And So It Begins

On December 31st, Elizabeth Warren became the first Democrat to take an official step towards declaring her candidacy for president, when she released a video announcing the launch of her exploratory committee. It took less than 24 hours before the first story about her "likability" hit the internet. The reaction was swift. In The Boston Globe, Stephanie Ebbert asked why we're still asking the coded question about likability. The Washington Post wrote about the specific, gendered hurdles women encounter in running for office, facing the sorts of criticisms over personality rarely leveled at men. McSweeney's, meanwhile, drove their criticism home satirically with a piece titled I Don't Hate Women Candidates-I Just Hated Hillary and Coincidentally I'm Starting to Hate Elizabeth Warren. GQ said the discussion of Warren's likability was "already the dumbest debate of 2019." Peter Beinart, in The Atlantic, goes beyond the likable/unlikeable, favorable/unfavorable dichotomy to explore the misogyny undergirding reactions to women candidates, and Susan Chira and Lisa Lerer of The New York Times look at the internal tensions in the Democratic Party as they consider the steeper climb women candidates are sure to face in 2020. Finally, Washington Post columnist Monica Hesse questions the entire concept of likability: "We can like women later. Start by getting them in the room." 

Warren is just the first announcement in what's sure to be a series of potential challengers for the presidency in 2020, and many of those prominently under consideration are women, so we're sure to hear a great deal more about who's likable and what their voices sound like and what they're wearing and don't they look kind of tired?

 

Swearing-In Words

Nancy Pelosi gaveled in the House surrounded by the children of members, a moment she has created before, but images from this year's group and the same tableau from 2007 highlight the strides in diversity made following the 2018 midterms. With the 116th Congress officially sworn in, CAWP released our updated numbers and media organizations around the country reported on the changed face of U.S. politics. The New York Times produced an infographic about the freshman class in Congress, and Axios and U.S. News & World Report both put out stories detailing the diversity of the new Congress. Pacific Standard magazine spoke to CAWP Associate Director Jean Sinzdak about how this added diversity might affect legislation moving forward, and The Washington Post spoke to CAWP's Kelly Dittmar for a story about the jump in the number of women of color now serving, with Dittmar noting that these new congresswomen are "disrupting our perception of what political leaders look like." The Dominion Post of West Virginia noted their state's Carol Miller as the sole freshman GOP House member, while USA Today wrote about the diminished number of Republican women in the House and how their strong bipartisan ties with Democratic women may increase their punching power within their own caucus. Lastly, Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who was the youngest woman ever elected to the House when she first won office, penned words of advice to the women who supplanted her in that distinction, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY) and Abby Finkenauer (D-IA), telling them to work hard, respect congressional staff, value their constituents, and encourage and mentor women coming up behind them. Sounds like good advice for everyone in Congress.

State Legislatures Get to Work

With state legislatures convening their new sessions, news organizations are looking at how election 2018 has altered the make-up of their state legislature in 2019. The Denver Post and other local outlets wrote about the record number of women serving in the Colorado legislature and the Colorado House becoming majority-women. In The Detroit Free Press, Nancy Kaffer lauds the strides made in the Michigan legislature, which jumped 15 spots in CAWP's state rankings, while also pointing out that women's current share of seats, 36%, is still a long ways from parity. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette wrote about the rise in women legislators in Arkansas leading to a tie with the state's all-time record, and The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that a large freshman class of women legislators in Ohio had set a new record high for representation. KQED in California notes gains women made in local offices throughout the state, as well as the modest increases in women state legislators. WisContext, a multimedia news and information project from Wisconsin Public Radio and Wisconsin Public Television, took a detailed look at how women's share of seats in the Wisconsin legislature managed to stagnate in a year when women had electoral success around the country and in neighboring states. The Wichita Eagle, meanwhile, spoke to CAWP Associate Director Jean Sinzdak for a story about women losing ground in the Kansas legislature. Legislatures will continue to convene and swear in their new members over the next month, so keep watching your local newspaper for stories about your local government.