What a win for women!
Virginia and the entire country are changing and this election proved it. As of
now, women’s issues are no longer fringe issues and women are no longer a
special interest group. Women
cast the bulk of the votes this election - 53% - and were a force in winning
campaigns across the country. Now we need to be sure
our candidates and elected officials know it.
You
already know the facts but for the record: Nationally President Obama won the
women’s vote by 55% - an 11 point margin (he won by about the same margin in
2008, showing this is likely a reliable shift, not a fluke). In Virginia, he
won the women's vote by 54%. Tim Kaine did slightly better with 56%.
In other swing states, women also favored the President: 51-48 in Florida, 55-44
in New Hampshire, 52-47 in North Carolina, and 57-43 in Iowa.
The largest number of
women ever will serve in the 113th Congress, according to the Center for
American Women and Politics at Rutgers, An all-time high total of 20 women
(16D, 4R) will serve in the Senate, and there will be a record of at least 77
women (57D, 20R) in the U.S. House.
The Rutgers center also
noted that the number of women running for Congress this year beat previous
records. Roughly half the 33 Senate races had a viable female candidate –
another record number. In two of the races, women faced off against each other
(in Hawaii, the winner, Democrat Mazie Hirono, v. Republican Linda Lingle, and in
New York, the winner Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand v. Republican Wendy
Long).
More information
About Republicans’
failure with the women’s vote
Demographic data
Women elected
An interesting article
that argues that women are not a “voting block” and that race and ethnicity are
better predictors of voting patterns than sex, see
My sense, from talking to
women voters, is that the Virginia Republican’s transvaginal ultrasound
bill was a factor in motivating women to get involved in the campaign and to
vote. Talking about lady parts doesn’t work. Just ask losers Todd Akin and
Richard Mourdock. While women are still outraged about the ultrasound
legislation, the Democrats’ positive, broad, and inclusive messages were
successful in moving the discussion beyond anger. That’s a lesson for us as we
begin the 2013 campaign for governor, lt. governor, attorney general, and all
100 members of the House of Delegates.
Our win among women in
Virginia was also (again, in my opinion) the result of highly effective
outreach by the campaigns to women. Moderate messages and themes worked:
support for Planned Parenthood, equal pay for women, reproductive health care
as a family and economic issue, and the importance of family and medical leave
among them. Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards and Lilly Ledbetter
(whose name now graces the equal pay legislation signed by President Obama on
his first day in office) made the point that Democrats consider “women’s
issues” to be mainstream, non-controversial family and economic issues.
According to the Rutgers
center, Obama’s win nationally was the second-largest gender gap in American
history, exceeded only by the 1996 election.
There were a number of
firsts this year.
· Elizabeth
Warren is the first woman elected to represent Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate
and takes the seat formerly held by the late Ted Kennedy.
· Rep.
Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin is now the first openly lesbian or gay person
elected to the Senate.
· Both
Baldwin and Rep. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii are also the first women elected from
their states to serve in the Senate. Hirono will serve as the first
Asian-American woman in the U.S. Senate.
· New
Hampshire is now a matriarchy (woman governor, two women senators, two women House
members). The state already had two female senators – Democrat Jeanne
Shaheen and Republican Kelly Ayotte – but now two Democratic women – Carol
Shea-Porter and Ann McLane Kuster – will represent New Hampshire in the House
of Representatives. The state also elected Maggie Hassan, who will be the
country’s only female Democratic governor.
·
In a hotly contested House race in Illinois, Iraq War
veteran Tammy Duckworth prevailed. As a double-amputee, Duckworth will gain
much-needed visibility for people with disabilities in leadership
positions.
Women activists and
voters made the difference in all of these victories, from the top of the
ticket on down. Nationally, we've got to hold Congress accountable for the
policies women support: the Paycheck Fairness Act, strengthening of Social
Security, Medicare, Medicaid and essential social services, fair taxation of
the wealthiest, comprehensive immigration reform and civil rights for all,
including same-sex couples. We must keep moving Virginia and the country forward.
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