Trump, #metoo spur candidacies
As many as 38 women may run for the U.S. Senate seats this year.
Oprah Winfrey’s WASHINGTON — rousing Golden Globe speech and exhortation that a “new day is on the horizon” have many Democrats pushing her to run for president in 2020.
But whether or not Oprah decides to run, the election of President Donald Trump and the #metoo movement are turning what was once a trickle of women political candidates into a full-scale flood.
Consider the latest data from EMILY’S List, the Democratic organization that recruits prochoice women to run for office.
From the day after Election Day 2014 to Election Day 2016, 920 women contacted the organization. That rose to 26,000 in the months after Election Day 2016, the organization says.
Many just wanted to get involved, but advocates say they’ve never seen this level of energy and enthusiasm behind female candidates.
“It’s a moment,” said Debbie Walsh of the Center for American Women and Politics.
Accelerated push
The movement to get women more involved in politics gained momentum a year ago when an estimated 500,000 women descended on Washington for the Women’s March one day after President Donald Trump’s inauguration. Then months of sexual harassment claims against powerful men, which caused many of them to resign their positions, accelerated the push.
Historians point to the 1992 Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill hearings as a seminal event that galvanized women to enter politics. But this year might outdo that one in terms of sheer numbers of women running.
As many as 38 women may run for the U.S. Senate this year — twice as many as in 2016, according to the Center for American Women and Politics. The Senate gained another female senator on Jan. 3 when Tina Smith, D-Minnesota, was sworn in to replace Al Franken, who resigned after being accused of sexual harassment. Smith’s swearing in brought the number of women in that body to 22, an all–time high.
Ohio doesn’t have any Senate candidates, but heading into last week four of the candidates for governor were women, while several of the male candidates had either named women as running mates or were expected to. Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley ended her bid for governor on Friday and endorsed former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray. Former U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton, who was running, agreed to join Cordray on his ticket, reducing the number of female governor candidates to two.
Couldn’t sit on sidelines
For many of the women running this year, their candidacies were somewhat unexpected. Noni Banks, 42, of Westerville, thought she’d be spending this year urging other women to run for office. But then the #metoo movement took off and Banks, president and CEO of a business and leadership development organization for women, decided to listen to those calling on her to run.
“It’s irresponsible of me to expect someone else to do something when I’m not willing to do it myself,” said Banks, who is seeking an Ohio House seat. “I could not sit on the sidelines anymore.”
Julie McClain Downey of EMILY’s List said the surge of women showing an interest in politics doesn’t mean the doors have blown open to getting women elected. But, she said, the stars are better aligned this year, noting that a number of incumbents — at least in Congress — have decided against seeking re-election.
‘It’s about their voice’
The surge in women candidates isn’t coming just from Democrats.
Shadia Jallaq, manager of Programs for Ohio Women Empowered to Represent, an initiative at Ohio State University aimed at encouraging women to run for office, said she’s seen an increased interest in a one-day conference called Ready to Run.
But party registration has been fairly consistent, she said, with about 75 percent coming from Democrats and 25 percent from Republicans.
She credits the JoAnn Davidson Leadership Institute, which encourages young Republican women to run for office, with spurring GOP interest.
Jallaq doesn’t necessarily connect the increase to Trump or the #metoo movement. Instead, she said, “it’s about their voice — about wanting to have a voice, and that their voice is perhaps not being heard.”
Davidson, a Republican and the first woman elected speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives, said she, too, has seen increased interest among GOP women — both those wanting to run and those wanting to help others run.
“A lot of times, quite frankly, it’s what opportunities exist,” she said.
Still, most of the enthusiasm among women appears to be coming from the Democratic side.
Of the 38 women the Center for American Women and Politics lists as potential Senate candidates, 25 are Democrats. And of the 354 women considering a run for the House, 291 are Democrats, according to Walsh.
Many Republican women are disgusted by stories of sexual harassment, she said, but they have a more complicated road because the GOP is the party in power.
“They would have to fight their own party,” she said.
Motivated women
The urge to get involved has occurred at all levels of government, and advocates say that’s what’s needed to spark true change.
Bryn Bird, a 33-year-old mother of two, initially declined suggestions that she run for trustee in Granville Twp. in Licking County, and then changed her mind after she found herself in a basement filled with motivated women following the 2016 election.
The organizers had expected 20 women to show up for the event, but instead got four times that many, cramming into every available parking space in the neighborhood.
After she agreed to run, Bird said, it was women who largely turned up to volunteer, knocking on doors and helping her to victory.
“I don’t think it’s just that women are running,” Bird said of movement. “I think it’s that women are engaged throughout the process.”