen founded a nonprofit that works with young women in Atlanta’s under-resourced communities, offering personal and professional development opportunities. As a fellow at the Georgia Women’s Policy Institute, she also advocated to lawmakers on behalf of survivors of sexual assault, ensuring that their needs would no longer be ignored or silenced by those in power. This award is intended to honor an exceptional woman serving in state or local office, and here at EMILY’s List, we believe that Rep. Bee Nguyen’s pursuit of justice and contributions to our democracy are nothing short of extraordinary.”

EMILY’s List endorsed Nguyen in the 2017 special election for House District 89 to fill the State House seat vacated by Stacey Abrams, and in Nguyen’s campaign for the State House in 2020. EMILY’s List has endorsed Nguyen in her current race for Georgia secretary of state.

In 2017, Nguyen became the first Asian-American Democratic woman elected to the Georgia legislature. She founded a nonprofit dedicated to empowering and educating young women and for 10 years served as its executive director. As a state representative, Nguyen has worked to advocate for voting rights, public education, and criminal justice reform. She is a graduate of Georgia State University and received a Master of Public Administration degree from the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies.

Named in honor of Gabrielle Giffords, the Rising Star Award celebrates an extraordinary woman serving in state or local office. The award honors a woman who demonstrates the sort of commitment to community, dedication to women and families, and determination and civility that have been the highlights of former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ career, in and out of office. Previous Rising Star Award recipients include former Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams in 2014, former Boston City Councilwoman Ayanna Pressley in 2015, former Colorado House Speaker Crisanta Duran in 2016, Philadelphia City Councilwoman Helen Gym in 2017, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx in 2018, California Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo in 2019, former Ohio House Minority Leader Emilia Sykes in 2020, and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo in 2021.

EMILY’s List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, has raised more than $700 million to elect Democratic pro-choice women candidates. With a grassroots community of more than 5 million members, EMILY’s List helps Democratic women win competitive campaigns — across the country and up and down the ballot — by recruiting and training candidates, supporting and helping build strong campaigns, researching the issues that impact women and families, running nearly $50 million in independent expenditures in the last cycle alone, and turning out women voters and voters of color to the polls.