Being part of the white minority patriarchy as they are, why should they succeed for the vast majority of women? They don't represent women's real interests at all.
2
Yep republican women are doing so horrible that their are more of them in cabinet positions and in white house advisor positions THAN EVER BEFORE I'M HISTORY!
And this election only had 5 toss up seats with most of the seats up for grabs in democrat controlled areas.
Nice try though. You put a nice spin of omission as usual. Hey did you report on trump's pick to replace Kavanaugh in the court of appeals??? Probably not because SHE'S INDIAN-AMERICAN. But who cares about yet another republican woman crushing it right? Can't lwt the minions find out about them. That's why you never post amy pics of the entire republican party in Congress, it might mess up the brain washing eh? ;) smdh.
Is there a correlation between winning candidates' gender and the political and economic stands they support?
You must also recognize the impact of fundamentalist Christianity. Millions of R women actually believe and accept that they are compelled by their religion to be subservient to their husbands. How can they ever contemplate running for political office or even supporting a woman candidate?
2
Besides representing the Republican base, older, wealthy white men are the number one beneficiaries of the current regime. Trying to develop the training and or support models Demoncrats have created to promote women into office will not be possible for Republicans as long as the vast majority of women see a party bent on taking away their rights.
2
There's way too much testosterone in American politics, but I will never vote for a woman who supports Trump.
5
I’m still trying to figure out why there are any Republican women at all. I would have thought that the last one would have been out the door when Trump’s Access Hollywood tape went public. If bragging about sexual harassment isn’t a deal breaker for women I don’t know what would be.
I guess white women are more worried about losing their racial privilege than they are about losing sovereignty over their bodies. The devil they know, I suppose....
2
The hate being spewed here toward women from other women is disgraceful.
3
How come we only hear that after Democrats fight back. Republicans strike the 1st blow and when we react we’re the bad guys? Not buying it. They can’t take the heat- stop telling us we should live like you. You don’t want healthcare, better education, freedom of choice- then don’t.
5
As a Democrat I can get behind a Republican (male or female) that is willing to stand up for a women's right to choose, environmental policies that protect our planet, minority rights, etc. Fiscal responsibility is out the door with the current GOP, corporations, self interest and power are what I see from that party now, oh and blind allegiance to a tyrant, you only stand up to him when you are leaving your seat or dying, what does that make you, what do you really stand for? You don't have to be "pro abortion" to allow a woman to make her own choice about her body, these decisions are personal and not taken lightly. Republicans, mostly old white men, seem to want dominion over something that they have no right to.
Want to be a party that represents the people, then you need to start representing all of the people, not just those that look like you. Please retire already and lets bring some common sense and dignity back to our country.
2
The Republican party has been getting more and more anti. Anti-muslim, anti-black, anti-woman, etc. Even for the women who go entirely along with the whole Republican agenda, the Republican party, and it's voters, are sending clear signals they don't think women can be trusted to handle their own health - so how would they ever choose to vote for a woman to handle far bigger decisions?
1
Misogynists are one of Trump's core groups. They don't vote for women. Trump also hates immigrants, and African-Americans. How did candidates from these groups do with Republicans?
6
No one should be surprised considering the generic attitude of the typical Republican voter to women. Duh!
3
the nyt has an agenda and its reporting pushes it hard, a female president... it's wishful minority thinking.. the math is that if more women vote for a man than men vote for a woman, than the next president will be a man.
1
Newsflash: Hillary got 3 million more votes than trump.
The electoral college and a low turnout won’t save him again in 2020. Pennsylvania and Michigan will go back to the Democratic column.
4
I am just not sure whether these drops in women reflect a general feeling that women with more than the brains of gerbils want nothing to do with the GOP, or that in general, right-wing men who want women stuffed back in their proper place—kitchen, church and nursery—have been emboldened by Donald Trump.
My money’s on the misogyny and the male anxiety under political pressure. From what I can see, a lot of right-wing guys are flipping out, as they confront a world in which women (and black folks, and get people, and all the rest) get to come even part-way out of their respective closets and get anything like a fair shake.
In other words, looks to me like this comes out of the backlash not only against global capitalism, not only against anybody who isn’t “white,” and far-right Christian, but against them uppity wimmens.
Of course the GOP surges towards men, with some room made for women like Marsha Blackburn and Ann Coulter, and Kelli who frankly look and sound to me like they’ve somehow been hypermasculinized, in that peculiar fashion of the women FOX showcases.
Yeah, I’m saying that there’s something about the physical similarity of what women DO make it in Republican politics these days that’s weird, and diagnostic of what’s going on. At least, you certainly don’t get anything resembling the physical diversity easily seen among elected Democratic women.
5
Not surprising. In GOPistan, women belong in the bedroom and the kitchen, making and minding babies. They don't have any need to trouble men with their opinions, and if women work in a distant capital, who will have dinner ready every night at 6pm sharp for their male overlords?
7
Are Republican voters willing to give a female candidate equal consideration during the primary? I highly doubt it.
So many of the target of GOP attacks recently have been women. Hillary Clinton, Nancy Peloci, Diane Feinstein, Maxine Waters, Elizabeth Warren. Of the 3 Democratic Senate seats flipped, 2 were held by women. After a while, I have to conclude it's not just mere coincidence that the target of Republican ire all happen to be women.
8
I’m and older white male who wouldn’t be caught dead voting for the party of old white men. But it’s not just a gender gap: Democrats are much more inclusive of all society. That’s the true victory here. Let’s hope this wave continues and washes Donald Trump overboard.
13
The Republican Party does not shun identity politics. It’s just that the only identity it cares about is white and male.
8
“I know that we need to up our game on the Republican end,” said Kelly Ayotte, the former Republican senator.
Ms. Ayotte...that would mean bleeding your party clean of the sexism, the till recently percolating racism, and knee-jerk xenophobia. Among many other things.
I know its only anecdotal, but my observation of the Repub women I circulate among, is this. You all failed to protect them and their families from the Evils you pitched were threatening them - because - the threats were non-existent!
While you were distracting them with fears about the Gays, and immigrants, and sexual liberation - your party was undermining Unions, Employee protections, ignoring the rising costs of medical insurance and treatments. Under-funding or poorly directing funds to public education, allowing predatory lenders to prey on students, and veterans. By attacking gay individuals as some sort of collective, a tsunami of sin and chaos - you were attacking these women's children!
Your party spent 8 years in deliberate belligerence to a President, who was often pushing legislation many among you had at once supported, and would do these women's family's good! But due to the inherent racism and partisanship in the GOP, the party refused to make good.
I think, and these are my personal observations, many Repub women are finally waking up to the facts that the dastardly villains are IN your party! And Trump has shined a light on them, many of which have welcomed like life-giving sunshine.
11
The prototypical Republican political woman is helpmeet Ashley Kavanaugh, Brett Kavanaugh's wife. She takes the sting out of the dark side of powerful Republican men, who seem to have trouble controlling their darker emotions and urges (they seek to control others, especially women, because they can't control themselves).
She hews to Biblical complementarianism, where the wife has separate life duties, which are said to be as important as the man's but aren't respected as so. It's cookies and shoulder rubs for your man who fights every day in the horrible social world and retreats at night to his gated community and caregiving wife.
Her first customer was George W. Bush, where she was his personal assistant from 1996-1999. After finishing taking care of his emotional needs, she marred Brett Kavanaugh, whom we all know now was such a piece of work of the patriarchy that it must have taken all of her considerable nurturing skills to even out his rambling, wilding misogyny. Credit to her on this that her man suffered only a partial (and not total) meltdown in the Senate hearings.
She lives in Chevy Chase, Section Five in Maryland, a elite incorporated village whose median family income is $168,000 and has no families living below the poverty line. Homes prices start at $1,000,000 and go up from there.
This is your typical elite Republican woman. There just aren't that many anymore who want to be handmaids to the the good old white Republican boys club.
13
A party that has been taken over by racists, misogynists, and evangelicals has no place for women leaders. Susan Collins is an aberration, a moderate. The days of classy and brilliant Elizabeth Doles are over, and the new Republican Woman has come to resemble Sarah Palin-- ignorant, angry, "Christian", relatively uneducated, and under the boot of a man. But there is change in the air...
5
It's not at all surprising women would be under represented in Republican politics, given their demographic and cultural backgrounds. It is surprising they are even represented in the level they are.
6
It's because Democrats will not vote for Republican women. Otherwise, New York City would have a mayor named Nicole and New Jersey would have a governor named Kim. Misogyny runs deep in the Democratic Party, and party loyalty is primary.
You would have to suppose that Republican women might have a bit of a credibility problem among independents, in the Age of Trump.
4
The dems abandoned the labor movement at the end of the cold war. The bottom fell out of labor and with it the common thread holding democrats together - economic eqaulity. Their move has been to social eqaulity and identity politics. Their base votes as such with this elections result. That's all. Identity politics is a red herring intended to re-focus attention away from economic woes and democrat failures. And it's divisive by it's own nature. In the back of their minds, every Trump voter knows this.
1
“ Banner year you say?” No, just a minor change of the 2 party musical chairs is all. It occurs every time a new President comes to office. Noting more than a hiccup for both parties...
1
Why a woman would stay Republican in the age of proudly genital-grabbing trump is beyond me.
8
Women can be ardent fascists -- the GOP simply has to figure out how to brand their form of fascism in a manner that would appeal to women candidates and voters. The fearmongering the GOP excels at has historically worked.
Have to put it that way because it's clear that the GOP has no interest in democracy, itself, anymore, beyond a means of attaining one-party rule.
Meanwhile, more power to the Democrats for bringing women and minorities to office, and for having a diverse base that better represents the rest of America, and the best of America -- the hopeful, not the hateful and the fearful.
4
Republican Slogan: "Vote like it's 1899".
5
Based on everything we've heard from Republicans who seem to wish to eliminate the right of women to make their own reproductive choices and the stream of misogynistic invectives coming from the President, I would guess most self-respecting women with strong self esteem are either voting Independent or have joined the Democrats. Republicans have more than a women problem they have an attitude problem.
61
Women can be just as conservative as men, equally pro-gun, equally anti-immigrant, equally against any abortion, equally against access to health care and services. And they can be equally political and ambitious. So it would seem there could be plenty of potential Republican candidates. But how often would they get the vote over a male?
32
@CDMinPA And women can be just as anti-women as men.
9
@CDMinPA One just won the Republican Senate seat in TN. Marsh Blackburn, she won despite her poor behavior. But look at Trump, acting mature is not a criteria for political office.
6
@CDMinPA Individual women "can be just as conservative," but in the aggregate they are not. However you define "plenty," there are markedly more men than women holding those views, both among candidates and among voters.
3
The reasons are obvious
9
Wonder how Laura Ingraham and Ann Coulter will spin this frightening statistic.
10
@Nuffalready. They will blame Hillary, of course. And George Solos.
5
By running for office, of course. Or maybe Gauleiter.
Maybe it is true women do not want their kids to turn out like Trump, the National Liar, Cheat, Serial Adulterer, Braggart and "Grabber".
12
I've got to correct something in this article too, describing the Republican party it says, "In a party that shuns identity politics...". This is ridiculous. The GOP today is entirely about identity politics, they define themselves as white, male, old, Christian, nationalist, homophobic, anti-Semitic, and generally bigoted. That's the identity screamed at us by the GOP, and all Trump's rallies demonstrate it. That's why they're losing ground with everybody who isn't old, white, Christian, and bigoted.
45
@Dan Stackhouse You might want to come to the south east there are plenty of people who are women, not white and not old who are Republican.
No Dan, you guys (the Democrats) identify they as white Male, racist, homophobic misogynists, they don't identify as that. See, you have repeated it enough times that you believe it yourself, no matter how wrong you might be.
If you're a repub. and you know you're running 50-50 with white men,but you're down 20 percentage points with women (who represent 50% of the population), and getting creamed among young people, persons of color, and independents, where is your future?
Trump is a billionaire. When this little ego-boost is over, he'll saunter back to Mar-a-Lago and his sun-lamp, unless he ends up in an orange jump-suit (but either way, good riddance), but what will repubs. do?
Where's the long-term strategic vision for your party?
You guys remind me of the satirical piece about the man who was so rich he kept his fortune in uranium, which, as we all know, decays over time.
14
I suspect that with demographics stacked against them, the Republicans will continue their assault on democracy. They will suppress the votes of minorities, ramp up the gerrymandering, wall-off brown immigrants, and cry foul when Dems insist all votes be counted. With a conservative judiciary on their side, the aging white male's grip on power may continue.
2
You seem to have forgotten, most Presidents get re-elected. You counted him out once (as did I), are you going to make that mistake again?
@MCW I think they are counting on all of the racist, sexist people to keep them in power. There seem to be so many.
1
The new Congresswomen will change the history of America. Long live women. Some male chauvinists are thinking that these wonderful women will not be able to change things for the better. We know they will.
We can imagine that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will rejuvenate the thinking of her peers, in addition to make them know how the warm spirit and kindness of smart Latinos help to achieve their goals.
3
When I meet a republican woman today I I think that she is ignorant, fearful, racist or so ambitious she is willing to cast aside all ethics and morality for personal gain. How sad is that?
22
That is because you read this paper every day, and are easily influenced. You probably don't notice that most business women are Republicans .
Why is this shocking? Horribly politics and policies are still horrible no matter where you are on the gender spectrum.
1
I know it is an increasingly unpopular expression in the era of #metoo and dogwhistles and lookism. and that it has been used to attack appearance as well as suitability. and that Dick Cheney of all politicians loves it.
but when I see the current crop of Republican women talking heads, politicians, or candidates AND what comes out of their mouths, my mind still goes to "lipstick on a pig".
pearls are not magical talismans, their hate, their willful ignorance, their privilege, and especially their self-serving still shines through.
to paraphrase a current female antihero, these women have "leaned in" way too far.
5
Well, consider the free media that Dem women get; compare the number of pieces on Ocasio-Cortez with those for Young Kim. This paper routinely supports female Democratic candidates, assertedly because we need more women in office. But let a Republican woman run, e.g. Kim Guadagno, and, suddenly, being a woman doesn't count.
As the vicious excoriation by the left of "white" women - for having the unmitigated gall to think for themselves and reject socialism - shows, it's not sex, it's ideology: GOP women aren't really women. Because only women whose lady parts constitute a political statement need apply.
Let a female Dem win - OC, Mikie Sherrill, etc. - and they are "instant rock stars"; the leftist media fawns all over them. if Kim pulls out the victory, the NYT will ignore her, just as it already has. Because if women can't be Republicans, women of color CERTAINLY can't be Republicans.
Generally speaking, there is no gender gap. Republican candidates routinely win among "white" women, putting the lie to the assertion that the GOP brand is poison among women. Where Republicans lose is among women who rely upon government for handouts and among the identity obsessed: folks who actually believe their gender studies indoctrination.
Indeed, is not this entire article yet another example of identity obsessing? Can you name a single policy difference between OC and Crowley? So, why does her sex matter?
The answer, I guess, is "because".
6
I thought your silly (and characteristic) bit of fluff about how only women who want handouts and hate white people become lefties did a really nice job of illustrating why growing numbers of women want nothing to do with the Republican Party, and for this, I thank you.
3
@Brenda
I am a white woman. Unmitigated gall? That is the GOP tactic. How dare conservative women support the unmitigated greed of Trump’s party. When did common decency become leftist?
3
@Brenda
The GOP needs a lot more like Elizabeth Dole and fewer like Sarah Palin. Classy intelligent women, not angry and ignorant ones. The media likes Dem women politicians because there are a lot of them, and they are great. Yes, Young Kim is hopeful, but she isn't representative of the GOP-- she's smart, and she's not white.
3
I'm thrilled that more women are getting elected to public office. And I don't find it all that surprising that female support for republicans is dwindling. As long as republicans continue to treat women as second class baby makers, ultimately submissive to men, women are going to continue leaving the party.
But Democrats have their own problem to overcome. Age. I'm 50, so I'm not super old, nor am I a spring chicken. But I've been getting frustrated with the democrats that have been in Congress for 50 years stubbornly refusing to get out of the way.
Joe Biden will be 76 years old in 5 days. Bernie Sanders just turned 77. And these two guys are top of the list for 2020? Nancy Pelosi is 78. Is she the only person qualified to lead the House?
Don't get me wrong. I like all three of these people. But it's time to pass the mantle for crying out loud. Put some trust in our young people. It's their world.
26
While yeah, Speaker Pelosi seriously needs to make some plans, why yes, she sure as blazes is by far the best-qualified to run the House. Joe and Bernie are replaceable, for all their admirable qualities, but she is not.
2
Well, the GOP did manage to foist trump groupie and corporate flunky Marsha Blackburn on the Senate. That's got to be worth at least three lady conservatives in the House. But the trend's hardly surprising. In general, Republican women tend to be less educated, more traditional and deferential to their husbands. Running for office and thinking independently isn't really part of the political DNA with this crowd. Stereotypes? Maybe. But, then again, maybe not.
7
Have you ever noticed how nearly all elected Republican women look one heck of a lot alike these days? I mean maybe I’m missing something, but looks to me like from FOX all the way through to Congress, all the successful right-wing women of this generation look eerily like Ann Coulter.
1
Political dynamics begin in early childhood. Numerous professional studies have revealed the propensity of little boys to engage in assertive, competitive behavior while little girls exhibit a preference for cooperative, nurturing interaction.
As (and if) they mature to adulthood in healthy family units, masculine priorities tend to focus on protecting and providing for their social group as feminine values strengthen the group by promoting its harmony, integrity and mutual support. Success at the personal, family and wider community levels requires a respectful, responsible balance in those priorities.
Failure usually traces back to the habits of egocentric power struggles which inflame the political hostilities of dysfunctional families and cultures.
Today, I believe, Women are succeeding within the Democratic party because they are clearly establishing the vibrant distinction between their ethic of egalitarian stewardship as compared to the reptilian power & money hunger of the GOP. They do this by reaching out to make personal contact at the grass roots where they they ask, they listen, they discuss and respond. There is a fundamental hygiene in their methods and their message and it's being reflected in the results.
This has the flavor of the benevolent grandmotherly wisdom of fond memory. And even some of us old gran'pas are catching on.
7
Of course republican women did not do well. The very label "Republican Woman" is something of an oxymoron.
Why would any self-respecting woman want to vote for a woman who belongs to a political party that:
1. Wants badly to limit women's reproductive rights and health-care options.
2. Does not support equal pay for equal work.
3. Does not support paid family leave or subsidized child care.
But all that (and more) aside, lets face it: there is a higher instance of sexism and mysogyny in the republican party. It's the party of white men. The very act of joining a group like this creates a credibility issue for republican women.
These women belong to a party that can barely conceal its contempt for them, where they are powerless in shaping party platform, rendering them perpetual lame ducks. But, at least they have republican men to give them a pat on the shoulder and say, "you're one of the good ones, darling..."
17
Republican women are nothing more than a bunch of traitors to women everywhere. They are certainly not a credit to my gender in any way.
6
That's because the GOP is increasingly repellent to everyone but white men.
15
@Andrew Especially the angry and older white men.
But not all....just those that have great difficulty with evolving, with change, and with entertaining new thoughts.
3
Yah! Republican women ignoring issues that are important to most women, in fact voting AGAINST issues important to most women are not going to get them elected. Sort of like being WINO - women in name only.
2
There is one route that might work in bringing women over to the GOP: Dump Trump. But if the prevalence of "Women for Trump" signs at his rallies are any indication, that will be no easy task.
4
The Republican Party's 'culture wars,' are identity politics for keeping older white males in charge of everything and everyone, without regard to intelligence, maturity, or qualifications. If they cared about any of these, Donald J. Trump would not have won their primary.
Their only use for women is to validate their demand that abortion be illegal even if the mother will die without one. This is particularly true of late-term abortions; when you support death for a woman to save a fetus, you need a woman spokesperson.
9
Maybe if the Republic Party didn't have so many policies that were hostile to women, they'd have candidates and voters...
17
How about some insight as to why representatives from both parties continue to lead us in the wrong direction well past their 70's? Feinstein, Warren, McConnell, Pelosi, Hoyer. Fossils, all of them. Retire to your fat pension, and let those of us who still have a future decide it.
3
Somehow, you left Trump off the list.
1
@Robert - you're right, Trump too. But he hasn't been in DC since before color television.
WE THE PEOPLE want Socially Conscious Women and men managing OUR United States of America.
Republican female candidates and supporters are owned by the Koch Brothers and the other Robber Barons who want to continue to suppress women's and human rights.
WE will not hire/elect them in the foreseeable future.
9
No we don't. What you do with your time is your business. I want someone who will serve me economically, not tell me how to act.
Like Trump, you mean? What this guy does is everyone’s business.
It's important to remember that Republican man would not be in hurry to vote for a Republican woman. He would be less likely to consider it a priority to make an effort to go to the polls, even if it meant hurting the party as a whole. The patriarchal urge is just that strong in the Evangelical white male voter. So the number of Republican women in Congress would be irrelevant to him.
12
It seems ironic, even inappropriate, to use the term "incoming freshman" to describe the newcomers to this Congress.
3
Why would a woman run as a Republican when the Republican platform is so hostile to women? Not to mention that it's such an unpopular party, and not a good brand for someone starting a political career.
15
Running with and believers in the party against freedom has consequences.
2
The reason for this disparity is that the Republican party is no longer a good one for women. Not really sure that it ever was, but with its anti-abortion stance, and anti-#metoo fervor, and support for sexual assault (eg: Trump), today's GOP is contemptuous toward women as a whole.
I suppose there are many women who are self-hating, anti-abortion, pro-sexual assault, and so on, but they're a dwindling group. Something has given women the notion that they should be equal to men, and that they're still not treated equally, and fighting for equality means fighting against Republicans.
So I don't think it's a problem that there were less Republican women elected, I think it indicates that the GOP will be diminished and sidelined, unless they change their policies and outlook. And that's a good thing, their policies are mostly anachronistic and should be abandoned.
11
I agree with many of the comments here. The problem lies with the Republican platform and the party's hostile attitude towards women. Issues such as abortion rights, sexual harassment, equal pay and affirmative action matter to women. No amount of marketing or aggressive recruitment of female candidates will change this. Women are simply a natural fit for the Democratic party. The Republican party with its singular focus on pandering to the aging white male chases us away.
5
Of course, in Tennessee, it's different. The state was quite willing to elect a woman senator, as long as she was horrendous.
4
Ignoring the pain of Dr. Blasey Ford and hundreds of other women only to install Kavanaugh on the bench was most likely a huge nail in the coffin for the GOP vis-a-vis women.
I'm paraphrasing, and I wish I could attribute this correctly, but it comes down to this:
Women: I want access to birth control.
GOP: No.
Women: I'm pregnant and don't want to be; I want an abortion.
GOP: No.
Women: I have a child and need help.
GOP: No.
Women: I have a job to feed my family but I need maternity leave and job guarantees.
GOP: No.
And they wonder why they can't attract the next generation of women?
115
@Kally Mavromatis
They are attracting plenty of women, women are the ones who got Trump elected. There is a cultural brainwashing.
1
@Kally Mavromatis
They have access, the want someone to buy it for them.
Abortion is murder. The government gets involved in murder.
So go get help, doesn't mean it needs to be the government.
Costs the company more and when I try to get more money, there is none because you got your hands in their pockets. Why am I paying for your kids?
I call for separation of church and state! No more charity from the government!
I'll agree that it seems the Republicans have a structural problem (the policies they promote) that most women find objectionable. But how about some reporting on Kavanaugh being the very first Supreme Court justice to select an all-female group of legal clerks?
3
It seems to me the Guardian already did this. Yale law professor Amy Chua is reported to advise her students seeking internships in Mr. Kavanaugh's office that he prefers women and that those fitting that description should tend to their appearance. Is this what you wanted to report?
11
Kavanaugh picks women law clerks based upon appearance. He’s not a good example.
5
@brian I have seen several stories about this. But as far as news goes, it's kind of a one-liner, with not much analysis and continuing coverage needed. Maybe another one-liner if he picks most of his Supreme Court Clerks as women. Especially if some of them turn out to not look like models!
"We should look to be more representative of our country." Is that a joke?
6
"In a party that shuns identity politics, there has been a reluctance to emphasize gender as a credential"
This quote sums up the dilemma. If Republicans are not interested in affirmative action to elect women, are they then satisfied with Republican female constituents being represented almost entirely by men?
6
"This quote sums up the dilemma."
It's also a complete non sequitur. "shuns identity politics"? Has Susan Chira even READ about their leaders?! I would suggest she start with a newspaper, like The New York Times.
From there it's even more of one, given GOP zeal for small (enough to fit in a uterus) government. They emphasize gender all the time, in attacking just about anything that's not an old white male. Heritage!
3
Please dial down the identity politics- Republican women who lost, lost because, even though they are female, they are against women's rights and human rights.
23
One can only wonder at any woman who stays in a party that wants to control their bodies and continues to deny that such a thing as equality should even exist between the sexes
19
With Republicans, it hardly matters. The women (Rogers WA, and Blackburn TN, as examples) are often worse than the men. No empathy and desperate to be macho. And, since patriarchal religion is part of GOP baggage, women running for office have to conform to an authoritarian mindset.
17
This is because the cognitive dissonance of being a "Republican Woman" has caused many of them to go insane. Look at Michelle Bachman and Sarah Palin??
9
Average age of Democratic Leadership: 72
Average age of Republican Leadership: 48
I find it strange that the youthful Democratic voter chooses to keep old men/women in power. These new women elected to office will just tow the line of the old people in charge.
1
@Sam
Wisdom acquired over 72 years not only exceeds that acquired over 48 years; it includes enough time to let go of much learning that turns out to be nonsense, eg. supply-side economics, immigration is dangerous, white supremacy, climate change a hoax, social safety net is a hammock, just to name a few.
6
@Sam NO they will not, some are progressives and they are paid by their donors, the regular voters in small amounts not to tow any line but what helps the little people, ha ha on the corporate Democrats, a new day is dawning and too bad for the corrupt ones!
1
Not sure where you got those averages, and what you define as 'leadership'. In the executive branch, nearly every major figure is in his 70's.
Also the figure of speech is, "toe the line", as in bringing one's toes up to a line but not crossing it.
4
With candidates like Marsha Blackburn, we should be celebrating that there are fewer female Republicans in Congress.
17
The name "Value in Electing Women" (Emily's List analogue for Republican Women) says it all:
goofy, outdated, and implicates one needs to be ACTUALLY convinced there is value in electing women.
2
Does any seriously believe that Utah will ever elect a female for the U.S. Senate or as a governor of the state?
6
The statement "there’s been a Republican woman problem" says it all. The Republicans are now a party about white male domination aiming to maintain this status quo. With trump in charge of the party this is who they are. We need to widen the Democratic tent to bring in progressive Republican women willing to roll up their sleeves and work for the future of this country where all are included.
9
Its not the genitalia; its the ideas. Republican ideas are what got shot down just as they should be! Conservative hate has clearly shown itself through Trump's nonsense, and people are rejecting it!
9
My apologies in advance, but I always wonder about people of some kinds of people (women, minorities, et al.) who would seem to be dedicated to service and from membership in the Republican Party. The wonderment would come from the clear evidence of Republican rejection of the value and needs of those people. There are certainly explanations, but I still wonder about them. So, maybe no wonder the numbers of them as candidates or already in public office are dropping.
4
The Republican platform is not suitable for women. How can they campaign that my children can have good health care and your children cannot have any? Campaign against social security, Medicare and Medicaid? The whole platform is based on masculinity such as snatching babies from their mothers, sending military forces to defend against women and children entering the country illegally, etc., and so the platform is not a natural fit for women. Women have better chance of winning as a Democrat than as a Republican.
9
What self-respecting woman would want to associate herself with the Republican Party at this point in time? If they try hard enough, the Republicans might make the Green Party the second largest party in America.
3
When I think of Republican women in Congress and Senate, I am reminded of the Greek goddess Athena, who turned the beautiful Medusa into a monster because she was raped by Poseidon in Athena's temple. One can interpret the story as he/she wishes but, for me, it always conveyed that it wasn't that Athena punished Medusa because she could not punish Poseidon but, rather, because she (Athena) drank the nectar (Kool-Aid) of the gods and believed that the mighty could never be wrong.
Far too often, Republican women reject the lessons of being part of a compromised group and embrace the privilege of their wealth. They are accorded entrée to the club usually because of their money and, providing they fight for the protection of wealth and little else, they will get to reign without interference from the boys club.
Without blinking, five Republican women voted in favor of Brett Kavanaugh while his accusers were portrayed as calculating and vindictive monsters. The "just us club" nature of the Republican members of Congress and Senate remain at work keeping its women in line, and those women don't seem to care. They prove why the ancient Greek myths have survived several millennia as they are retold in the every day lives of those on the public stage of what passes for modern civilization.
9
" ...of the 45 percent of voters who said it was very important to elect more women to office, 82 percent were Democrats and 17 percent Republicans. "
49
With all the anti-women rhetoric coming from Trump and the fact that the Republican Party has so few women in Congress why are some women still voting Republican?
10
To be fair, women can also be ignorant and racist.
3
No mystery there. Republican policies are anti-people, anti-education, discriminatory and all for the wealthy plutocrats.
Why would women support a party which doesn't support women and policies that don't help the average person in this nation? The republican party needs to die.
3
Stop spinning. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and sometimes an off-year election is just an off-year election. That was the main dynamic in the Democrats' takeover of the House. Women rode the blue wavelet, the blue wavelet wasn't driven by women.
In his first midterm elections Barack Obama lost 64 House seats. In Bill Clinton's first midterms the loss was 54 seats. Trump's party won't approach those losses.
In any case, don't forget about the Senate Since all the way back to WWII, in only five elections has the President's party gained seats in EITHER house. Among the casualties this year -- Claire McCaskill and Heidi Heitkamp.
Three Democratic Senators who voted against Kavanaugh were dumped -- with more to come? -- while the lone Democrat to support Kavanaugh was re-elected.
But for the Times everything is always identity politics.
3
@Ian Maitland. Stop spinning yourself. Your statistics are meaningless because of the Republican gerrymanders and vote suppression that have taken place the last few years. Are you willing to come out on the record and condemn the Republican program of gerrymandering and vote suppression as harmful to democracy? Or does a desire to defend white male privilege even at the cost of sacrificing democracy stop you from doing so?
The house swing is all the more impressive because of the Republican campaign to disenfranchise traditional Democratic voters. Also, you conveniently did not mention that voter turn out (the highest for any midterm since 1914) tells us that this is more than the usual off-year election.
1
Oh and by the way, Sherrod Brown, (D-OH), voted down Kavanaugh but still won in Ohio.
1
@Ian Maitland. A better way to look at the results might be House popular vote: what is the percentage of D vs R votes. In 2010, it was R +6.8. 2018 is shaping up to be D +~7. Trump's party is most definitely approaching the losses of 2010. (Reading FiveThirtyEight is helpful--you can also see that part of the reason the numbers in 2010 were so high was that 2008 had been a very D year.).
And she is the enemy to most women. These white republican women who have not left the party are scared just like the old white men , afraid of losing what they consider their status, which is still second class citizens according to their old white men. A Pox on these turncoats to the rest of us women and democracy. I so wish Ojeda had beaten her. As it is he closed an incredible gap. And I loved his ad, when he said:
" How dare Carole Miller attack my service record! I fought in wars to protect the freedom she so enjoys and I have the names of my men who did not make it back tattooed on my back"
She was born a millionaire and wants to keep it that way.
You poor, poor dames, women still in the republican party, enjoy your dubious status and thanks for all the non support for equality for women and blacks and all the so called others, you must be very proud and yet still second class according to you men folk. It would be nice if you actually had some real pride in being a woman or human being, but go on toady away!
2
The Republican Party has condensed to its most basic part, pure racism. All of them are now complicit in a scheme to make the US a white only country. Nationalism. Women who vote Republican or run as Republicans are also 100% racist. There is no longer going to be a parsing out of racism, one accepts it, or not. Sort of a reverse "for us or agin us" to quote the war criminal Bush. If women cannot see the racism then they are no better than the racist men and certainly do not see misogyny either.
3
What kind of self loathing would one need to possess to be a woman who agrees with republican philosophy?
7
We'll see, but I have the sneaking suspicion that Liz Cheney won't help them solve this problem.
3
Why can’t Republican women — sorry, "ladies" — think for themselves? Are they afraid to ask their husbands if it’s OK?
3
Honestly the surprise should be that there are any female Republicans left. There is your headline.
6
This otherwise excellent piece claims:
“[t]here is another potential barrier for Republican women: In a party that shuns identity politics, there has been a reluctance to emphasize gender as a credential . . . “
The Trump GOP hardly shuns identity politics. It specializes in older white male identity politics. That’s why the party is loathed by most women.
293
@Demosthenes
I was thinking the same thing when I read that. Dems get accused of identity politics by the folks that are constantly dog-whistling to resentful white male identity. It’s no surprise since this kind of hypocrisy by Republicans seems to (in my view) be a defining feature these days.
9
Let's not forget that of white women who voted in 2016, Trump carried 53% of them.
2
@Ken calvey If he is the GOP nominee, Trump won't get anything near 53% in 2020.
3
The explanation for the paucity of Republican women elected to office is both straightforward and obvious. The so-called Republican (Trump) base, in which men vastly outnumber women, believes that women are for grabbing, not for electing. The Republican platform includes policies (or gaps) that underline the Party's view that women are inferior, and such policies are routinely expressed and acted upon, even if they are not explicitly in the platform. The corollary is perfectly clear and utterly inevitable: that women don't belong in office. How can anyone be surprised by this? And how can any self-respecting woman be a Republican, anyway?
73
Congratulation ladies. You deserve this. Now please live up to my expectations.
8
@Sluggo
And what are YOUR expectations? And did you demand that male Republicans do the same thing?
The gender gap transcends Trump. The Republican numbers are quite pathetic. As the article states, the party elected exactly one new Republican Congresswoman, an elderly candidate from West Virginia. Whereas two dozen Democratic women are joining the House including many who are young adults. So the Republican Party as a vehicle for young women of any race in this country is moribund. Its support among women, the majority group in electorate, is fading. Not sure if anything will reverse that movement as long as Trump is in the White House and as long as the Christian right has so much power in setting the party's social platform. Ostensibly, the gender chasm spells disaster for the party moving forward. Will they reverse course? Only if the current center of power, dominated by Trump loyalists and Freedom Coalition members is replaced by Republican moderates. How likely is that? Only if the party is wiped out in 2020, which certainly is a possibility.
21
Republicans don't shun identity politics. They embrace them as a wedge issue. Their party motto is practically "If it's all white, it's all right."
49
The Republican Party does not shun identity politics. Indeed, they were the first party to heavily engage in it. Christian identity, rural gun culture identity, white nationalist identity, and so on.
37
Most Republican voters of both genders will vote for a man over even a highly qualified woman. That may have something to do with it.
22
@Corky Pirbright - I think you'd be shocked at how easily Condi Rice would win in a landslide over Kamala Harris.
1
@Midwest Josh I think you misread the comment.
1
If Trumpublicans continue to rule, my guess is that women will lose the right to vote, like when America was Great (for white “Christian” men), and so the new Trumpublican party can win future elections.
14
The handful of Republican women are already booked to be staged at Trump rallies, so there's no one left to run for office.
But joking aside, it's pretty obvious in the current, fundamentalist Republican party that there is a strong authoritarian, male-dominated streak. Women who live in that world are not expected to be leaders or have a voice beyond traditional, female roles. How anyone expects a different outcome is comical.
70
@Andreas. Exactly. The "Republican Woman Problem" is Republican men.
18
Many commenters have correctly identified why voters did not get really enthusiastic over Republican women. The main reasons cited are that they support very misogynistic men but not good policies.
Let's look at this from another angle. The GOP organizations which divvy up campaign money and staff support didn't do diddly for GOP women candidates in the general election, nor in the primaries either. Many of these women candidates could not win if they ran on popular support, so without big bucks and high level staffing they floundered. Some months back one GOP chair urged Republican women NOT to run in 2018 but maybe to run in 2020 instead.
15
It's the greedy and powerful (straight white Christian men) vs. everyone else (white, black, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, male, female, gay, straight, religious or not) when it comes to the Republicans and Democrats. Just look at the diversity in the photo. What's left of the shrinking middle class still believes in the idea of a melting pot. Sadly there are those on the right that do not even if they are poor. Usually they want to blame the "others" for their lot in life (non-white folk). It's heartening to see that open mindedness is alive and somewhat well in this country of ours...all of ours.
18
The number of republican men in congress is also dropping. I know that it is stupefying that women are even in the GOP, but look at the Trump rallies and think about all the women who actually love their abusive husbands. People, and that means women too, are easily manipulated and self abusive. I am constantly amazed that anyone is fooled by the GOP anymore, but they are. Perhaps you are focusing on the decline of women in the GOP only because their support for GOP policy would seem to be contrary to common sense.
There is a common misconception that women by their nature are always kinder and more intelligent than men. I find that to not be true in actuality. Or, at least, I find there is no shortage of greedy and manipulative women who are not particularly intelligent.
It is actually quite chauvinistic to think that they are incapable of calculated cruelty and self interest. Fortunately there are a few who are selfless fighters for justice. You really need to use your senses to determine who is who. Simplistic predispositions will do neither you or I any service at all.
4
These data are not surprising. the only thing surprising is that there are as many women who identify themselves as Republicans. I guess they did not get the memo on who the President is or the GOp platform on women's rights.
Go Blue, Go Women!!
25
In my state they elected a man who believes , and I quote"women are men's lover servants" need I say more? There is no hope for any with a modicum of self respect, self worth to vote for women who back men of his ilk. In voting for women , we are hoping, wishing for change to what the greedy, self important , power happy , all about us, number 1( at any cost) GOP . Give me women, God forbid not with Betsy DeVos mentality, to help bring our country not to greatness , but to what is was and has always been intended to be. It's not being afraid everyone is out to get us. It's not about killing all the ideals our founders gave us. It's not being the bully on the block, while our children are being told, it's hurtful and so wrong. We worked hard, paid our share, to ensure our kids had a better world. This country isn't doing that now. It's not making us proud to be Americans, or to be leaving it in its current state. We have hope in these women. Don't let the next generation down.
20
Perhaps in Ms. Ayotte's state. Here in flyover country, Republicans both indirectly and directly urge women not to run and upset the apple cart of white males holding all the levers of power.
29
Face it, the Republican party is the party of men, particularly old white men. Just look at the polices they support. They are the party with most of the stay at home wives.
60
@terri smith - are you denigrating stay at home wives? My Ivy League educated wonderful wife stays at home right now. It's a choice we made in the best interest of our kids.
4
The Republican Party chose to be the party of angry white men; why is it surprising that everyone else would leave?
46
Republican women are going back to where Republicans believe they should be - in the kitchen.
23
Good for America! As a former Goldwater Republican I learned some painful lessons about Republican policies over the past half century. I have documented some lessons at
https://www.legalreader.com/republican-racketeers-violent-policies/
6
Republican policies pertaining to women are in league with Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Yemen whereas they need to pursue woman agendas more in line with Finland, Sweden, and UK.
The power these old white men have is diminishing daily and will go the way if the dinosaurs over time.
Women should leave the Republican Party and only run/vote as Democrats or Independents....let the old white men keep their perverted party.
23
Who are Republican women who are due our respect and admiration?
Susan Collins? Not since her self-serving pretentious lecture in defense of Kavanaugh.
Cindy Hyde Smith, who has made a mockery of her position with her "public hanging" comments?
Kellyanne Conway, whose husband is part of the Trump opposition while she deals in "alternative facts?"
Sarah Sanders, poor woman, who has to carry out vindication for Trump while he insults anyone who he feels threatened by?
Ivanka?
Melania? "I don't really care, do u"?
These are just some examples of Republican women. Others are carrying placards and worshipping Trump at his rallies.
P.S. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Heidi Heitcamp (who lost her seat for voting against Kavanaugh) may be two Republican women we could stand up for and applaud.
49
@Mulberryshoots
Heidi Heitkamp is a Democrat; but I agree we should stand and applaud her.
6
@Mulberryshoots Actually Heidi Heitkamp is from the Democratic party.
4
Heitkamp is a Democrat.
1
let's not pretend that a sizeable portion of Republicans are not Republican only to further misogynistic and racist positions. the only people of color they will support are servile women and people of color who see little to no value in any culture but white male culture.
if you're Republican currently and this strikes you as hateful, wrong, or small minded, then do something about it.
make your party a party that celebrates diversity and equity. then and only then will I think your policy opinions about limited government and private sector social advancement and protections are honest and worthy of engagement.
20
>> “I know that we need to up our game on the Republican end,” said Kelly Ayotte,
Sorry but sales ability is not your problem.
28
New GOP caucus: 90% white men
New Democratic caucus: 48% white men
US population (latest census): 29% white men
59
Correction:
The Dems will be 38% white men in the next Congress
Gee, what a surprise. I can't imagine why woman don't flock to the GOP platform of marginalization and enslavement. I'm sure one of the big Koch Bros think Tanks will help them sort it out.
51
Watch for 2020 when these same guys try to pretend we matter, they care, they aren’t who they have shown us all along.
3
I think that being either a male or female Republican, your natural preference is for a white male to be in charge. Yes, there have been exceptions, but Barack Obama appointed more female supreme court justices than all Republican presidents combined. Republicans appear to believe the corporate glass ceiling should be just above the typing pool.
It is hard to believe they're anywhere close to changing their stripes on this one.
42
“There is another potential barrier for Republican women: In a party that shuns identity politics”
This just false. The Republican party enthusiastically embraces negative identity politics. You saw it throughout the election and all of 2016 to today. Why on Earth are journalists flat out lying about their intentions?
50
@Enmanuel R. Yes, obviously. As this same article stated, the Republican Party is mainly white, old, and male. And getting more so every day.
6
Makes sense, an anti-women’s party is unlikely to elect women.
40
Three Republican party doesn't value women. Is it any surprise that few women are willing to run as Republicans?
15
Republicans have no message for educated women born after 1960. They have no message for immigrants, non Christians or people with a college education. Look who their flag bearers are: Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell and Brett Kavanaugh. The gap between the Republican message and the national demographic will only get wider.
62
@BS
Agree - except that rational, decent people of either gender, born before 1960, see no message from Republicans either.
4
This is even worth doing an article about? The masses of women running for Congress and other office this year were motivated by one thing alone: opposition to Trump and shock over the fact that he won the presidential election and not Hillary. Most came out for the Women’s March the day after he was inaugurated. So no surprise Republicans weren’t part of the phenomenon.
6
@PL
Or maybe Republicans just aren't interested in representing women?
31
Of course, democratic women ran on many other issues but Republicans don’t know that because Republicans don’t listen when a woman speaks. Republicans just apply whatever crazy preconceptions they have. It’s why we can expect Republicans to continue to do badly with women voters and candidates.
10
I have homeschooled my children for 17 years, and we frequently attend classes where there are a lot of conservative Christians. I am also a part-time librarian in a very diverse and progressive high school.
My experience has been that the conservative women have always known their place, but after the 2016 election it has changed timbre. The expectation that women submit are darker and deeper, and the women are less likely to assert themselves in the little ways that they did before. The women are policing each other with more enthusiasm. These findings do not surprise me.
28
@Student.
This is a very thought provoking entry. I have struggled to understand the mind of these women, and this totally makes sense.
If you don't submit to the insular patriarchal status quo you risk being shunned and cast out into a world that you have been told is immoral and dangerous. You have no experience, job prospects or family support.
This is analogous to what happens to gays who are born into these religions and choose push against the system.
1
With 105 Democratic women in the House, they will constitute about 45% of the likely 232 Democrats. That's getting pretty close to parity. This is a huge victory for all of us who want a truly representative government. That was a personal goal of mine and why I volunteered to elect Lauren Underwood of Illinois.
35
With respect to Ms. Ayotte, deserved or not, the story of the GOP and women was on vivid display in the Kavanaugh hearings. The staggering ineptitude, barely concealed misogyny, dismissiveness and disrespect were not isolated examples but rather the latest in a pattern of behaviors that all point to (at best) the Republican intent to deploy a "token" strategy to having women in its ranks. Faced with such colossal demographic challenges of race and ethnicity looming, the GOP looks a bit like the Titanic crew arranging deck chairs so they can all have a perfect and unobstructed view of the iceberg as they proceed on course and at full speed ahead. Betting on gerrymandering and voter-suppression is a losing bet.
79
@SurlyBird Even the 11 rich, old, white Republican men on the Judiciary Committee had enough self awareness to realize that grilling a woman about sexual assault might not make for the best optics and handed that task off to a woman. Of course, as soon as the woman started making progress in her questioning, they rudely dismissed her. Good luck with women, GOP.
5
@SurlyBird I thought it was hilarious when Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said women didn't want to serve on the Judiciary Committee when the Committee's Ranking Member and 3 other Democratic members were women.
1
The republican party "shuns identity politics." You can't be serious. The republican party's message is almost entirely based in identity politics.
167
@Megan
Specifically, WHITE anti-foreign anti-women identity politics.
30
@Megan. The article itself says so: the Republican Party is white, old, and male.
12
What do Susan Collins, Miriam Adelson, Betsy devos, and Kellyanne Conway have in common?
They all support men who have questionable misogynistic ideas about women. I wonder what that means in a psychological evaluation.
57
@Piece man
I agree. Tolerance is for the weak minded. Go liberals and progressives. Eliminate the opposition.
4
Republican women represent the past. Even I, a baby boomer, am interested in a life undaunted by gender opposition. There is no reason why families cannot prevail with both parents on board. It is always an uphill battle in the family, in the workplace and society.
14
What exactly do republican women stand for? Perhaps if one of these women present the American people with a clear message, folks may decide to vote for them. Until then, making one's own reproductive choices, sensible gun control, promoting education for all, affordable health care insurance and acceptance of all, regardless of skin color, sexual orientation and religion will win over Americans hand down. And only one party promotes all of these issues.
102
Sadly, it seems the GOP believes that the only thing women are capable of doing is giving birth and keeping a tidy home.
Isn’t that what their MAGA is wanting to return to, 1950s living?
105
@galtsgultch Then they should also return to the 1950's tax codes where the wealthy and corporations paid their fair share of taxes.
23
What do Republican women stand for?
Men’s ideas. Men’s control. Men.
No thanks.
Eleanor Roosevelt will always have led the way for Democratic women, in mentality, in demeanor, in independence, in spirit. Republican women cannot even begin to relate to her work. They don’t want to. And there lies a very big problem for them, now and in their future.
177
As long as the Republican Party is synonymous with the Fundamentalist Evangelical party, where the role of women is clearly defined as a subordinate one, this should surprise no one.
242
@Kris K Now that's not quite fair. Only around 2/3 of the party are Fundamentalist Evangelicals. The other third are actual literal Nazis.
1
This is no surprise. The Republican-voting cohort is increasingly male and not inclined to be supportive of female politicians (or females in any position of power, for that matter).
20
@Matt
I would argue there is one position for women in the old, white, male, entitled republican voting cohort: prone!
1
..."in a party that shuns identity politics..." which party is this author writing about exactly? Surely not the GOP....
It is exactly because the GOP fully engages identity politics that it is almost entirely composed of white men at the electoral level.
81
A cursory look at the policies preferred by the GOP provides all the answers for why female republican politicians are rare and getting rarer. Equal pay, healthcare, early childhood educational opportunities (which affords women the option to seek paid work), access to abortion are all issues that put most women at odds with the GOP. Republicans are positively medieval with regard to a woman's place in today's world and are more aligned with fundamentalists than not.
59
In discussing the lack of woman on the Republican side in the incoming new congress with conservative women I had some interesting comments.
When asked why there were so few women elected in the ‘18 mid terms one answer was the the Bible said women should be subservient to men. And she would NEVER vote for a woman because of the Bible’s teaching.
Others simply said they didn’t think women are as competent as men. Mostly women want families and homes so a political office would not suit women’s goals in life. Just part of the Conservative Christian philosophy.
29
Maybe it’s because nobody likes what they or the GOP has to say... 2020 is coming!
19
I would submit "Republican Woman" is an oxymoron, much along the lines of "gourmet burrito" or "jumbo shrimp".
24
Just an observation: it's a bit ludicrous to describe the Republican Party as one that "shuns identity politics." The Republicans are the original "identity" party -they have been playing to, nurturing and inflaming white identity politics for decades. They have doubled down on it in the time of Trump. Its incredibly telling that, even in the NYT, "identity politics" apparently only applies to groups who are not white or who are a discriminated against subset (such as gay or transsexual people) while "whiteness" is so much the norm that it is not even recognized as the single most prominent and consistent manifestation of identity politics in the US.
148
@Shaun Narine
What bothered me was the use of "identity politics" in the sentence as if it isn't a Republican characterization, a political label, which almost always is, a projection of what the Republican party is.
19
I mean, the GOP isn’t lily white by accident.
It’s funny how the media keeps pushing that narrative for the sake of “both sides” equivalency.
42
Women are invisible to the GOP. A few water carriers who’ll overlook the blatant thuggery and corruption don’t fool anyone.
34
This always amazes me how women or blacks can belong to a party that disparages them and engages in policies that hurt them. Is it self-hating? Do these Republican women think they are special? When their daughters are attacked by men or need an abortion they will find out they 're not special. The men will be believed and the women pushed aside. They are pawns for Republicans.
41
Hopefully, Republican women will follow in the footsteps of Democrat women and there will be more running in 2020. It is never too late for them to get on the bandwagon. They certainly are just as qualified as their Democrat counterparts to run our government. They are bright, articulate and care about our country. Of course, we want the right Republican woman in office and there are many who are very capable in filling that role.
As a woman, I have absolutely no hesitation in voting for a woman but it must be the right woman. I will not play gender politics just to get a woman in office. If she has the necessary qualifications, she certainly gets my vote. I hope more Republican women decide to run in 2020 and that they play catch up to the Democrats. They are just as good as Democrats.
6
@WPLMMT This attitude is prevalent among women who will not be impacted by the anti woman, anti family policies put in place by the Republican Party. Does a desire for tax cuts blind Republican men and women to the pain these policies cause?
55
@WPLMMT
I am so sick of hearing the I'll vote for the "right woman" or I'll vote for a woman "if she is qualified". Implicit in such statements is that the default is to otherwise vote for the man--i.e., I'll vote for the imperfect male candidate unless the female candidate is perfect. I don't doubt that people making these statements think that they are demonstrating that their voting decisions are gender neutral, but they are actually showing the opposite.
37
@Sarah President Trump called Stacey Abrams, a Yale Law School grad (like Kavanaugh!) who was minority leader in the Georgia House, unqualified. I guess because she was inexperienced at driving a casino into bankruptcy and laundering Russsian gangster cash.
20
It would be worth mentioning that the Republican Party's policy agenda -- attacking health benefits for contraception; cutting off support for Planned Parenthood's non-abortion health care and contraceptive services; hostility improve health care access in general; opposition to laws protecting women from employment discrimination, etc -- isn't particularly attractive to many women.
203
Nor men for that matter.
45
@NCSense But astonishingly, even with that long list of anti-women policy points, a lot of women still vote Republican! It almost seems as if Republican women specifically want to be subordinate and controlled by white men!! Or is there another reason? Fear?
1
@mrpisces I think it's more like they want to control their own kind. After all, if you choose to never have an abortion, its legality or lack thereof will never affect you. You've lost nothing, and gained control over women who want bodily autonomy.
"With fewer women as candidates and officeholders, Republicans risk further widening a gender gap.."
As a man, it's hard for me to understand how women, in general, could run under a party banner that has been so regressive regarding women's right across the board.
The Republicans'failure to include any female representation during the"Repeal and Replace"discussions was unconscionable. At the time I was shocked that Republican women in Congress did not speak up. They can't all be Evangelical Fundamentalists.
134
The GOP's ideology is completely fear-driven with a voting bloc and representation heavily dependent on white men. Threatened by women, ethnic minorities, and non-Christians, Republicans slowly but, most certainly, become dinosaurs while the Democratic party embraces change. The challenge for Democrats is harnessing fresh energy and point of views into a cohesive message under new leadership.
31
I am torn on this... Part of me thinks that the absence of women on the republican side is no reason to celebrate as they will be sorely underrepresented. However, another part of me says, so what? Recalling Collins from Maine parroting the republican party line in justifying her vote on Kavanaugh tells me that on the republican side there is no tempering of outcome or multiplying of options to be had by increasing the diversity of the representatives. Women (and everyone else), welcome to the democratic party!
61
There’s a huge gap between white women and nonwhite women.
Just last week, 76% of white women voted for Kemp while 97% of black women voted for Abrams.
We saw the same dynamic about Roy Moore and trump
12
I understand the reluctance of Republican women to run for office in this climate.
If they are not morally prepared to march in lockstep with the Washington patriarchy, and Trump in particular, they know going in that the insulter-in-chief will reach into his bag of insults and nicknames and attempt to diminish them. He has shown his willingness, perhaps eagerness, to engage on that level.
It takes a lot of guts to run into that storm. Kudos to all the Democrats who chose to meet it head on.
30
When your standard bearer boasts about grabbing women by their private parts, it makes it kind of difficult to convince females to run for office under your banner.
It's also instructive to look at the Republican women who lost in the mid-terms. Martha McSally in Arizona and Claudia Tenney in New York presented themselves as Trump clones and were defeated. Others, like Barbara Comstock in Virginia, tried to separate themselves from Trump, and of course that failed because the voters rightly tied her to a party that has become deeply unpopular in her district.
Ultimately, the GOP's "woman problem" is a byproduct of the party's deep contempt for the concerns of female voters, not only in terms of reproductive rights, but also on bread and butter issues such as health care and economic policies that affect working families. And the really bad news for the Republicans is that this is not likely to change anytime soon.
95
be that it is a banner year for people voting for their country rather than empty party platforms and showcased race or gender panderers. I am old enough to recall that Clarence Thomas was put in charge of EEOC because he opposed it, and then in that D.C. court which serves as a nursery for Republican Supreme Court pick as Kavanaugh followed suit. Could it be that writer Chira missed the point, that people voted Democrat because they see how narrow and self-serving the McConnell-Trump-Ryan agenda has been...to serve their monied pals and punish people through minimizing health care etc.? this is not a gender vote. Stop it.
4
Gee, you mean if you put all the Republican policies in a dress the American voter doesn't warm to the candidate? Someone should tell newly elected minority leader Rep McCarthy who said yesterday the R's just need more women and minority candidates to win back the House.
Sorry Kevin, policies do matter.
67
It’s still a local game and women are not a monolithic group.
In Georgia, 76% of white women voted for Kemp while 97% of black women voted for Abrams.
We’ve seen the same division in Florida and about Roy Moore & trump.
6
Makes complete sense, since misogyny is a central plank of the Republican Party platform. See, e.g., Donald Trump, Bret Kavanaugh, etc.
21
I think if one reads the 2016 Republican Party platform one can see how women might be more drawn to the Democratic Party. That document is a blueprint for a Christian men’s America where women do what men allow them to. I am not sure why any women or non-Christians are involved with the Republicans, or perhaps they haven’t read this scurrilous document. The Republicans are a white male Christian party by choice. Everyone else is being used.
59
@ScottC I agree- I assume the party is made up of evangelicals on one hand and well to do women who are so selfish in their desire to fatten their pocketbooks that they turn a blind eye to the lack of supoort for families and the lack of embarrassment over mysoginy. Then again the these wealthy women are buffered from the consequences.
14
"Banner Year for Female Candidates Doesn’t Extend to Republican Women" -- Well why should it? Republican women undermine women.
36
".......Doesn't extend to Republican Women."
Nor does it appear to extend to Nancy Pelosi for some Democrats.
And lets not forget Nancy Pelosi has now replaced Hillary Clinton having a target on her back for them to shoot at and just another instance of the Republicans' seemingly endless misogyny for women and especially women of color.
26
What we're experiencing with 'Conservative' women is just that: Conserving their idea of the male/female relationship; as if Betty Friedan and Germaine Greer never existed.
It's also a sort of national Stockholm syndrome, in which the hostages, meaning all woman, become adjusted to their state and defend their captors. We must accept that, to them, freedom is frightening. To them male dominance=chivalry, oppression=protection. Think of all the women who were against the equal rights amendment. It's going to take a while; much of our country is still living in a Romance Novel.
20
Most female republicans don’t call themselves “feminists” anyway. It’s actually a dirty word in conservative circles, along other “civil rights” and “diversity”
12
Not surprised Stefanik refused to talk with the press, she doesn't talk with her constitutes either. Perhaps that is because she doesn't live in the district.
9
The Democratic Party is what it looks like when “all men are created equal”, after the inclusion of women, is finally applied to everyone- even as it is a work in progress.
The Republican Party still looks like the 1700s, when those words were first written.
12
@JANo, the Democratic Party believes, all men and women are created equal.
2
The GOP is demonstrably a party that prefers to elect white men with a sprinkling of “diversity” members. Conservative has come to mean socially hidebound.
12
This is hardly surprising. As with racial minorities, if you’re interested in selling out yourself and other women for the interests of white men, then you have a future in the Republican party—they need all of the female and minority fig leaves their money can buy. If you have the least self-respect, however, you will align yourself either with a third party or the Democrats, as flawed as these other choices may be. It’s really that obvious and that simple.
8
Are these women disingenuous or clueless? The real reason more women are not running as Republicans is because the Republican Party platform is mysoginistic and Republican party members hold feminists in disdain. Add in the disturbing anti abortion obsession with controlling women's bodies coupled with a hypocritical policy of removing support for families, and the Republican Party has locked the door and thrown away the key.
19
Bravo for women Democrats! As a man, I still can not understand why any woman would oppose a woman's right to her own body. I still can not understand why any woman will vote and support the current Republican Party.
17
It could just be that the candidates are consistent with voters
Minority women and college educated white women tend to vote Democrat.
Non college education white women tend to vote GOP.
So that leaves white males to dominate the GOP, as voters and representatives.
5
“...In a party that shuns identity politics, there has been a reluctance to emphasize gender as a credential...”
Are you kidding? The GOP is all about identity politics. Their people and agenda scream rural white male. Since white men have crowded out the discussion and the policy decisions for so long, few in the establishment use the term identity politics in association with Republicans, but voters know better.
If this election meant anything, it meant that the voters rejected the identity politics of the right.
21
It's Trump's Republican party now - what sort of thinking and caring woman could embrace his wretched and immoral positions and policies.
15
It's impossible to feel sorry for any woman who would gain power to vote against other women's dignity and autonomy from government oppression. Good riddance. Maybe they can go back baby making and the kitchen, where their fellow Republican brethren say they belong.
16
You can't have it both ways, on the one hand arguing (strenuously) for "traditional" family values and gender roles while on the other actively advocating women's empowerment. While the GOP isn't by definition historically a reactionary party, currently it is—a combination of Trump and the Tea Party. My impression of the GOP is "no woman need to apply".
As was highlighted in the article, women generally run when asked/mentored and in this midterm, an energized "progressive" movement prompted women to seek office without the usual prompting. The anti-Trump zeitgeist and the #metoo movement propelled many women to run and in some cases they, even, prevail over the current (Democrat) incumbent.
I hope that the incoming class will breathe fresh air into the House and bring American democracy back on track.
90
This became markedly clear when many of the key votes for republican majority were questioned by females, for women's rights and healthcare among other things. The men seemed to have no problem quickly bashing through those things, but the republican women at least had some doubts at first, even if they ultimately came through.
11
Hard to see why this wouldn't happen, given that Republicans are so assiduously opposed to women's rights and that Donald Trump's thuggery is more likely to appeal to men.
The only thing that surprises me, given the GOP's obnoxious politically-motivated insistence on controlling women's bodies and its cynical willingness to ignore sexual molestation by the likes of Trump and Kavanaugh, is that any women support the Republican Party at all.
321
I suspect the failure of Republican women candidates has a lot to do with their party's stand on abortion. A woman candidate who opposes reproductive choices must be especially repellent to women voters who support those rights.
141
@CWB. My mother in Northern Illinois, now in her 80s, has voted Republican all her life and has always been a supporter of legal abortion. The way she phrases it is "the wrong people are having babies." These Republicans look at abortion as a way to reduce the number of future Democrats and the number of future welfare recipients. I grew up in Goldwater country but I never heard any Republican say that it was important to them to keep abortion unavailable. I think that fear of making abortion illegal is something that Democrats use as a fundraiser and a distraction from other issues such as government corruption. For my mother in Illinois, the most important issue is government corruption. She associates Democrats with government corruption in Chicago and with governors going to jail. She was opposed to Obama because she associated him with Chicago real estate interests that she thought were corrupt because 30 years ago they tried to force her to share a real estate commission for a property 100 miles from Chicago.
2
Also hard to run as a woman when you have a president who is not in the least bit interested in helping woman succeed unless it is ivanka@CWB
22
Does she know the current corrupt government is in the hands of republicans?
21