‘Year of the Woman’ in politics? Not in Fla.
TALLAHASSEE — In what was billed as “the Year of the Woman,” issues that helped spur women to run for office – sexual harassment, equal pay and others — have slipped from the radar of major candidates at the top of the ticket in Florida.
Andrew Gillum, the Democratic nominee for governor, has made brief references to some of those issues, but his pitch to voters in the final days of the campaign has focused largely on education, the environment and health care.
It’s a consequence, Democrats say, of other high-profile issues coming to the forefront as the urgency of the #MeToo movement has faded from the headlines.
“The issue that’s going to win these elections for Democrats are the issues that are close to home right now,” said Rep. Janet Cruz, D-Tampa. “This algae in our water is scaring people to death.”
“We can’t assume that women are going to vote for us because we have a ‘D’ next to our name. We’ve got to earn the vote of women.” Anna Eskamani, former Planned Parenthood spokeswoman and abortion rights activist running for a Florida House district in Orlando
Cruz is in a tight race for Senate with incumbent Sen. Dana Young, R-Tampa, in a battle that could decide whether Republicans maintain control of the chamber. The GOP currently holds a 23-17 edge on Democrats.
And while Cruz has consistently pushed bills in the GOPcontrolled House in vain on women’s issues, such as those to impose stricter enforcement of equal pay laws and to pass the Equal Rights Amendment, she said it’s funding public education and access to health care that are driving women to the polls in her district.
The #MeToo movement in response to a series of reports of powerful men in entertainment, media and politics sexually harassing women over the course of decades generated a surge of female candidates for office this year. The issue affected the Legislature, too.
State Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clear-
water, resigned last year after an internal investigation found probable cause that he groped a staffer. Another senator, Jeff Clemens, DLake Wales, resigned after his relationship with a lobbyist was made public.
National media outlets wrote articles detailing how the issue, along with a reaction among liberal women to President Donald Trump, helped lead the surge in female candidates.
The surge held true in Florida, too, but at the top of the ticket, Gillum pulled off an upset of Gwen Graham, leaving a slate of men leading the Democratic and Republican parties for the governor and U.S. Senate races.
Recent polls have shown Gillum and incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson with substantial leads among women against their Republican opponents, former U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis and Gov. Rick Scott, respectively.
A Quinnipiac poll out this week showed a 20 point advantage with women for Nelson over Scott, more than making up for his 10 percentage-point deficit with men. The same poll shows Gillum up 21 percentage points on DeSantis among women.
Anna Eskamani is a former Planned Parenthood spokeswoman and abortion rights activist running for a Florida House district in Orlando. She’s been included in a series of national media articles on the surge of female candidates and has made sexual assault, domestic violence and abortion rights central to her platform. She doesn’t want fellow Democrats to get complacent on those issues as voters head to the polls.
“My concern only is that Democrats will miss the mark on some of these issues that really do transcend party lines,” Eskamani said. “It is getting lost in what is being assumed as the priority issues for voters.”
Gillum’s agenda calling for higher teacher salaries and expanded access to health care is appealing to women, too, Democratic strategist Steve Schale noted. And if female voters are responsible for the “blue wave” many Democrats anticipate in the midterm elections, placing Gillum in the Governor’s Mansion, expect him to follow through on those issues.
“Smart candidates understand how they got there and will take on issues that will help drive their electorate,” Schale said. “For Andrew, issues around health care, issues around early childhood education, issues around teacher salaries — all issues that are central to his platform so far and are issues that are very important to women — I think will be issues he addresses quickly.”
And if Eskamani, Cruz and other Democratic women win office as well, he’ll face emboldened Democratic voices in the Legislature pushing for action on equal pay, increased protections for domestic violence victims, action on sexual harassment in workplaces and abortion rights.
“We can’t assume that women are going to vote for us because we have a ‘D’ next to our name,” Eskamani said. “We’ve got to earn the vote of women.”