With elections in California, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota, June 7th was a packed primary day. The outcomes brought the races one step closer to the general elections in November and presented one note for the history books: an update to the record for number of women in Congress.
Voters in California's 22nd Congressional District elected Republican Connie Conway in a special election to fill Rep. Devin Nunes' seat for the remainder of his term. Once Conway is sworn in, she will raise the total number of women in Congress to 146. She will also reset the records for the number of women in the House up to 122 and number of Republican women in Congress to 40.
Conway served in the California State Assembly representing District 26 from 2008 to 2014 and was minority leader from 2011 to 2014. She decided to make a run for Congress after Nunes announced in December of 2021 that he would end his 19-year stint in the House in order to run former President Donald Trump's social media company.
During the campaign, Conway garnered endorsements from both Trump and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. She was also favored to beat out Democrat Lourin Hubbard, a state water department operations manager, due to the current Republican lean of the district. Neither candidate chose to run for a full term in November, so Conway's win amounts to a six-month term. Still, Kelly Dittmar, director of research at the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) at Rutgers University, says her win is significant.
"Every time we hit a new milestone for women's representation, it's important," says Dittmar. "It indicates progress—which is good—but then it also reminds us how much progress is left to be made."
Despite progress being made, women are still far outnumbered in the legislative branch. With Conway added to the official roster, women claim just over 27% representation in Congress and 28% in the House. As it stands, seven special elections for the 117th Congress remain on the calendar. A few of those races have female candidates on the ballot, so it’s not entirely out of the question for another woman to head to the Capitol before the year's end.
Looking ahead to the 118th Congress, it remains to be seen if the new class of lawmakers will once again break records for women as the recent sessions of Congress have. While quite a few filing deadlines remain, women currently make up roughly 27% of major party candidates for the House and 23% of candidates for the Senate, compared to 29% and 35%, respectively, in 2020, according to CAWP. For the remaining 2022 elections, Dittmar is especially tuned into the handful of all-women contests already set.
"We normalize the idea of all-male races," says Dittmar. "They are the standard; nobody keeps a count of them. Counting and singling out woman versus woman races, though, provides some indication of the magnitude by which we are normalizing the representation of women in these contests."
For those keeping scores, these races can also offer a preview of what's to come in November regarding the overall representation of women. "When we have an all-woman race, we can be almost entirely assured that a woman is going to win that seat,” says Dittmar. “Then we can see potential gains or retentions earlier on in a cycle.”
Even so, with the primary season underway and filing deadlines left on the calendar, Dittmar and her colleagues are hesitant to place bets on the final counts just yet. After all, "anything can happen before an election."
"now" - Google News
June 10, 2022 at 11:58PM
https://ift.tt/Oq2VRc5
A Record Number Of Women Will Now Serve In Congress - Forbes
"now" - Google News
https://ift.tt/quRrS9E
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "A Record Number Of Women Will Now Serve In Congress - Forbes"
Post a Comment