Elections

Four days before the 2016 congressional primary in her Northern California district, Erin Schrode woke up to tens of thousands of messages. They were everywhere: in her email, on her cellphone, on her Facebook and her Twitter and her Instagram.

“All would laugh with glee as they gang raped her and then bashed her bagel eating brains in,” one said.

Souad Abderrahim is not like the past 32 mayors of this North African capital. They hailed from wealthy, influential families. She’s a self-made businesswoman. They were political appointees. She was elected in the first-ever mayoral vote last month.

And, oh, yes, they were all men.

Women are not just running for office in record numbers this year — they are winning.

Results from Tuesday night’s primaries in four states offered yet another strong showing by women candidates this cycle, particularly on the Democratic side. CRP took this opportunity to examine the data on women candidates over time, with special attention to the results by party and gender for candidates in primary races.

Two Democrats are poised to become the first Muslim women in Congress, offering a sharp counterpoint to the anti-Muslim policies and sentiment surfacing in Washington and across the country.

On a cloudy afternoon this summer, Christine Hallquist, a former utility executive from Vermont, listened closely as Danica Roem, the Virginia state delegate who won national recognitionwhen she became the first transgender person elected to her state’s Legislature, offered tips as the pair canvassed a stark residential neighborhood here.

Voters head to the polls in Connecticut, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Vermont on Tuesday. This week’s round of primary voting will once again set the stage for more history-making moments for women in politics. Voters head to the polls in Connecticut, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Vermont on Tuesday. Those ballots feature candidates poised to break barriers on behalf of the LGBTQ community, women of color and gender parity in politics as a whole.

By Kate Zernike,

The energy in the midterms is working against female Republican candidates who are reluctant or unable to claim any advantage to being a woman among voters.

Diane Harkey, the Republican candidate for California’s 49th Congressional District, recognizes that President Trump “doesn’t make women real comfortable.”