Background Briefing: November 6, 2018
The Role of Women in Over 100 House Races
We begin on this critical midterm election day as polls are closing in the East, and discuss the role of women both in terms of the record number of women running for congress and in state and local races, and what is expected to be a pivotal role educated suburban women who previously voted Republican are likely play in flipping the House and possibly the Senate. Debbie Walsh, Director of the Center for American Women and Politics at the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University, joins us to discuss how for the first time in history Americans could elect more than 100 women to the House and 23 women running for seats in the Senate. Depending on whether there are results to report along with projections from exit polls, we also look at key House races in New Jersey where a Navy veteran helicopter pilot Mikie Sherrill is poised to turn a red seat blue, and in Virginia where there are four closely watched races with Democratic challengers Abigail Spanberger, Leslie Coburn, Elaine Luria and Jennifer Wexton running in red-leaning districts that could turn blue. But even if all 100 women were to win today, come January 2019, women would still only hold 24% of the seats in the House.
The Democrats Look Like They Have Won the House But Not the Senate
Then we check in on another critical battleground for control of the House and Senate, Minnesota, where the Democrats could flip some seats but where also the GOP has the best shot at picking up seats currently held by Democrats. Lawrence Jacobs, the Chair for Political Science and Director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the Hubert Humphrey School of Political Affairs at the University of Minnesota, joins us. With both U.S. Senate seats being contested along with the governorship, we assess what impact the Kavanaugh hearing had on setting back the Democrats chances of taking the Senate.