Republican women trail in race
WASHINGTON — Republicans are struggling to recruit and elect women to Congress and are lagging behind Democrats in ensuring that women, who make up half the population, have a strong voice in the halls of power, experts on women in politics said Tuesday.
Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University in New Jersey, said in an interview with reporters, “This year’s data clearly shows that Republican women are lagging behind in terms of candidacy, nominations and even primary success. “
Democratic women, on the other hand, “not only outperformed their male counterparts, but also were nearly as equal as Democratic men in being nominated and holding office.”
There are currently 126 women in the 435-member U.S. House of Representatives, 34 of whom are Republicans. The Senate consists of 100 members, 25 of whom are women, 9 of whom are Republicans.
Chelsea Hill, data director for the Center for American Women and Politics, explained on the call that while women make up only 31.1% of House election nominees overall, the breakdown shows significant differences between Democratic and Republican politicians.
“Women remain woefully underrepresented among all U.S. House and Senate candidates and nominees,” Hill said. “But Republican women make up a much smaller share of the party’s candidates and nominees than Democratic women.”
She said that Democratic women running for House of Representatives accounted for 45.9% of the party’s candidates, nearly the same as their male colleagues, and that the proportion of female candidates will increase by 2022.
However, the share of Republican women among Republican House candidates this election cycle is 16.2%, which is lower than between 2020 and 2022, Hill said.
In the Senate, women make up 30.9% of general election nominees, with similar proportions among Democrats and Republicans.
Hill said that among the Democratic House candidates, Democratic women accounted for 46.9% of the party’s candidates, which is also close to equality, but among the Republican Senate nominees, women accounted for 17.6%, “the proportion is lower than in the previous three cycles.”
Why are fewer Republican women running for office?
Experts at the Center for American Women and Politics say the disparity among female candidates is largely due to structural differences and differing perceptions among leadership and voters about the importance of women holding public office.
Kelly Dittmar, the center’s research director, said that if party leadership doesn’t see women’s underrepresentation in government as a problem that needs to be addressed, then “it’s going to be very difficult to build this type of support infrastructure — —Whether it’s PACs for women, training, recruiting programs—that’s going to make sure those numbers stay high.
One example of this, Dittmar said, is the decision by House Republican leaders to launch an initiative called “Project Grow” aimed at recruiting female Republican lawmakers into the “Young Guns” program, which focuses more on general recruiting.
“Young Guns” is also the title of a 2010 book by former House Republican leaders Paul Ryan, Eric Cantor and Kevin McCarthy, all men.
Dittmar said the evolution of the Republican Party under former President Donald Trump and changes in abortion access resulting from the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022 were not responsible for the decline in female Republican candidates. important factors.
“I would suggest that when we get to the candidate level, there are enough conservative Republican women in the country who can be recruited and supported as candidates,” Dittmar said.
‘Profound philosophical differences’
Walsh said one of the reasons Republican leaders have not focused on recruiting and encouraging women into public office is a “reluctance” within the Republican Party to engage in identity politics.
“Democrats take that seriously, and Republicans believe that the best candidate will rise to the top and let the best person win,” said Walsh. “So there’s a gap in candidate recruitment and candidate support. Deep philosophical differences.”
Dittmar added that Democrats recruit and promote female candidates not necessarily “out of the goodness of their hearts,” but because of voters’ expectations.
“There’s an electoral incentive, in part because of the gender gap in voting and the racial and ethnic differences in the Democratic base, that the Democratic Party needs to say, ‘Look, we brought you the vote, you need to prioritize and value this level of representative.
