Paycheck Issues Top Senate Agenda in Bid for Women’s Vote
By Kathleen Hunter Apr 4, 2014 10:20 AM ET
Democrats fighting to retain control of the U.S. Senate know their success could hinge on motivating women supporters to vote in the November election.
To that end, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is teeing up a slate of measures designed to appeal to women voters and to cast Republican candidates as insensitive -- or even hostile -- to them. The effort will ramp up next week with legislation aimed at closing the gender wage gap.
“We know that when women vote, we win,” said Senator Patty Murray of Washington, a member of the Democratic leadership who led her party’s 2012 Senate campaign effort.
Republicans need a net gain of six seats in the midterm election to take the Senate majority, something that analysts say looks increasingly possible -- especially as Democrats are defending 21 seats compared with 15 for Republicans.
Democrats are trying to avoid a repeat of the 2010 midterms, in which Republicans capitalized on sentiment against President Barack Obama and the health-care law passed that year to win control of the House and additional seats in the Senate.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-04/paycheck-issues-top-senate-agenda-in-bid-for-women-s-vote.html