In the middle of a presidency that has felt endless for many, the midterm elections have provided a new surge of hope, an antidote to Republican control of the Senate, in the form of an unprecedented wave of victories for women.
Republicans no longer control the House of Representatives, and female politicians are largely responsible. A record number of women — at least 100, when all votes are counted — will be represented in the House. This wouldn’t have happened if more women of color than ever hadn’t campaigned for federal office, taking the spots of long-standing male incumbents.
Massachusetts’ Ayanna Pressley, for one, officially became the state’s first black Congresswoman in place of incumbent Michael Capuano. Pressley is not only the state’s first black woman to serve in the congressional delegation, she is the first woman of color. Pressley will fill a hole that has been empty until now.
In New York, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez upended incumbent Joe Crowley to become the youngest woman ever elected to Congress at the age of 29.
“Women like me aren’t supposed to run for office,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a campaign ad. And she wasn’t expected to win. But it’s clear now that when they do, they can. The country is seeing an actual physical result of multiple women’s marches that inspired women to run for office and vote for candidates who match up with what they stand for.
That women of color are replacing long-standing male politicians is a sign that Donald Trump’s presidency hasn’t been the end-all, be-all presidency that it’s been made out to be. This midterm election has been about restoring a balance of power, and it’s been about who’s had the power to restore that balance.
Trump said at a press conference that the Republican party “defied history” during Tuesday’s elections.
What constitutes defying history isn’t using millions of dollars accumulated from years in office and privilege based on one’s race or gender to win re-election to continue enacting the same policies that have always been in place. Defying history is running a grassroots campaign, winning public support to make change and overcoming circumstances of birth.
The victories of women of color this election should not be presented as the victories of white women. In many pockets of the country, white women followed the same pattern they did two years ago, favoring Republican candidates. In Texas, 59 percent of white women voted for Ted Cruz, while 95 percent of black women voted for Beto O’Rourke.
White women chose to elect a man whose ideology mirrors Trump’s — an ideology that harms people of color and women, but most of all, harms women of color. Cruz’s anti-abortion crusade, for one thing, would hurt communities of color most. Black women experience the highest rates of maternal infant mortality resulting from abortion restrictions.
In Republican-dominated counties and cities, voting habits come down to how aware women are of what’s at stake. Women may choose to vote for male Republican candidates from a lack of understanding of just how much representation matters — that having more women in power would fundamentally shape their lives for the better.
Though progress has been made, what’s being touted as a wave of success for women still doesn’t entirely make up for past divides. Pennsylvania had no women in its congressional delegation of 21 members, and will now have four — this isn’t exactly what can be called equality.
These women coming into power have legislative, obstructionist and investigative ability. We can only hope that people do not use these victories as an excuse to become complacent. We must recognize that progress still needs to be make.
