Szakos endorsed by Virginia NOW PAC

Virginia NOW PAC, sponsored by the National Organization for Women, has endorsed our City Council candidate Kristin Szakos.

"It's a pleasure to inform you that the Virginia NOW PAC has endorsed your candidacy, with high praise for the responses to our questionnaire," Wednesday's announcement said. The questionnaire asked candidates how they would support policies that benefit equality and welfare of women in Virginia.

The NOW PAC generally endorses candidates for state-level office. "I'm delighted to have their support," Szakos said. "The decades of work by the National Organization for Women have helped to make it possible for me to run for office. My mother became a member in the first years of NOW, in the mid-60s, and my own ideas about what is possible for women was shaped in large part by her participation in that organization."

Virginia ranks 41st in the nation for women in elected office. If Szakos wins a seat on the Charlottesville City Council, it will be one of the few times the Council has had more than one woman at a time. (Councilor Holly Edwards is in the middle of her four-year term.)

Kristin has committed to accepting no funding from organizational PACs, so the endorsement carries no financial award, but local NOW president Kobby Hoffman said the organization will "inform our members of our endorsements and urge them to volunteer and contribute."

To contribute to Kristin's campaign fund in honor of the NOW PAC endorsement, send a check to Kristin for Council/City Dems '09, P.O. Box 916, Charlottesville, VA 22902.