Kansas Upheld Abortion Rights And Other Key Updates From The Aug. 2 Elections

As I mentioned earlier, women are a small percentage of the Republican Party’s nominees in Congressional primaries thus far. In 2018, the GOP caucus lost ground among women but saw a rebound in 2020, and we’ve been interested to know if 2020 was just a flash-in-the-pan. A number of groups popped up after 2018 to try and ensure it wasn’t, but it’s possible this electoral environment is tough for Republican women. For one, women tend to be seen as more ideologically moderate than men, and in a MAGA-Republican environment, that is a severe disadvantage (no matter how many of your ads feature firearms).

Plus, I have to wonder if some of these groups are running out of steam. For example, Rep. Elise Stefanik was behind much of the push to elect more women after 2018, and she’s since taken on a party leadership role that might be zapping up some of that energy (also, her politics have shifted). And although we won’t know until the primary season is over, it seems as though E-PAC, Stefanik’s political action committee that supports Republican women, is endorsing fewer candidates this cycle than last cycle.