Blog

  • Is 2020 the Year of the Republican Woman? Women’s PAC support for Republican Women Candidates Suggests Otherwise

    Women’s gains to Congress in the 2018 midterm elections were party specific. That year nearly three dozen new Democratic women, and just one Republican woman, were elected to the U.S. House. As Republican women’s membership in the House shrunk to 13, Representative Elise Stefanik (NY-21) promised to “play in primaries” to increase the number of Republican...

  • Resources for the 19th Amendment Centennial

    This August marks the 100th anniversary of the ratification and adoption of the 19th Amendment, which extended the right to vote to American women nationwide. Though full suffrage for all women, specifically women of color, would continue to be denied for many more decades through discriminatory legislation, political machinations, and domestic terrorism...

  • Election Results

    New All-Woman Contests to Watch in Maine and Texas

    Congressional primaries were held on Tuesday in Maine and primary runoffs were held in Alabama and Texas. Some contests remain too close to call, so this post will be updated as results are determined. Full context about women in the 2020 elections, including candidate lists, summaries, results from previous primaries, and historical comparisons, are...

  • Republican Women are Breaking Barriers this Year. Here's the Context.

    With about two-thirds of congressional primaries wrapped up, Republican women have already broken records for candidacies and nominations to the U.S. House. Some journalists and pundits are asking whether 2020 might be for Republican women what 2018 was for Democratic women. In 2018, a cohort of overwhelmingly Democratic women ran for and were elected to...

  • Election Results

    Amy Kennedy Secures Democratic Nomination in Hotly Contested U.S. House Race

    Congressional primaries were held on Tuesday in New Jersey. Some contests remain too close to call, so this post will be updated as results are determined. Full context about women in the 2020 elections, including candidate lists, summaries, results from previous primaries, and historical comparisons, are available via the Center for American Women and...

  • The Masculinity Trap in Electoral Politics

    In another record year for women candidates, U.S. politics is still dominated by men and masculinity. Political candidates and practitioners have the power to change that, but too often they engage in tactics that reinforce instead of disrupt expectations that being fit for political leadership means proving you are “man enough” for the job. Take the recent...