Goodman’s new aim: Help women win elections

Pamela Goodman has left the state League of Women Voters to take on a more overtly partisan job — helping female Democratic candidates win elections in Florida.

Goodman, of Palm Beach Gardens, is the new executive director of Ruth’s List Florida.

Ruth’s List doesn’t focus on all Democratic women. The organization recruits, trains and raises money for progressive candidates for state and local offices who favor abortion rights.

Goodman said in a statement that this is a “critical time for women to make huge leaps in winning elected seats in Florida’s government.”

Named after Ruth Bryan Owen, the first woman elected to the U.S. House from the South, representing Florida from 1929 to 1933, Ruth’s List is a state-level version of the national organization Emily’s List.

During the last decade, Ruth’s List said it has spent $4 million and trained more than 1,600 female candidates, 69 of whom have been elected. In 2016, Ruth’s List said it contributed to 26 victories.

Goodman, 62, became a statewide political voice during almost three years she served as president of the League of Women Voters of Florida. Before that, she spent six years as first vice president of the state league and four years as president of the Palm Beach County league.

In the aftermath of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre, in which 17 people were killed and 17 were injured, Goodman led League efforts to lobby for a ban on assault weapons and against moves to allow arming of school personnel.

Goodman was a speaker at the gun-control rally at the Federal Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale three days after the