Women and Politics

This post was submitted by WCF Fellow, Stephanie Glover.

On September 3, 2009 Martha Coakley announced her historic bid for the United States Senate. She is running to fill the seat of the late Senator Edward Kennedy and her victory will mean the first female senator from Massachusetts. Today, the Women’s Campaign Forum (WCF) enthusiastically endorses Martha Coakley’s candidacy.

Martha Coakley is an exciting candidate who will do great things for Massachusetts. As WCF President/CEO Sam Bennett said, “Martha Coakley has been a trailblazer for women in Massachusetts for twenty years. What she has achieved as Massachusetts’ first female Attorney General reaches far above and beyond the glass ceiling. She is the perfect candidate to carry the torch for civil rights and equality that Senator Kennedy fought so hard to advance and preserve.”

Attorney General Coakley has served the state of Massachusetts in a variety of capacities, as Attorney General, Middlesex District Attorney, President of Massachusetts District Attorney’s Association, and President of the Women’s Bar Association. Her twenty years of public service and potential as a influential woman in the United States Senate contributed to WCF’s endorsement. In response, Ms. Coakley said:

I am running for the U.S. Senate because I believe that the toughest issues facing women and the toughest issues facing the nation are one and the same. We need strong leadership to provide increased economic opportunity and fair wages. We need to fix our broken healthcare system, and we need to ensure that we truly have civil rights for all. The Women’s Campaign Forum has been at the forefront in bringing more women to the leadership table and I am honored to have their support.

Martha’s candidacy is historic because she would become the first female Senator from Massachusetts - but it’s made even more special because of her rich history as a champion for women.

Congratulations, Martha Coakley!

To learn more about Martha Coakley, visit her website.

Much thanks to Anthony Fossaceca of Ohio Daily for their fabulous coverage of WCF’s endorsement of Jennifer Brunner.

Fossaceca calls WCF ‘one of the top women’s groups in the country’ and says our staff is ‘highly talented’ (muchas gracias, sir…we’re small but mighty).

“The fact that they are making this endorsement so soon is important and adds another layer of concrete to Brunner’s foundation.”

We’re all excited to follow WCF’s new batch of endorsed candidates as the elections approach. Keep checking back for more spotlights on WCF’s endorsed women currently in office and those running in 2009 and 2010.

It’s time to get ready for more elections! Here at WCF, we’re always looking down the road for the next woman to support. We hope the recent surge of women running for office only grows in the coming years. To jump start the next cycle of women, WCF has made the following endorsements for the 2009 elections:

Dr. Judy Chu (D) is running for U.S. House of Representatives (CA-32) in a special election to fill the seat vacated by newly appointed Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis.

Carolyn Comitta (D) is running for Mayor of West Chester, Pennsylvania, and currently serves on the Borough Council as Chair of the Council’s Public Safety Committee.

Jeanette Rishell (D) is running for the Virginia House of Delegates, District 50.

Leslie Crocker Snyder (D) is running for Manhattan District Attorney.

And many woman are already throwing their hat into the ring for 2010. WCF’s current endorsements for the 2010 election cycle include:

Jennifer Brunner (D) is running for U.S. Senate in the state of Ohio, and currently serves as Ohio Secretary of State.

Robin Carnahan (D) is running for U.S. Senate in the state of Missouri, and currently serves as the Missouri Secretary of State.

Kirsten Gillibrand (D), recently appointed to the U.S. Senate, is running for full-term election in the state of New York.

Visit WCF’s candidates page on our website to read more about our endorsed candidates.

In the coming weeks, we’ll be giving you the opportunity to get to know these candidates better, so stay tuned!

If you or a woman you know wants to run for office, make sure to fill out our endorsement application.

In a word, yes.

Clearly, we here at WCF already know that. But it seems this concept is slowly but surely being taken more seriously. Mark Lange’s article in the Christian Science Monitor asks if we have too many men steering. Would we live in a healthier, more secure world if women had equal decision-making power? Lange says yes:

Doubt it? Here’s a test. Would any of the women you admire have set up a healthcare system as byzantine, costly, and underperforming as America’s? Or a financial system where mortgage lenders don’t have to care about being paid back?

This isn’t to say that women in power = everything is magically fixed. Or that women are just so darn compassionate and caring that they would never allow any harm to come to their constituents. However, the large absence of women in power can’t be ignored. And it seems that women leaders embrace values of responsibility, shared power, and concern for others.

We’re heading into an era when we need leadership that enlists self-interest in support of the larger outcome – less transactional and more transformational. Rather than punishing failure or reinforcing conflict, motivating progress.

In 2009, it seems crazy that we still have to make an argument for having women equally represented in power. But we do. And that’s why WCF is here - encouraging, supporting, and engaging women in the political process - making it known that women deserve and equal place in running our world.

We’re psyched to announce that Sam Bennett is joining the WCF team as our new president!

Sam will bring great experience, leadership and passion to our work. In 2008, Sam ran one of the most successful challenger campaigns for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 15th district. Prior to her candidacy, Sam founded a statewide non-profit community, has been a dedicated community and political leader, and a wife and mother of three children. Throughout her career, she has been a tireless pro-choice advocate and supporter of women’s issues.

Sam about joining WCF:

“We will continue to grow as the place where pro-choice women of all levels - from candidates to political experts to leaders in the women’s community to those newly interested in politics - come together to pool resources and ensure that women are represented both in front and behind the curtain.”

Sam was in the office the other day, and even just our first day of planning and brain storming gave me great hope and enthusiasm of what’s to come for WCF.

Ilana Goldman, President of Women’s Campaign Forum, explains to women why they should be involved in politics. There are three key things that women should know about how they can take part in the the political process each day. View the video to find out what they are: