Whether you’re talking candidates, activists, or voters, the action among the ladies is on the blue side of the electoral divide, observed Kelly Dittmar, a scholar with the nonpartisan Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. “It’s pretty clear the energy is partisan,” she told me.
As one data point, Dittmar points to the estimated number of gals running for House seats next year. (The official count won’t be available until after all filing deadlines have passed.) There are currently 354 women in the mix: 291 Democrats and 63 Republicans. Now compare those numbers to this point in last year’s cycle, said Dittmar, when there were 121 Democratic women and 60 Republicans running.
It doesn’t take a math whiz to chart the enthusiasm gap.
The situation, unsurprisingly, has many Republicans stressed out—even depressed.
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