What really changed on Tuesday? The President will stay the
same, as will the majorities in the House and Senate. There is at least one
sure sign progress is happening: the advancement of women in this election.
We now have measurable proof that women are no longer outside of the American political process. On Tuesday, Americans elected a record number of women to the Senate. 20% of the Senate will now be women, still much less than half, but their presence will begin to become less than unusual. The current Senate has 17 women (12 Democrats, 5 Republicans).
One Republican woman will join the senate, while four Democratic women have been elected. The new House will have 21 Republican women (currently 24) and 61 Democrats (currently 50).
We know many voters use heuristics to decide which candidate
to choose, that is they choose the candidate with the D or R next to their
name. This election, however, there are some notable clear exceptions to this
rule. Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock, strong candidates in conservative states,
lost their elections after making comments about rape and abortion that the
media and much of the public found outrageous and offensive. Massachusetts, a
strong blue state, has in the past had difficulty electing women. It now will
send its first woman to the Senate, which could be a testament to MA voters
circling “D”, or a sign of changing opinions.
There is still a gender gap between the Democratic and
Republican Parties, but it was smaller than in 2008. The majority of women
voted for President Obama this time around, but this demographic split between
single and married women. Single women voted for the President, and married
women for Gov. Romney. Women are no longer a disenfranchised demographic that votes as a bloc, but will need to be courted in smaller groups by both parties.
In addition to this record number of female senators, women
achieved other historic “firsts” in this election:
- Rep. Tammy Baldwin, the first openly gay Senator-elect (D-Wisconsin)
- Rep. Mazie Hirono, the first Asian-American woman, first Buddhist, and first Japanese-born person elected to the Senate (D-Hawaii)
- Tulsi Gabbard, the first Hindu elected to Congress (D-Hawaii)
- Kyrsten Sinema (as of now not called but leading), possibly the first openly bisexual person elected to Congress.
The US Congress is starting to look more and more like the
US Population (with some obvious discrepancies) and the trend is most definitely
toward diversity.
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