Women and Politics

I just received the best news I’ve heard in a while: WCF-Endorsed Candidate Secretary Elaine Marshall has won the Democratic primary runoff for U.S. Senate in North Carolina.

WCF is proud to be one of the very first national organizations to stand behind Marshall - a proven leader for women and progressive values in her state.

We were in Marshall’s corner from the beginning - even before Washington insiders recruited a less experienced man to run against her.

We sent former WCF Fellow, Mary Schilling, to join the Marshall team on the ground full-time, and we are proud to know that Marshall has triumphed in her primary race - despite the lack of support from the political establishment.

Time and again, talented women are overlooked by their Parties, despite the fact that women’s representation in Congress is abysmally low.

Looking to November, I call upon all the power players who should have been behind Marshall from the beginning to join us in supporting her. We need Elaine Marshall in Congress.

Elaine Marshall’s victory tonight proves that North Carolina is ready to embrace a strong, intelligent woman who has a historic record of leadership for North Carolina and women.

The results of the primary race leave no room for doubt: Elaine Marshall is the right choice. She was the first women ever elected to statewide office in North Carolina and she has since been re-elected four times. Marshall helped to regain $340 million for North Carolina from Wall Street banks.

Marshall has always been a strong advocate for women and minorities’ rights. She speaks about how her own experiences with discrimination affected her decision to enter public life:

“When I grew up and became the owner of a small business, I discovered that if I wanted a line of credit, my husband had to go to the bank and apply for the loan - because I was a woman. So as a lawyer, I stood up for people without a voice.”

I’m confident that as a U.S. Senator, Marshall will continue to fight for all those who have been left behind. But she can’t do it alone. Marshall will face a tough race against the incumbent, and she is one of our best hopes for electing more progressive women who support reproductive health choices to the U.S. Senate.

WCF has fought for Elaine Marshall from the beginning, and we will be with her throughout this race. With only 17 women in the U.S. Senate, we cannot waste a single moment: I hope the Political Establishment will now join WCF in standing strong with Marshall and many other women like her in November.

June is a crucial month for women on the campaign trail. In tomorrow’s primary, WCF endorsed candidates Krystal Ball, Roxanne Conlin, Karen Bass, and Beth Krom will fight for more women in Congress, as will many others at the state and local level.

On June 22, Secretary of State Elaine Marshall will face a run-off for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate in North Carolina. And I’m proud to say that WCF will be with her on the ground in these last days.

WCF is sending a full-time representative to work in North Carolina for Elaine Marshall’s Campaign. Mary Schilling, a former WCF Fellow, arrives today to help Get Out The Vote, recruit volunteers, and manage phone banks across the state.

We’ve chosen to support Marshall’s campaign because her candidacy has, from the beginning, represented the core ideals of WCF. As a non-partisan, non-establishment organization dedicated to getting women involved in politics, we are focused on the quality of the woman running, and not who the party leadership has decided is the most likely to win the race.

For 36 years, we have stuck to this principle—and the results in North Carolina’s recent democratic primary proved that top-down, partisan politics isn’t always right.

Winning almost 37% of the vote, Marshall was the top vote-getter, confounding party assumptions about her viability as a candidate. Since her primary, Marshall has received endorsements from a former opponent and retired Congresswoman Eva Clayton. Clearly, Elaine Marshall has the local expertise and personal willpower to fight for North Carolina, and American women, in the U.S. Senate.

Indeed, Marshall has already proven her mettle as North Carolina’s Secretary of State, leading the charge against Wall Street corruption and helping to return $340 million to North Carolinians. She was also recognized by the National Federation of Democratic Women as their ‘Outstanding Democratic Woman Elected Official’ for 2010. This is the type of leadership and consistent support for progressive values that led WCF to support Marshall from the beginning of her political career, especially when establishment organizations were unwilling to listen.

We’re excited to continue that support from Washington and on the ground in North Carolina. We’ll be there when Marshall competes in the June 22 runoff, for the general election in November, and for the rest of her life in public office.

Cross-posted from my account at The Huffington Post

Will 2010 go down in history as the “Anti-Year of the Woman?”

Given the track record for women candidates already this year, I would say it’s a distinct possibility. So far, we’ve seen Dede Scozzafava, Martha Coakley, Jennifer Brunner, Connie Saltonstall, Colleen Hanabusa, Elaine Marshall, and Rep. Carol Shea-Porter stunted, dismissed, and undermined by their own political parties.

These women come from both sides of the aisle, which is one of the many important points made by National Journal reporter Erin McPike in her recent piece about the struggle of female candidates.

The obstacles to women’s political success are many: lack of party support, lack of recruitment, ingrained sexism, and male-dominated leadership of both parties.

Yes, the odds stacked against women candidates seem insurmountable. However, I am proud to say that the Women’s Campaign Forum (WCF) has been addressing each of these problems since 1974–and we’re not about to give up now.

WCF is the oldest national non-partisan organization dedicated to increasing women’s political participation, at all levels of office. We support women from the very earliest stages of their political careers.

Here’s how we tackle four of the biggest problems facing women candidates:

Lack of Party Support

We know the old boys’ club is alive and well on both sides of the aisle. As each woman this year has been squeezed out or rejected by their own party, WCF has been right there by their side. We watched, many times in shock, at how the political system blatantly damaged talented female candidates.

But this is exactly why WCF exists. We aren’t about politics as usual. We don’t wait for the masses and establishment to throw their collective weight behind a woman to support her–we’re there from the very beginning.

We invest in the woman–not just the particular race she happens to be in at that time. We focus on the political careers of our candidates, seeing their individual gifts and talents.

Not bound by party politics, WCF has been able to uniquely support women in this intimate way for 36 years.

But electing women from both parties is the only way we will ever reach gender equality in our government. A non-partisan approach is essential. We will continue to look for ways to invest in women Republican candidates who support reproductive health choices to ensure that the road to women’s equal representation is paved.

Women’s Lack of Recruitment

Thanks to the brilliant research of Jennifer Lawless, we know that women are:

• 50% less likely than men to seriously consider running for office.
• 30% less likely to actually run.
• One-third less likely to view themselves as qualified to run for office.
• One-third less likely to be asked to run for office.

WCF’s She Should Run program addresses these facts head-on. We know that if women aren’t even thinking about running for office that they need to be asked–a lot. She Should Run’s easy online platform helps us encourage women across the country to consider running for office, no matter what political party they may choose.

Through She Should Run, women are asked to consider running by someone they know and trust–which often greatly impacts a woman’s decision to become a candidate.

Ingrained Sexism

Sexism remains one of the largest factors hurting women candidates. WCF has repeatedly spoken out against misogynistic remarks made about women public figures from both parties. We work with our candidates to ensure they are prepared to handle the toxic political atmosphere that has been created for women.

When the sexism was flung most recently at Sen. Olympia Snowe, Sen. Susan Collins, Martha Coakley, Rep. Betty Sutton, Sen. Mary Landrieu, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Sen. Barbara Boxer, Secretary Jennifer Brunner, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, WCF and I were there speaking out and saying, “not on our watch.”

Male-Dominated Party Leadership

The list of Republican and Democratic Party leaders provided by McPike speaks for itself: Women have almost no power in their own political party. Clearly women can’t rely on anyone else but ourselves to increase our numbers in public office.

This is why WCF stresses the importance of women’s mentorship at all levels of office as well as positions of support. As was recently reported by Erika Lovley in POLITICO, women are still largely underrepresented in the offices of Congressional members. We look to help foster women helping each other during our Hill’s Got Talent and Hail to the Chiefs special programs.

We know that if we want to see real change, we must see more women at the top.

I hope that many will stand with us to work for women’s leadership at all levels of office, across the country, and from all political parties.

If we truly want to advance women’s rights, we need women who support reproductive health choices for all. If we truly want to reach gender equality in our government, we must support women on both sides of the aisle.

While Sarah Palin’s laundry list of controversial views has incensed a broad spectrum of Americans, she has been an especially sharp thorn in the sides of feminists. And with her ever-increasing celebrity status, it seems we just can’t escape her damaging rhetoric.

But things just managed to get worse. Now Palin is claiming that she’s a feminist? (April Fools? … j/k? … No?)

As if we don’t have enough trouble battling blatant anti-woman forces…now we have to face a political celeb who mistakenly identifies herself as one of us? Oye.

With feminists like Sarah Palin, who needs enemies?

It seems that Palin thinks by putting the word “Conservative” in front of “feminist,” she’s able to magically change its intrinsic meaning. It would be like calling yourself a meat-loving vegetarian—it just doesn’t work. Their goals directly contradict each other.

Of course, many actual feminists have already refuted and condemned Palin’s false identification. Simply put by Taylor Marsh,

“Anything less than supporting women’s full individual rights simply renders you a pretender, a fake, a feminist fraud.”

While there has been debate about whether or not you can be an anti-choice feminist, the majority of thought and most of the feminist community concludes that you can’t. (Basically, an individual’s choice for or against abortion for themselves shouldn’t apply to everyone - but that’s a giant topic for another day.)

As Palin has done nothing but use her own personal decisions to showcase her anti-reproductive choice stance, it’s clear that she doesn’t support women’s freedom to make their own personal choices. Heretofore, she is not a feminist.

In fact, I would argue that it’s worse than that: Sarah Palin’s politics, views, and approach are actually harmful to women.

I say this especially in light of her battle plans against female candidates who would actually advocate for women’s rights. In fact, she’s targeting many WCF-Endorsed Candidates.

WCF works to get more women into public office, from both sides of the aisle. But we, along with many women’s organizations, believe that it’s imperative to elect more women who will defend women’s reproductive health.

Unfortunately, Palin’s recent actions aren’t just threatening to women’s health—her venomous and uncompromising approach to politics harms our entire country.

Many note that Palin and Bachmann’s political approach disproves the idea that women collaborate more than men. As former Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-Colo.) said,

“With Sarah and Michele [Bachmann], they’re not listeners — they want to tell you what to believe, so it’s a very different style than most women in politics have had.”

But at a time when explosive partisan politics continues to deepen our divisions, do we really want leaders who will only continue to tear that expanse further apart?

And I must remind everyone that Palin’s extreme reproductive choice views don’t reflect those of most Americans; who believe that individuals, not politicians or the government, should decide which option is best for themselves and their families.

It deeply saddens me to witness the destruction caused by women like Sarah Palin; who could use their powers for good, not evil; whose goals aren’t to truly empower women, but strip them of their freedoms; who don’t foster much-needed collaboration, but boast how they would further divide; who aren’t a true voice for all women, but tow the line of minority opinion.

As recent elections have overwhelmingly demonstrated, our current political system often fails women. And Palin’s tactics only further polarize our political system, making it increasingly difficult for women to succeed within it.

I truly hope that voters this November will choose collaboration over division; new approaches over stale partisan politics; and advancing women’s rights instead of turning back the clock.

After much ado about potential financial involvement, the DCCC has pledged to say a temporary “aloha” to the race for Hawaii’s 1st District.

This special election contains many layers of confusion: It’s winner-take-all, mail-in only, with two Democrats and one Republican running.

State Senator Colleen Hanabusa and former Congressman Ed Case are running an increasingly heated race against Republican candidate Councilman Charles Djou.

If the votes are split between the two Democratic candidates, the seat will most likely land in the hands of Djou until the primary election in July.

The fear of losing such a blue district and the birthplace of President Barack Obama has led the Democratic Party to repeatedly pressure Hanabusa about the campaign—warning her about the repercussions of the battle between her and Case.

Her response to this not-so-subtle request to bow out? A press conference in which she clearly stated that she is in it to win it:

“I don’t know how else to respond but to just say this: I’m in this race until the end, and I’m in this race to win.”

It’s interesting to say the least that the DCCC wanted Hanabusa to step aside, when Case has lost at least as many elections as the Buffalo Bills have Super Bowls.

Hanabusa’s 12 years as State Senator and her long record of public service has garnered much support throughout the district. And she is more than ready to take on the political establishment,  which has damaged and ended the campaigns of many viable women candidates this year, most recently Secretary Jennifer Brunner and Connie Saltonstall.

Thank you, Colleen Hanabusa for continuing to stand strong against the old boys club and not back down.

When facing a primary contest, the party’s default decision should not be to support the man.

Next Sunday, May 22nd is the deadline for postmarking ballots this mail-in only special election. Regardless of the result, let it be known that we will continue supporting strong women candidates and calling out the establishment when they attempt to bully them out of running.

Today we are saddened to hear that WCF-endorsed candidate Connie Saltonstall is ending her campaign for Congress in Michigan’s 1st District.

WCF was one of the first organizations to endorse Saltonstall when she stood up to challenge the anti-choice villain of the health care debate, Bart Stupak. But unfortunately, Saltonstall now serves as yet another example of our current political system failing women.

Saltonstall has been active in her county Democratic Party for years, and stands extremely disappointed at their preemptive support of Gary McDowell—an act she sees as a betrayal of the party platform for political expediency:

“I can no longer support the Michigan democratic party when they deliberately sacrifice women’s rights.”

She notes that the voters in her district have never been given the chance to vote for a pro-choice candidate, and she thinks the results might surprise party leaders if they took the chance.

Unfortunately, we see this scenario all too often: The political establishment on both sides of the aisle will not step outside of their comfort zones to support women.

But that’s exactly why WCF exists. We stand behind women who take chances and fight the good fight against the old boys’ club mentality.

“WCF’s support has meant everything to me. The first act I did in my campaign was to come to your parties in March, and the people that I met and the reception that I received was so encouraging and heartening that it set the tone for the whole campaign,” Saltonstall said.

Saltonstall stood up for women when it mattered most. She rallied the pro-choice community behind her to send the message, “Bart Stupak, your days in power are numbered.” WCF, Feminist Majority, NOW, NARAL Pro-Choice America, and Planned Parenthood all endorsed her.

Saltonstall’s grassroots, pro-woman message showed that even in a so-called “conservative” district, women candidates change the conversation.

“I want women to know that their rights are at extreme risk…I don’t think women understand how precarious our situation is,” Saltonstall said.

Saltonstall’s message hit home, and Stupak bowed out of the race in a cloud of ignominy. However, the field was suddenly crowded with opportunistic candidates who seemed frighteningly familiar: They were anti-choice white males.

Saltonstall, who had been there from the beginning and had the most money, could not get any traction with party leaders who were set on Stupak: The Sequel.

Despite this anti-woman blow to her District, Saltonstall isn’t done working for women:

“I will continue to fight for women’s rights. This is the time to fight.”

We congratulate Connie Saltonstall on an inspiring campaign, and we know she will continue to be a leader for women, no matter where she goes next.

Thumbs Up for women David Obey!

When Rep. David Obey (D-WI), the third most senior member of Congress, announced his retirement this Wednesday, it sent shockwaves through Capital. Everyone wants to know: who will succeed this Congressional stalwart? I say, support a woman! A lot of names are being thrown around, including some amazing women. Given the recent record of women being cast aside by the establishment, wouldn’t this be a great opportunity for a woman to get a leg up? Check out some of the possible candidates below, and send an email to the DCCC. Tell them, “I want a woman in David Obey’s seat!”

State Senator Julie Lassa was elected to the State Assembly in 1998, and moved up to the State Senate to represent District 24 in 2003. Her professional background is in business and she is Chair of the Senate Committee on Economic Development.

Attorney Christine Bremer of Wasau, Wisconsin is one of two principal Attorneys for the law firm Bremer and Trollop. She focuses on personal injury, malpractice, and worker’s compensation law.

State Rep. Donna Seidel is serving in her third term representing Wisconsin’s 85th Assembly District. Prior to her election she spent 16 years as Marathon County Clerk of Courts, and is the former President of the Women’s Community Board of Directors in Wasau.

State Rep. Ann Hraychuck was elected to represent Wisconsin’s 28th Assembly District. She has an impressive three decade background in Law Enforcement: Hraychuck was one of 2 female Sheriffs in the state from 2001-2007, and she was a Sensitive Crimes Investigator for Polk County for 18 years. In 1991 she received the Medal of Valor for giving aid to a fellow officer who had been wounded.

State Rep. Amy Sue Vruwink was elected to represent Wisconsin’s 70th Assembly District in 2002. She is a former staffer for Congressman Obey, and her time working with his constituents sparked her passion for public service. Prior to that she worked for the Minnesota Farm Bureau.

With a talent pool so deep, wouldn’t it be fantastic to have a woman fill the shoes of this powerful Congressman? Tell the DCCC you what you think!