Elise Stefanik (R-NY) had a wake-up call at this year’s congressional swearing-in ceremony: 31 new female Democrats and 1 new female Republican. The optics were horrible for the Republican party, and Stefanik said as much to the Republican caucus after the 2018 election: “Take a look around. This is not reflective of the American public, and you need to do something about it.”
Ms. Stefanik’s advice was spot-on because 53 percent of America’s electorate are women, and larger percentages of women turn out to vote than men. And, as fate would have it, gender turn-out rates for millennials are especially tilted toward women: 35.3% women and 29.5% men (source: Pew Research). Translation: women voters decide who controls the House.
In fact, Stefanik tried to bring her party out of the stone ages before the 2018 mid-terms elections: “I recruited 100 women, [but] Democrats were [more] strategic in putting up district-specific candidates that would resonate in different parts of the country.” She credited her rivals for crafting convincing candidate narratives, “whether a national-security background or interesting perspectives as working mothers.”
It is clear the Harvard-educated Stefanik learned from 2018’s failure. In January, when Stefanik re-launched E-PAC, she committed the political action committee to “women we can help get across the finish line.” She set minimum thresholds to ensure candidate viability (credible campaign infrastructure and fundraising levels).
According a to spokesperson, E-PAC had raised almost $300,000 in two months and developed plans to identify and recruit over 100 women. With lessons learned, E-PAC expects to get more Republican women elected into Congress. Common sense suggests women voters are more likely to trust (and vote for) Republican women to solve issues that affect women and families.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy agrees it is time to say goodbye to the Old Boys Club. Looking ahead, he believes in a party “that’s reflective of the nation, from gender to race, [proving] we can compete in every single district.” Republicans should hand it to the Democrats, whose legislators look more like the face of America, with 89 woman and 90 non-white reps. In contrast, only 17 Republican representatives are women. Ouch!
Mr. McCarthy should lean on Ms. Stefanik. She supported Donald Trump after the 2016 primaries and was still re-elected in her New York district with 66% of the vote, trouncing Democrat (29%) and Green (5%) rivals. After seeing Democrats push and fail with the Paycheck Fairness Act for twenty years, Stefanik balanced the interests of businesses and employees to fix the gender pay gap by proposing the Wage Equity Act. It addresses key women’s issues with sound Republican principles.
Stefanik is youthful, attractive, smart, and not afraid to take on Republican men. For example, Tom Emmer (R-MN), chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said her primary endorsements would be a mistake, but she could do what she wanted. In response, Stefanik tweeted, “But NEWSFLASH I wasn’t asking for permission.” That atttitude makes her attractive to female professionals and business owners, who should run as Republicans.
Further, she is no fringe firebrand in the mold of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She worked with Kennedy advisor, Ted Sorenson, while studying at Harvard, and as a policy adviser in the George W. Bush White House. She worked for the 2012 Romney-Ryan campaign, managing Paul Ryan’s debate prep. She also has ties to Karl Rove, whose super-pac invested $1,000,000 in her first (2014) campaign. In other words, she is a real Republican.
Stefanik knows national polls mean almost nothing because congressional districts are candidate-driven. Word of her “candidates” is leaking out: Californian Young Kim, who lost by a re-count in 2018, pediatrician Joan Perry in North Carolina, and Rep. Karen Handel in Georgia (re-election). New York assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis caught my eye: the only Republican woman elected in New York City and first Latino elected in Staten Island. It is clear Stefanik means to change the face of her party.
Can a re-energized E-PAC and Stefanik’s 2020 leadership restore Republican control of the House? Hard to say, but heading into the 2018 mid-term elections, only 39 percent of registered women voters leaned Democrat. This means 61 percent of women voters are up for grabs – and there is no reason Republicans cannot address women’s issues.
Female candidates can present conservative solutions to real problems, like illegal immigration, without the Trump fireworks. Female voters want a growing economy, school choices and safe communities, and Republicans have the right policies – if not the right tone from male candidates. This much seems clear: if the Republican party has a future, then Republican women must take it there.