1 – Representative Gabrielle Giffords – Arizona Congresswoman, shot in the head during a neighborhood constituent gathering at a supermarket. It remains unknown whether she will run for Congress in 2012.

2 – Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz – Florida Congresswoman appointed to the head of the Democratic National Committee.

3 – Representative Kathy Hochul – Democrat from New York wins special election to Congress in a heavily Republican seat on the Medicare issue.

4 – Senator Patty Murray – Democratic Senator from Washington was the only woman to be selected to serve on the Super committee.

5 – Christine Lagarde – French finance minister appointed as the first female to head the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

6 – Angela Merkel – German Chancellor held Europe together during a financial and monetary crisis.

7- Missouri State Representative Stacey Newman – forms Progress Women organization to engage more Missouri progressive women in the political process.

8 – Senator Kirsten Gillibrand – New York Senator launches Off the Sidelines organization, dedicated to bringing more women in to the political arena.

9 – Representative Michele Bachmann – Only female candidate in Republican primary for president.

10 – Elizabeth Warren – Harvard professor and President Obama’s former key advisor on consumer protection, running against incumbent Senator Scott Brown in Massachusetts.

11 – Maggie Tinsman/Jean Lloyd-Jones – Former Iowa state senators form bi-partisan organization, Iowa 50/50 in 2020, to recruit and train women to run for public office in Iowa.

12 – Hillary Clinton – United States Secretary of State, continues to earn high marks for her international diplomacy and advocacy for women’s rights around the world.

13 – Betty Ford – Former First Lady and advocate for addiction treatment and breast cancer, died at age 93.

14 – Geraldine Ferraro – First female vice presidential candidate from a major party, died at age 75.

15 – Mayors Edna Jackson and Karen Freeman-Wilson – First African American women mayors in Savannah Georgia and Gary Indiana.

Thank you to the hundreds of brave women who stepped up to run for office in 2011. Here’s hoping that you will run again when the timing is right.  We need you!