INDIANAPOLIS — The National Organization for Women has elected a 56-year-old Maryland woman as its next president in a close win over a rival who had been endorsed by the group's current president.
NOW said Terry O'Neill defeated Latifa Lyles, a 33-year-old woman from Washington, D.C., during the organization's three-day national conference in Indianapolis. The group did not release totals from Saturday's vote.
Lyles, a NOW vice president, had been endorsed by NOW President Kim Gandy, who will retire from NOW on July 20 after eight years as president.
Gandy had said that Lyles, who would have been NOW's youngest president ever, would "take NOW to a different level" by recognizing the nation's "generational shift."
O'Neill, a former NOW vice president, is an attorney who serves on NOW's national board.
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She said in a prepared statement that she was "honored and eager" to lead NOW.
"My experience with domestic violence as an abused wife left me humiliated and embarrassed. I only began to talk about this publicly five years ago, as I realized that to keep quiet was to continue the abuse. I want to empower women, and telling my story does just that," she said.
