About Us

Changing the face of power


Emerge California trains Democratic women leaders to run for elected office and win. We empower women who have the life experience, passion, and resolve to reimagine, rebuild, and fight for a just and equitable California.

Applications for the Emerge California Class of 2024 are now closed.
Applications for the Class of 2025 will open in June 2024.
Please sign up for our email list here to be updated when applications open!

Our program equips leaders with the resources, knowledge, connections, and community necessary to run for office and win. Since 2002, we have recruited and trained more than 850 Democratic women across California. When Emerge California alumnae run for office, they win nearly 70% of the time. That’s why today, more than 200 of our alums are serving in elected office.

We intentionally recruit women who represent the New American Majority — Black, Brown and Indigenous women, women of color, LGBTQ+ women, young, and unmarried women.

In 2002, women made up 22% of state legislatures. In response, a group of women gathered around a coffee table determined to change those numbers, with recruitment and training at the center of their efforts. Out of their work, a powerful network EMERGED, first in California and then expanding around the country, to change the face of leadership at all levels of elected office.

Have YOU ever thought about changing the world as an elected leader?