The 2022 House primaries in Pennsylvania have brought attention to a concerning issue: the lack of Republican women candidates. Out of 19 GOP candidates running for the U.S. House, only two are women. In stark contrast, the Democratic side has 12 female candidates on their ballots. It has been observed since the mid-1990s that more Democratic women have been elected to Congress than Republicans, largely due to more Democrats running for office.
While there has been an increase in the number of Republican women running in primaries in recent election cycles, the competitiveness of their races is crucial to electing more women to Congress. Alfeia Goodwin, the sole Republican candidate in the 5th District of Pennsylvania, is up for success in her primary race against incumbent Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, who has a strong hold on this safe blue district. However, Montero will face a tough challenge in November against incumbent Democrat Susan Wild who won narrowly against a female Republican nominee Lisa Scheller last year and Maria Montero is an attorney running against state Rep Ryan Mackenzie and veteran Kevin Dellicker in the GOP primary this year.
The phenomenon of “sacrificial lamb” candidates is evident in many races where a candidate runs unopposed in the primary for a seat that is expected to be lost. Research has shown that Republican women are often sacrificial lamb nominees more frequently than Democratic women. Trump surrogate Vivek Ramaswamy has shown support for Maria Montero but she did not receive endorsements from key GOP women’s groups such as VIEW PAC, Maggie’s List, E-Pac or Winning for Women even though they were founded by prominent Republican women politicians like Elise Stefanik and Nancy Pelosi respectively.
It’s worth noting that despite former President Trump’s influence and support for conservative causes, he has not endorsed any candidate in these primary races which could suggest his disinterest or dissatisfaction with current crop of GOP candidates.
In conclusion, while there have been efforts to increase the number of Republican women running in primaries in recent years, it’s clear that there is still much work to be done if we want to see equal representation of both genders
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