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Women finally earned the right to vote 91 years ago today – after 72 years of largely unappreciated, back-breaking, work. It took another 66 years before we elected the first Democratic Senator in her own right – today Barbara Mikulski is the longest serving female Senator. And she shares the chamber with 11 other Democratic women. I’m proud and lucky to be a part the community of campaign staffers who has worked to get women elected. The work that we have all been able to do is because of the women who paved the way for us and 91 years later, there have been over 100 pro-choice Democratic women elected to the halls of the U.S. Congress, and more than 500 women to state and local office. And those are the women who are standing up for us fighting everyday – but there aren’t enough. We’ve seen what happens when Republicans are in charge – since day one it’s been an all-out war on women and families: they’ve tried to repeal health care reform, strip funding for family planning, eliminate collective bargaining, gut education, end Medicare, and destroy the economic safety net for many Americans. If we stand together – just like we’ve done so many times already this year – we can stop the Republicans and elect people who will fight for us every day. I can tell you right now, 2012 will be game changer if women get to the polls. So on the 91st anniversary of the 19th Amendment, I’m asking women across the country to stand up and pledge to vote in 2012. The suffragists paved the way for our success – and now, it’s up to us to continue their fight. We have the chance to change things in 2012 – by mobilizing our families and friends and getting women to the polls to help elect Democrats up and down the ticket. With each race we win, each new staffer that is trained, each blog we write, we are working toward that victory, but we need everyone together. There is so much we can do and after 75 years of struggle for suffrage we must be united in standing for those who will always stand for women and families. I want to take this anniversary to thank all of those brave women who came before me, and all of those young women just joining the fight. The suffragists gave us the right to vote in 1920, and in 2012, I’m sure as heck going to use it. Crossposted from EMILY’s List Blog