OMAHA, Neb. (Howey Politics) – There was a “pink wave” in Indiana. When the gavels drop on Organization Day next week, there will be 30 women in the General Assembly out of 57 who filed for primary races.
Nationally, a record 110 women (at this writing, with four races still undecided), will be joining Congress, making up 20 percent of its ranks. There were 200 women who filed for congressional primaries, with 94 winning crowded primaries.
According to Forbes Magazine, previously, the most women who had advanced were 167 in 2016, according to records kept by the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. A record 19 women won Senate primaries and 13 women were nominated for gubernatorial races.
The “pink wave” was fueled by several issues, including the way President Trump treats women (verbally, as well as his brief relationship with porn star Stormy Daniels and others), and issues such as the immigrant family separations. Many Republicans and evangelicals no longer seem to care about the president’s extramarital conduct with women, but many Hoosier and American women do, prompting them to run.
In Congress, there were seven women who won nominations, with Republican U.S. Reps. Jackie Walorski and Susan Brooks returning while Democrats Courtney Tritch (35 percent in the 3rd District), Tobi Beck (35 percent in the 4th), Dee Thornton (43 percent in the 5th), Jeannine Lee Lake (33 percent in the 6th) and Liz Watson (43 percent in the 9th) came up short. Those percentages were reflective of their vote totals. Tritch and Watson actually out-raised their opponents, U.S. Reps. Jim Banks and Trey Hollingsworth, in several FEC reports, but Banks defeated Tritch 64.7 to 35.3 percent while Watson got just 43.5 percent against the freshman Republican.
Republican statewide officeholders – Secretary of State Connie Lawson, Auditor Terra Klutz and Treasurer Kelly Mitchell – all won by comfortable margins.
The new faces in the Indiana House include Republican Rep. Christy Stutzman who was uncontested in an open seat, and in the Senate, Republican Linda Rogers. Democrats will welcome into the House Carolyn Jackson, Ragen Hatcher, Patricia Boy, Lisa Beck, Chris Campbell, Tonya Pfaff and Dr. Rita Fleming. There were nine women who ran for the Senate, with three other incumbents (Sens. Karen Talian, Liz Brown and Erin Houchin) returning.
In the House, 26 women won seats, while 26 lost. There were several trade-offs, with Beck defeating Republican Rep. Julie Olthoff, and Campbell upsetting Rep. Sally Siegrist, 56.7 to 43.3 percent.
When you look at support, many of the nominees just didn’t fare well in the general election format. While Democrat Patricia Boy won with 60 percent in the open House District 9, there were dozens who struggled to reach even 40 percent, including Loretta Barnes in the 13th District (29.8 percent), Christina Zacny in the 16th (29.8), Michelle Livinghouse in the 17th (32.7), Dee Moore in the 18th (23.9), Karen Salzer in the 30th (38.7) and Amie Neiling in the 32nd (28.4). Democrat Kimberly Fidler received 31.2 in the 44th, Susan Diagana had 28.9 in the 47th, Martha Lemert 26.7 in the 52nd, Nancy Tibbett 29.3 in the 53rd, Corrinne Westerfield with 27.8 in the 55th, Cindy Reinert 36.7 in the 58th, Sarah Stivers with 34.6 in the 70th, and Paula Finch at 37.8 in the 87th.
Those who did cross the 40th percentile included Naomi Bechtold in the 24th (41.6 percent), Jennifer Culp in the 36th (44.4), Aimee Cole in the 38th (45.4), Michelle Callen in the 40th (42.3), Evelyn Brown in the 42nd (39.6), Penny Githens with 41 in the 60th, Amy Swain with 43 in the 62nd, and Poonam Gill with 44.5 in her race against Speaker Brian Bosma, losing by a little under 4,000 votes.
A majority of those struggling to be competitive were Democrat. They were running in gerrymandered districts designed to be locks for incumbent Republicans when the maps were forged in 2011. Republicans have held super majorities since 2014.
While the GOP has had the Lugar Series as a preparation organization that teaches women the art of running and winning campaigns over the past three decades, Indiana Democrats finally commenced Hoosier Women Forward this year, with 22 chosen for its first class.
The lesson of the 2018 “pink wave” is that many Hoosier women were ready to step up and serve. But most came in uncompetitive districts and beyond incoming representatives Boy, Beck, Campbell, Pfaff and Fleming, simply didn’t have the financial resources to mount serious campaigns.
“We held or won nine legislative districts that President Trump won. So, with gerrymandered districts, we had J.D. Ford beat a [Senate] incumbent for the first time in decades," Indiana Democratic Chairman John Zody explained. "I don’t think we can analyze this election and not talk about gerrymandering. It’s been one of our five key messages. As Democrats, it’s something we need more legislative action on if the courts don’t decide our way.”
Hoosier Democrats made meager gains in the General Assembly, just four seats across the two chambers, and none in Congress, so they head into the final cycle before the 2021 reapportionment maps with very little resources or power to make more districts competitive in the third decade of this century.
A key challenge for Democrats heading into 2020 is whether they can convince many of these women who stepped up to try again.
The columnist is publisher of Howey Politics Indiana. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.