If there is a silver lining to the Trump presidency, it’s that the election of the Misogynist-in-Chief has inspired record numbers of women to run for office. The number of female candidates has more than doubled since 2016, and yesterday’s primary races in Indiana, Ohio, North Carolina and West Virginia showed results. Women were chosen as Democratic nominees in 22 out of 40 congressional districts, and eight were women of color. Women also won 17 out of the 20 open Democratic House primaries which had women on the ballot.
Rachel Crooks, who accused Trump of sexually harassing her while she was a receptionist at Trump Tower, won an uncontested primary in Ohio for a seat in the state’s House of Representatives. If she wins, she’ll be the first Trump accuser to hold political office.
Please, by all means, share the footage from the hallway outside the 24th floor residential elevator bank on the morning of January 11, 2006. Let’s clear this up for everyone. It’s liars like you in politics that have prompted me to run for office myself. https://t.co/ir7EEKoXRU https://t.co/GmkkZ5jUc7
— Rachel Crooks for Ohio (@RachelforOhio) February 20, 2018
Many of the women who secured the nomination last night are running in conservative districts that Trump swept in the 2016 election. Liz Watson, a progressive labor attorney, won the Democratic nomination for Indiana’s 9th Congressional District, a district that Trump carried by 27 points. She will face off against Republican incumbent Rep. Trey Hollingsworth, the son of a multi-millionaire real estate tycoon, who took the seat by an under-performing 14 points.
The women currently in congress can breathe easy, as all seven incumbents secured their noms for re-election. However, securing seats for women in the Senate continues to be an uphill battle. Two women in the primaries ran for U.S. Senate nominations: Paula Swearingen (D) in West Virginia and Melissa Ackison (R) in Ohio. Both failed to secure the nomination.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is already anticipating a Democratic comeback in the 2018 midterms and is planning to retake the gavel from Paul Ryan. In an interview with the Boston Globe, she said, “We will win. I will run for speaker. I feel confident about it. And my members do, too. It’s important that it not be five white guys at the table, no offense,” Pelosi said. “I have no intention of walking away from that table.”
(via Huffington Post, image: Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!
—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—
