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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 3, 2018
US sees surge in women interested in running for office
Frustration over
election of Trump
By CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY
Associated Press
ATLANTA — Inside a classroom at a com-
munity college in Dallas, about two dozen
women took turns sharing their names, home-
towns and what they hoped would be their
future titles.
Congresswoman. State representative.
County judge.
It was part of a training held by EMILY’s
List, an organization dedicated to electing
women at all levels of government who support
abortion rights. One of the presentation’s Pow-
erPoint slides flashed a mock advertisement on
the projector screen: “Help Wanted: Progres-
sive Women Candidates.”
A record number of women appear to be
answering that call, fueled largely by frustra-
tion on the Democratic side over the election
of President Donald Trump and energized by
Democratic women winning races in Virginia
in November. Experts say 2018 is on track to be
a historic year, with more women saying they
are running at this point than ever before.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said
Stephanie Schriock, president of EMILY’s List.
“Every day, dozens more women come to our
website, come to our Facebook page and say, ‘I
am mad as hell. I want to do something about it.
What should I do now?’”
In the four weeks after the 2016 election,
1,000 women came to the group’s website to
learn about running for office. That number
has now surpassed 26,000. By comparison, the
group was in contact with 960 women for the
previous election cycle.
Whether all that enthusiasm will result in
full-fledged campaigns and translate to gains in
the number of women elected to office remains
to be seen.
Although women are more than half the
American population, they account for just a
fifth of all U.S. representatives and senators,
and one in four state lawmakers. They serve
as governors of only six states and mayors in
roughly 20 percent of the nation’s most popu-
lous cities.
AP Photos/LM Otero
Letitia Plummer, a Houston dentist and candidate for Congress to represent Texas District 22, is applauded during a women’s candi-
date training workshop at El Centro College in Dallas in December.
Women’s March
For Sarah Riggs Amico, the executive chair-
woman of a major auto hauling company, last
year’s Women’s March in Atlanta ignited her
interest in running for office.
“It was something that really lifted me
up and made me want to demand better from
my government,” said Amico, who recently
announced plans to run for lieutenant governor
in Georgia.
Sol Flores has been walking in marches
with her mother in Chicago since she was a lit-
tle girl, but never thought she would run for
office. Now 44, Flores said she was enraged by
policies put forward by the Trump administra-
tion and decided to jump into a crowded Dem-
ocratic primary for Illinois’ 4th Congressional
District.
Flores said her network of friends has been
crucial to helping her navigate the realities of
being a first-time candidate and the challenges
of gathering signatures for qualifying and
fundraising.
“Women are really good at this, saying,
‘Let’s sit down and figure this out. You raised
your hand, and let’s win. Let’s go to Washing-
ton, D.C.,’” said Flores, the executive director
of a nonprofit helping homeless families and
at-risk youth.
The last time the U.S. saw a surge in women
running for office was 1992, in the wake of
Anita Hill’s testimony before an all-male U.S.
Senate committee weighing the nomination of
Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court.
It was called the “Year of the Woman” because
women were elected to the U.S. House and
Senate in record numbers.
Lianna Stroster posts a sign directing to a women’s candidate training workshop at El
Centro College in Dallas.
The number of women in office has held
steady in recent years, but experts say condi-
tions are ripe for an increase in 2018 — espe-
cially if more politicians are forced to step down
or retire amid the growing #MeToo movement
that began with accusations of sexual miscon-
duct against Hollywood mega-producer Harvey
Weinstein.
One U.S. senator and four congressmen
have so far announced plans to retire or not seek
re-election following allegations against them,
presenting a prime opportunity for women
to compete for their open seats. For example,
seven women have expressed interest in an
April special election for an Arizona congres-
sional seat.
The increase in women candidates is largely
being seen in U.S. House and governor’s races
next year and driven primarily by Democrats,
said Debbie Walsh, who leads the Center for
American Women and Politics at Rutgers Uni-
versity. In addition to the 50 Democratic and 10
Republican congresswomen expected to run for
re-election, there are 183 Democratic women
and 14 Republican women running in primaries
to challenge their current U.S. representative.
Uphill races
These can be uphill races, but many of the
women running say they were encouraged by
what happened in Virginia in November, when
30 percent of the women who challenged their
state representative won.
Katie Hill is among those seeking to oust
her local congressman, Republican Rep. Steve
Knight in California’s 25th Congressional Dis-
trict, a key Democratic target this year.
As an advocate for the homeless, Hill
recalled the joy she felt on the night of the 2016
election when voters in Los Angeles passed a
$1.2 billion bond measure for housing and ser-
vices for homeless people and those at risk
of becoming homeless. But that was quickly
tempered by the outcome of the presidential
election.
“November made us all realize that our
country is not where we need to be,” Hill said.
“And that’s the point when people start to stand
up and say, ‘If no one else is going to fix, I’m
going to.’”
It’s not just Democrats. First-time Republi-
can and Libertarian women candidates are also
jumping into the mix.
Republicans launched an effort in 2012
that is focused on electing women. Under the
“Right Women, Right Now” program, 390 new
GOP women have been elected since then.
“Twenty-five percent of state legislators
are women, and that’s clearly insufficient,”
said Matt Walter, head of the Republican State
Leadership Committee. “That’s a Democratic
and Republican number, and something we
really felt strongly was something we needed
to change.”
Tiffany Shedd, a lawyer for small businesses
who lives on a farm in Eloy, Arizona, said she
was talking with her husband one evening ear-
lier this year about the importance of having
someone representing them in Congress who
will fight for rural communities. She said he
challenged her to run.
“I said, ‘I can’t run. What’s a person from a
little town in Arizona doing running for Con-
gress?” Shedd said. “And then I thought, ‘Wow
— that is exactly what we need.’”
She will be running in the Republican pri-
mary in the hopes of challenging Democratic
Rep. Tom O’Halleran in November.
On the state level, 36 governor’s races will
be contested in 2018. The Center for Amer-
ican Women and Politics says 49 Democratic
women, including two incumbents, and 28
Republican women have indicated they will run
for those seats. There has never been more than
nine women serving as governor at the same
time.
Even if all the women who have reached out
to groups such as EMILY’s List do not end up
running next year, they are expected to play key
roles in supporting those who do.
“This is the next decade of candidates,”
Schriock said.
Associated Press photographer Matthew
Otero in Dallas contributed to this report.
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