What Went Down In The 2018 Midterms
Thinking about the historic number of women running for office this year made me return to a piece I wrote back in 2016, trying to understand why there was such a big gender gap in terms of who holds political office in the United States. One hypothesis: Women candidates may not be any more likely to lose an election than their male counterparts, but they are more likely to experience gendered, sexist criticism and objectification when they run. (One paper demonstrated this by googling candidates’ names alongside the word “porn” and comparing the difference in search results for men and women.)
That difference in rhetoric can be hard to quantify because it is, in some ways, subjective. Also, it’s not always possible to count the number of times it happens. But it can have practical impacts and, some researchers, it could be a factor in discouraging other women from running for office in the future.
But then there’s this year. In the midst of a lot of public attention focused on sexism and sexual violence against women — and following a historic loss by a female presidential candidate whose campaign was the target of a lot of sexist rhetoric — more women are running than ever. So what gives? I asked Amanda Hunter from the Barbara Lee Family Foundation, which works for gender equality in politics. She told me that, while female candidates are still getting a lot of the same old sexist attacks, there are a LOT of big policy issues — including gun violence, health care costs, education and sexual violence — in play that matter to women candidates. And the ability to have a policy impact on a specific issue is a major factor in why women run. It’s possible that, even if sexist rhetoric does discourage women from running, there were just way more other things this political cycle that made running now seem important.
Don’t Forget About Races For Attorney General
Tonight, it’s worth watching to see whether the much-vaunted “blue wave” reaches state attorney general offices. This year, Democrats are hoping to nab more state attorney general seats as they’ve proved strikingly effective in opposing President Trump’s agenda. Blue-state attorneys general have sued the Trump administration over a wide range of issues —environmental regulations, birth control, and the plan to add a citizenship question to the Census, to name a few — and they’ve already started to rack up victories.
Now, Democrats are running on the explicit platform of suing the Trump administration in several states this year. In Florida, Sean Shaw has promised to investigate Trump’s businesses in the state; in Colorado, Phil Weiser says he’ll combat the president’s policy agenda on immigration and environmental regulations, and in Michigan, Dana Nessel has said she’ll also use the position of attorney general to “fight back” against Trump.
As my colleague Nathaniel Rakich and I wrote last month, Republicans currently control 27 state attorney general offices to Democrats’ 22 (one is an independent), which means the balance of power could shift if Democrats win even a few contests. Check out our piece for the full list of competitive races (as of late October).
Now on the opposite side of town, the Columbarium, where many dead San Franciscans are interred and many more will be voting today. (Coolest polling place ever.) pic.twitter.com/Hl62Nrg1U4
— Gwendolyn Wu (@gwendolynawu) November 6, 2018