ICYMI: 2020 can be the year of the Republican woman — but it will take work

ICYMI: 2020 can be the year of the Republican woman — but it will take work

2020 can be the year of the Republican woman — but it will take work
By Rebecca Schuller
June 19, 2019
The Hill

A century ago this month, Republican majorities in the U.S. House and Senate secured passage of the 19th Amendment, setting the stage for women to gain the right to vote. Today, Republicans must once again fight to empower women in the political process—but this time, inside our own party.

GOP women — and there are many — want to serve in elected office. But, they face obstacles not seen by their male peers, or even their female peers on the left. The result is Republican representation that, at least in terms of gender, falls painfully short of reflecting the American public.

While slightly more than half of the U.S. population is female, Republican representation in Congress is 92 percent male. In the U.S. House, the number of GOP congresswomen is at a 25-year low, having declined from 22 to 13 following the midterms.

And let’s be clear: this isn’t for a lack of trying. One hundred twenty GOP women ran for the House in 2018. So what happened to them? And what can we do to turn the tables in 2020?

The organizations I lead, Winning For Women and WFW Action Fund, are working hard to provide answers. And WFW Action Fund is setting the goal of “20 in ’20” — electing 20 Republican women to the U.S. House next year.

We believe the key is getting involved in races early. Many Republican women launch campaigns with little to no financial backing or institutional support, and struggle to gain traction. Without an early burst of momentum, they soon fade into obscurity or are dismissed as a lost cause. In fact, only 34 percent of non-incumbent Republican women who ran for House seats in 2018 made it out of the primaries.

Winning For Women wants to be a war chest for right-of-center women in primaries. That’s why we recently created a super-PAC, WFW Action Fund, that is already identifying qualified Republican women and spending big, including two six figure independent expenditures on behalf of Dr. Joan Perry in North Carolina’s 3rd District election. And there is much more to come.

Read the rest here.

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