November 24, 2020
NEWS & NOTES
From the nation's leading source on all things women and politics.
With Gratitude from CAWP's Director
As we celebrate Thanksgiving in these times of turmoil and struggle, the Center for American Women and Politics would like to give thanks for our supporters who sustain us, the women public officials and candidates that inspire us, and our speakers and partners who contribute so much to this work. It has been another historic year for women and politics, and we celebrate the election of the first woman, and woman of color, to the vice presidency of the United States, as well as the record number of women who will serve in Congress. It has also been a banner year for CAWP. We launched new resources, produced all the key data about women in the 2020 election, shaped the national discussion about women in politics, and continued to hold events that prepare women for candidacy and illuminate the past, present, and future of women's role in American politics. For that, I am enduringly grateful to the staff of the Center for American Women and Politics, whose hard work, creativity, and persistence in the face of enormous hardship has made all the success of this year possible. Chelsea, Christabel, Claire, Colleen, Daniel, Jean, Kelly, Kira, Linda, Pooja, Sue C., and Sue N. - I give thanks for all of you.
Ascension 2020: Black Women in Media, Politics, and Power 
In just eight days, CAWP will be joined by ABC News Correspondent Linsey Davis, the 2020 Senator Wynona Lipman Chair in Women's Political Leadership, for our annual Lipman Chair lecture. The event will be held from 1:00 to 2:00 pm ET on December 2nd and will be livestreamed on Webex. The Lipman Chair was established in 2000 when Governor Christine Todd Whitman signed legislation that had been sponsored by legislative leaders in both parties and passed in both houses of the New Jersey Legislature without opposition. The Legislature generously continues this support two decades later.

Debbie Walsh in The Hill:
Women of Both Parties Must Seize the Momentum
Last week, CAWP Director Debbie Walsh contributed an op-ed to The Hill about the record-breaking results for women candidates in the 2020 elections. "For the first time in history, women will have finally surpassed 25 percent of all members of Congress," writes Walsh. "Both parties need to take advantage of the momentum that brought us past 25 percent and keep building until 50 percent no longer seems like some distant, unattainable future." Read the full piece here.

Women Voters in 2020
CAWP has produced an initial analysis of women voters in the 2020 presidential election and find that Black women, Latinas, and college-educated white women played key roles in delivering the presidency to the Biden-Harris ticket. In contrast, non-college-educated white women and women who identify as evangelical continued to provide a loyal base of support for President Donald Trump. Data in the release demonstrate that there are multiple gender gaps that should be analyzed to fully understand the differential role of women and men in presidential election outcomes. Women across many demographic subgroups - including those highlighted in the analysis - were more likely than their male counterparts to support the Biden-Harris ticket, but women within specific groups have contributed more or less to Democratic candidates' advantage with women overall, both historically and in 2020. Read the full release here, and learn more about the methodology of this year's voter analysis at Comparison of 2020 Election Surveys.
Biden administration nominees Janet Yellen, (Treasury Secretary), Avril Haines (DNI) and Linda Thomas-Greenfield (UN Ambassador).
Resources for the Presidential Transition
As President-elect Joe Biden begins the process of naming members of his incoming administration, CAWP has resources about women in presidential administrations throughout U.S. history for context as we watch the administration take shape.
  • Fact Sheet: Women Appointed to Presidential Cabinets. This fact sheet includes data on women who have served in Cabinet-level positions by party, position, administration, and professional background, as well as notable milestones and brief biographical details on all women who have served in presidential Cabinets and Cabinet-level positions. This fact sheet provides useful comparisons between the current and previous administrations and puts ongoing announcements about the incoming administration into a historical context.
  • High-Level Presidential Appointments. This page includes information on women currently serving in high-level positions in the present presidential administration, including non-Cabinet positions.  
Remembering Chris Jahnke
If you ever attended one of our Ready to RunĀ® programs, either here in NJ or at many of our partner programs around the country, you remember Chris Jahnke as 
a brilliant and energetic political communications trainer who made running for office feel a little less daunting. We lost Chris this year to cancer, gone far too soon. Her husband of 25 years, Paul Hagen, has set up a website that talks about her work, impact, and legacy. The site also creates space for those who knew Chris to share remembrances, so if you had the opportunity to learn from her either at a CAWP program or elsewhere, please take a moment to reflect on what that experience meant to you and how you put her wisdom into practice.
Ready to Represent
Our Ready to RunĀ® partners at the University of Kansas will host a series of virtual campaign trainings beginning Saturday, December 5th and continuing on January 9th, February 6th, and March 6th. Topics for the training sessions include fundraising, social media, speechwriting, media training, and diversity and inclusion in leadership, and each session also includes small-group circles. The keynote speaker for the series will be journalist and commentator Sarah Smarsh, author most recently of She Come By It Natural: Dolly Parton and the Women Who Lived Her Songs. Early bird registration is open until November 28th; learn more and get registered here.
Live with The 19th: What to Make of the Women's Electorate
Our friends at The 19th News are hosting a post-election event to discuss the 2020 women's electorate in back-to-back discussions with Valerie Jarrett, former senior advisor to President Barack Obama, and Kellyanne Conway, former counselor to President Donald Trump. The conversations, led by The 19th's Errin Haines and Amanda Becker, will take place on Friday, December 4th at 1pm ET. Learn more, register to attend, and submit questions for Jarrett and Conway here.
CAWP in the News


 









   






Center for American Women and Politics
Eagleton Institute of Politics
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