The Democrat Party loves to tout itself as the party for women and scrutinize the GOP for its supposed lack of women lawmakers. But not anymore.
103 Republican women candidates are running for House seats in the 2018 midterms compared to the “48 in the previous election cycle.”
Also, why am I shocked that this news has only appeared at The Hill? I cannot find it anywhere else. Maybe because it goes against the narrative?
From The Hill:
“The number of female candidates on the Republican side doubling is not an accident,” said Matt Mackowiak, a GOP strategist. “That is a result of a disciplined effort to recruit strong female candidates, both from the party directly, but also from outside groups that believe female candidates give them a better chance to hold, and perhaps expand, their majority.”Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), the youngest female member ever elected to Congress and a rising GOP star, is getting credit for the record-breaking recruitment efforts.After House Republicans struggled to add female members to their ranks in the last election cycle, Stefanik, 33, was tapped to lead candidate recruitment for the House GOP’s campaign arm, becoming the first woman to ever hold the position.
Granted, the Democrats have 305 women running for House this year and that includes six incumbents.
Six GOP women lawmakers in the House “have decided to either retire or seek higher office.” Without them, the GOP’s women representation drops to 25%. Jesse Hunt, the national press secretary for the NRCC, said that some the party’s “strongest candidates” are women “in competitive districts.”
Conservative women formed Maggie’s List eight years ago to counter the powerful EMILY’s List, a prominent liberal organization that recruits women. Maggie’s List noticed a change among Republican women:
But Missy Shorey, national executive director of Maggie’s List, says the eight-year-old organization has increasingly seen more Republican women interested in running for office and that fewer of them need encouragement to do so — which has long been the biggest barrier to recruitment efforts.Part of the reason, she says, is that women are now able to witness other prominent female Republicans who are able to balance their busy congressional careers with other duties, like being a mother.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) made history when she became the youngest female elected to Congress. She has remained a strong force within the government and the GOP made her the top person “to lead candidate recruitment for the House GOP’s campaign arm, becoming the first woman to ever hold the position.”
Back in 2015, she told an audience how to get women to run for public office:
49 women candidates in House, Senate, and state-wide elections have received an endorsement from Maggie’s List:
Shorey, however, stressed that it’s about the quality, not quantity, of the female candidates — and knowing when someone is a good fit for a race.“Does she have a path victory? And does she have a background that will lend itself to victory as well? Those things have to be there,” Shorey said. “Then you encourage that woman, help them raise money and endorse them in a public way.”
While the Democrats concentrate on sex, race, and sexual orientation, it’s crucial that selection of the correct people happen on the merits and not on the above-mentioned criteria. I don’t know about you, but I don’t look at the race, sex, or sexual orientation of candidates. I look at their platform. Diversity is great, but if you have a horrid platform and a sketchy corrupt background the answer from me is ‘no.’
Other women founded Value in Electing Women (VIEW) PAC in 1997 and RightNOW Women PAC in 2014.
I Googled “GOP women house” and found a few articles that noted the high number of GOP women running, but none in a positive light.
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