Skip to content Bloomberg the Company & Its Products The Company & its Products Bloomberg Terminal Demo Request Bloomberg Anywhere Remote Login Bloomberg Anywhere Login Bloomberg Customer Support Customer Support Menu Search Bloomberg Businessweek Sign In Sign Out Subscribe Home Markets Technology Politics Wealth Pursuits Opinion Businessweek New Economy Green CityLab Video Podcasts Radio Newsletters Watchlist Subscribe Sign in Submit a Tip Help Center License Read Bloomberg New Economy Future Finance Wealth Next China Crypto Checkout Hyperdrive Well Spent Prognosis Equality Good Business Billionaires Graphics Sponsored Content Screentime Retirement Center Watch The David Rubenstein Show Art + Technology Inspire GO Special Reports Where to Invest $10,000 50 Companies to Watch in 2018 Where to Invest $1 Million Follow Facebook Twitter Instagram LinkedIn Read Economics Deals The FIX | Fixed Income ETFs FX Factor Investing Markets Magazine Watch Daybreak Surveillance Markets What’d You Miss Real Yield Charting Futures Futures in Focus Follow Twitter Facebook Data Stocks Currencies Commodities Rates & Bonds Sectors Economic Calendar Listen What Goes Up Stephanomics Odd Lots Surveillance P&L Trillions Read Work Shifting Code Wars Startups AI Mobile Big Data Cloud Computing U.S.Global Special Reports The Elon Musk Tracker Tesla Model 3 Tracker Watch Bloomberg Technology TV Studio 1.0 Listen Decrypted Follow Twitter Facebook Read Election 2020 Trump Tracker Global Trade Tracker Listen Sound On Bloomberg Law Watch Balance of Power Subscribe Balance of Power Follow Twitter Facebook Read Investing Living Opinion & Advice Savings & Retirement Taxes Reinvention Watch Good Money Listen The Paycheck Follow Twitter Facebook Instagram Read Travel Autos Homes Living Culture Style Special Reports Property Listings London Property Prices New York Property Prices How to Spend Your Bonus Watch Made Traveler Invitation Only Follow Twitter Facebook Instagram Read Editorials Follow Twitter Facebook Instagram Listen Masters in Business Subscribe Bloomberg Opinion Today Money Stuff Ritholtz’s Reads Early Returns Sparklines Special Reports Sooner Than You Think Business of Equality The Year Ahead: 2020 The Bloomberg 50 Best B-Schools Watch Hello World The Magazine Subscribe Follow Twitter Facebook Instagram Watch New Economy Conversation Series Listen Stephanomics Subscribe Turning Points Follow Twitter Facebook New Economy Forum Read Science & Energy Climate Adaptation Finance Politics Culture & Design Special Reports Data Dash Subscribe Daily newsletter Follow Twitter Facebook Instagram Read Design Culture Transportation Economy Environment Housing Justice Government Subscribe Daily newsletter Follow Twitter Facebook Instagram LinkedIn Watch Live TV US Europe Asia Australia Schedule+Shows Shows Surveillance Daybreak Markets Balance of Power What’d You Miss? Bloomberg Technology All Shows…Series Next Jobs Hello World Storylines Game Changers Profiles Traveler Journey Through South Korea All Series Follow QuickTake YouTube Twitter Facebook Listen What Goes Up Stephanomics Odd Lots Decrypted Masters in Business Surveillance P&L Businessweek The Pay Check Prognosis Travel Genius Works for Me Trillions All Podcasts… All Radio Shows… Record Number GOP Women Voted to Congress, With Scant Party Help A strong showing by first-time candidates should make the GOP reconsider its policy of not making gender a factor in races.
By Rebecca Greenfield @rzgreenfield More stories by Rebecca Greenfield November 5, 2020, 4:00 AM EST Updated on November 5, 2020, 10:29 AM EST At least 31 Republican women will make their way to Congress come January, surpassing a record set in 2006.The mini-swell will add a sliver of gender diversity to a party overwhelmingly run by White men.(By contrast, the 117th Congress will have at least 96 Democratic women.) “There is no doubt about it.
Last night was truly the night of Republican women,” tweeted New York Representative Elise Stefanik , who runs a PAC to get more Republican women elected.
Going into the election, it was all but certain the GOP’s female delegate count would grow.That feat alone wouldn’t have been too impressive—the party lost female representation in 2018, leaving 13 women in the House and 7 in the Senate.Still, its candidates did better than expected.
The big surprises came from candidates prevailing in swing districts expected to go to Democrats.Maria Salazar of Florida and Nicole Malliotakis of New York both ousted incumbents.Meanwhile, Iowa will send an all-female delegation to Congress led by Senator Joni Ernst, who fended off a well-funded challenger.
“One of the lessons is that in order to see gains in representation, you need more women on the ballot,” says Kelly Dittmar , director of research at the Center for American Women and Politics.The problem is, Republican women traditionally have had a hard time making it that far.
Some 250 ran for office this year, a record.But only 102 squeaked through the primaries.The GOP, as a rule, doesn’t get involved in contested primaries, especially not to push through a candidate of a certain gender.“It shouldn’t be based on looking for a specific set of ingredients—gender, race, religion,” National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Emmer has said.
Democrats have a well-funded and well-oiled system to elect female lawmakers up and down the ballot.
Emily’s List , which supports female Democrats in favor of abortion rights, raised 75 times more money than Stefanik’s E-PAC this cycle.
After the 2018 rout for Republican women, Stefanik pledged to play more aggressively in primaries, and actively recruited and supported at least 12 women who’ve won races this cycle.So far, the party apparatus hasn’t followed her lead.But the Nov.3 election results suggest that if it did, gender diversity would follow.
At stake isn’t just a more representative governing body, but also the support of those suburban moms whom Trump, and the party, want desperately to like them.
( Updates first paragraph with election results showing Republican women have broken their record.Corrects error in second paragraph indicating suggesting was a first-time candidate.) Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal.LEARN MORE Have a confidential news tip?
Get in touch with our reporters..
