Record number of women serving in legislatures across nation

*Appeared in the Laurel Leader-Call newspaper 

“Anything you can do, I can do better; I can do anything better than you.”  Some of you may recall these playful lyrics from the musical, Annie Get Your Gun.  In the show, sharpshooters Annie Oakley and Frank Butler croon about who can sing softer, higher, sweeter; they each boast of their personal abilities and accomplishments, with Annie going toe-to-toe with Frank at each musical interval. 

I was reminded of this male-female bantering upon reading recent data from the Center for American Women and Politics, which shows a record number of women holding office in state legislatures across the United States.  In 2021, 2,279 state legislators – roughly 31 percent – are female.  This represents a quintupling of the number of women serving in state legislatures since 1971, the first year data from CAWP was available. 

The National Conference of State Legislatures compiled data beyond raw numbers; in fact, according to the NCSL, 87 women nationwide held a leadership position in either the House or Senate at the start of the 2021 legislative session.  

Nevada tops the list of states with the most females serving at the statehouse, with an overwhelming majority – 60.3 percent – of legislators being female.  Mississippi, on the other hand, falls in the bottom 10 states, where just 16.1 percent of state legislators are women. 

But that’s not to say Mississippi is complacent when it comes to women in leadership.  In 2018 and for the first time in state history, the Hospitality State elected a woman to the U.S. Senate, Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith. A former state senator, Hyde-Smith also broke the mold by serving as the state’s first female Agriculture and Commerce Commissioner from 2012 to 2018.  

Other notable females in Mississippi leadership include Republican Attorney General Lynn Fitch, who previously served as State Treasurer.  Amy Tuck, who was elected as a Democrat but later changed allegiances to the Republican Party, served as the state’s Lieutenant Governor after having served in the Mississippi State Senate. 

Free Staters are perhaps most familiar with Hattiesburg-native and Democrat Evelyn Gandy (and no, I’m not talking about the parkway).  Ms. Gandy served in three statewide offices: first as Treasurer, then Commissioner of Insurance, and finally as Lieutenant Governor. But the title of first woman elected statewide goes to Democrat Nellah Massey Bailey, who was elected State Tax Collector in 1947. (Fun fact: Ms. Bailey also served as First Lady of Mississippi from 1944 to 1946 after her husband, Thomas Lowry Bailey, was elected Governor.)

But, let’s get back to women in the state legislature.  CAWP data shows that Mississippi had 44 women candidates in 2019, with 28 ultimately capturing seats (17 in the House of Representatives and 11 in the State Senate).  Interestingly, Jones County has two women voices representing its citizens at the Capitol in Jackson: Republican Rep. Robin Robinson and Democrat Rep. Omeria Scott. 

“Each person, man or woman, has a valuable perspective based on life experiences”, stated Representative Robinson.  “As a woman in politics, it is my goal to use my perspective and experiences to represent the people of our great State.”

 

I’m not surprised that women are starting to engage more politically. Indeed, Bloomberg reports that “in every U.S. presidential election since 1964, more women than men have turned out to vote.”  Women are an important voting bloc and their increasing numbers in political races have caused the political parties to take notice – and action. 

For example, the Mississippi Republican Party has recognized the importance of targeting women through programs like its Women Initiative Network (WIN-R), which provides specialized training in politics and public service to women across the state. 

Tate Lewis, executive director of the Mississippi Republican Party, says the party “has benefited from the help of many amazing women who have stepped up to be leaders in our state and party.”  He cites the work of the Mississippi Federation of Republican Women and two past chairwomen of the GOP, Evelyn McPhail and Ebbie Spivey, in the 80s and 90s. He points out that a working mom chairs the Republican National Committee and says women “provide an invaluable voice in the shaping and management of politics and public policy.” 

This is a smart move for Republicans, considering the fact that the two genders have “differed markedly in their preferences at the ballot box,” according to Bloomberg, with women preferring Democrat candidates more than men.  While this isn’t necessarily true in a red state like Mississippi, Republicans are wise to recruit women to their ranks.  (As it stands, female legislators in Mississippi are just about evenly split between the two parties.)

From increased voter turnout among women to increased numbers of female candidates and officeholders, the demographic trends are encouraging from this Republican woman’s perspective.  After all, who better to tackle important policy issues like childcare, abortion, and even “pink taxes” on feminine products, than politically-conservative females? 

So men, this is your notice. Women are continuing to make our voices heard in larger numbers.  Pretty soon we’ll be able to truthfully answer Beyoncé’s timeless question of “who runs the world?” Girls, that’s who. 

Tea Party, MSGOP share conservative vision despite public narrative

*First appeared in the April 16 edition of the Laurel Chronicle newspaper.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you already know the primary race for U.S. Senate between long-time incumbent Thad Cochran and Jones County native state Senator Chris McDaniel is pretty…heated, for lack of a better word.

In my mind, the real casualty of this primary battle isn’t either candidate, but rather the future of the conservative movement in Mississippi. If you believe the talking heads, the Twitter trolls, the “lame-stream” media, the Facebook status-sharers, then you believe there’s a war raging between “establishment” Republicans and Tea Partiers.

To that I say, poppycock.

We’ve seen this scenario play out across the country, where newly formed political groups (such as Tea Party factions and others) unilaterally decide “their” candidate is the most conservative and best choice for office. If you don’t support our guy, they’ve said, then you must be “establishment.” These groups have in large part been egged on by national organizations with access to experienced lawyers, ruthless campaign operatives, and individuals with deep pockets (think: green).

Seems like this strategy has finally come home to roost, so to speak, right here in Mississippi.

This week the Mississippi Tea Party called on Mississippi Republican Chairman Joe Nosef to “stay out of the Mississippi U.S. Senate Primary or resign.” Wowzers!

The Tea Party is offended the MSGOP chairman said Chris McDaniel ought to clear up as fast as possible the rumor that he was participating in an event with a vendor selling “white pride” paraphernalia.

Nosef went further, saying running for the “United States Senate is a very important thing and as a party we need to always be careful and focused and serious about what our views are and what our interests are.”

This is reasonable advice to me. It actually sounds like something my father might say: Address rumors head on; tell people the whole story; and then go on about your rat-killin’. People are going to believe what they’re going to believe.

The Tea Party’s next complaint against Nosef was his recent appearance on the Paul Gallo radio show. During the show, Nosef said “primaries are always going to get dirty” and that he was bothered by the motives of out-of-state groups involved in Mississippi’s Senate race (many of these groups were involved in states where the Republican nominee ultimately lost the general election).

My paraphrasing of his comments: When Republicans lose general elections, they also lose the ability to impact policy-making.

In my opinion, this is a bad thing for conservatives. We can’t enact conservative legislation without first winning elections.

I’m not sure why the Mississippi Tea Party didn’t like Nosef’s comments which were, once again, very practical in nature. I daresay his comments are exactly what the chairman of the Republican Party ought to be saying: Let’s win elections. Let’s enact conservative policies. Let’s be smart about both of those things by working together, not against one another.

And that’s really what worries me. The Mississippi Tea Party and related groups are organized by conservative Mississippians who believe in the conservative principles of the Republican Party. I’m a big tent ideologue and tend to believe we all fall somewhere in that tent.

Yet all of this talk of “establishment” versus “Tea Party” versus “libertarian” versus so-on and so-forth isn’t helping the conservative cause. The Democrats won’t need to divide and conquer if we voluntarily divide ourselves.

If the conservative movement is to survive – and thrive – then we mustn’t let out-of-state groups dictate our in-state relationships, nor rush to judgment when party officials like Chairman Nosef offer up common-sense advice to Republican candidates.