Female candidates face huge hurdle in midterms: Beating incumbents

[DonViejo]

Nearly three-fifths of women seeking House or Senate seats are taking on sitting office-holders.

By HEATHER CAYGLE 03/25/2018 07:00 AM EDT

Political newcomer Marie Newman had millions of dollars in outside spending behind her and the full embrace of women’s and abortion rights groups — and still came 2,000 votes shy of knocking off Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) this week. But many in the political world weren’t at all surprised by the outcome.

For Newman and hundreds of other women vying for the House and Senate — many for the first time — their campaigns, no matter how much energy is behind them, often butt up against a nearly insurmountable wall: beating a sitting office-holder.

“It’s hard to beat an incumbent, period,” said Martha McKenna, a longtime Democratic political operative with stints at both EMILY’s List and Senate Democrats’ campaign arm. “Our best opportunity to elect new women to Congress is in Democratic open seats.”

Women are flocking to run for Congress in record-breaking numbers this year. After two primaries in the books — in Illinois and Texas — at least 464 female candidates are still on track to run for the House and Senate. If that number holds, it will shatter previous records in both chambers for the most women to ever run.

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https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/25/female-candidates-midterms-incumbents-women-rule-482341

[MineralMan]

1. Attempting to primary Democratic incumbents is probably going to fail

in most cases. That's what history shows. I think it's great that people are running, but if they're trying to get rid of a Democrat who already holds office, it's probably not going to work.

Even Lipinski is a multi-term congressman. People generally don't want change enough to go against an incumbent from their own party.

Still, I encourage people to try, especially in districts with people like Lipinski in office.