With Pressley Win, Massachusetts Will Send its First Woman of Color to Congress

From March to December 2018, the Barbara Lee Family Foundation (BLFF) and the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) partnered to offer Gender Watch 2018, which tracked, analyzed, and illuminated gender dynamics in the 2018 midterm elections. With the help of expert scholars and practitioners, Gender Watch 2018 furthered public understanding of how gender influences candidate strategy, voter engagement and expectations, media coverage, and electoral outcomes in campaigns. The blog below was written for Gender Watch 2018, as part of our collective effort to raise questions, suggest answers, and complicate popular discussions about gender’s role U.S. elections.

Primaries were held on Tuesday in Massachusetts. Full results, including candidate lists, summaries, and historical comparisons, are available via the Center for American Women and Politics’ (CAWP) Election Watch page.

Among the most notable results:

• Ayanna Pressley was successful in her challenge to incumbent Representative Michael Capuano in the Democratic primary in Massachusetts’ 7th congressional district. With no Republican challenger this November, Pressley is set to become the first woman of color to represent Massachusetts in Congress.
• All 6 (3D, 3R) women candidates for statewide executive office in Massachusetts ran unopposed in their primaries, yielding 6 (3D, 3R) nominations for women and two all-female contests for state auditor and state treasurer.

U.S. Senate

Incumbent Senator Elizabeth Warren was uncontested in her bid for the Democratic nomination for re-election. Among Republicans, the only female candidate – Beth Lindstrom – was defeated.

U.S. House

Women are 3 of 13 (23.1%) major-party nominees already selected for U.S. House in Massachusetts, including 2 of 8 (25%) Democrats and 1 of 5 (20%) Republicans. 6 (6D) women House candidates were unsuccessful and one Democratic woman is in a race that is too close too call as of Wednesday morning.

• Incumbent Representative Katherine Clark was unopposed in her bid for the Democratic nomination, while incumbent Representative Niki Tsongas (D) is not running for re-election this year.
• 5 women ran for the Democratic nomination to replace Representative Tsongas in Massachusetts’ 3rd congressional district. As of Wednesday morning, the race is too close too call, although Lori Trahan declared victory.
• Ayanna Pressley (D) defeated incumbent Representative Mike Capuano in MA-07 and is unopposed this fall.
• In MA-02, Tracy Lovvorn won the Republican nomination to challenge incumbent Jim McGovern (D) in a race that strongly favors the incumbent.

Of the 3 nominees for the U.S. House already selected, just one – Ayanna Pressley – is a woman of color. With no Republican opponent this fall, Pressley is set to become the first woman of color to represent Massachusetts in Congress. She is also the 39th Black woman nominee for the U.S. House selected this year.

According to CAWP, there are now 39 (33D, 6R) Black women nominees for the U.S. House in 2018, including 22 (17D, 5R) non-incumbents. In addition, Brenda Jones is the special election nominee in Michigan’s 13th congressional district, where she’d serve until January if successful.

Statewide Elected Executive Office

Women currently hold 4 of 6 statewide elected executive offices in Massachusetts. This year, 6 of 12 (50%) major-party nominees for statewide executive offices in Massachusetts are women, including 3 of 6 (50%) Democratic and 3 of 6 (50%) Republican nominees.

• There are two all-women general election contests for statewide executive office:
  • Incumbent State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg (D) will be challenged by Keiko Orrall (R) in November. Both were unopposed in their primaries.
  • Incumbent State Auditor Suzanne Bump (D) will be challenged by Helen Brady (R) in November. Both were unopposed in their primaries.
• Unopposed in her primary, incumbent Lieutenant Governor Kathryn Polito (R) will run for re-election this fall.
• Unopposed in her primary, incumbent Attorney General Maura Healy (D) will run for re-election this fall.

Of the 6 women nominees for statewide executive offices in Massachusetts, one is a woman of color. If elected, Republican challenger for state treasurer Keiko Orrall, who is Asian American, would be the first woman of color to serve in statewide elected executive office in Massachusetts.