DNC Women’s Media Director Elizabeth Renda released the following statement condemning the Virginia House Republicans on the Privileges and Elections Committee, led by Republican Delegate Mark Cole, who refused to hear resolutions that would have advanced ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), blocking a full vote on the floor of the House of Delegates:

“Delegate Mark Cole and his fellow Republicans in the House of Delegates may believe that they’ve taken away Virginia’s chance to make history by ratifying the ERA, but they are mistaken. This fight is far from over. These shameful efforts to obstruct the progress of equality for women in America will be remembered in history for exactly what they are: partisan-fueled, obstructionist politics at its worst. An overwhelming majority of Virginians support the ratification of the ERA, and they are watching closely as Cole and his cronies on the Privileges and Elections Committee play their petty, political games to refuse women equal rights under the law. Democrats in the Virginia House and across the country will never stop fighting and leading for women’s equality.”