Rebuilding Virginia Democrats Starts With Women

Across the country, Democrats are recruiting women candidates for key Congressional races in 2012 to draw a contrast with Republicans.  With record gender gaps and Republicans continuing to press social issues it's a no-brainer for Democrats.

So why isn't it happening here in Virginia?

For some reason in the last 15 years Democrats have moved away from women legislative candidates, especially in Northern Virginia.  Coming into this year, the NoVA women in the Senate were all from the 1991 (Janet Howell's first Senate race and Toddy Puller's successful House race) and 1995 (Mary Margaret Whipple and Patsy Ticer) cycles.  NoVA Senators elected this decade were all men (Chap Petersen, George Barker, Mark Herring and Dave Marsden).  Whipple and Ticer of course both retired this year, and while Whipple is being replaced with Barbara Favola, Ticer is being replaced by Adam Ebbin.  The once majority-female NoVA Democratic Senate delegation is now 8 men and 3 women.

But compare that to the Democrats in the House of Delegates and the Senate's record of electing women looks pretty good.

Let's start with the five Arlington/Alexandria House seats.  In 1997 Judy Connally retired, and Bob Brink took her place.  In 2003 when Karen Darner retired, Adam Ebbin took her place, and now Alfonso Lopez has that seat.  When Marian Van Landingham retired in 2005, David Englin took her seat.  That's three flips.  When Jim Almand retired, his seat went unopposed to Al Eisenberg in 2003 and when Eisenberg retired in 2009, five candidates announced and ran for his seat- all men.  The only seat to flip from a man to a woman was Brian Moran's seat in 2009 to Charniele Herring, but even that was only because Moran decided late to retire and the prohibitive favorite, Kerry Donley decided he couldn't run on short notice.

In Fairfax, women have fared a little better, but still are rarely asked to run.  Toddy Puller's House seat went to Kristen Amundson for a decade, but when she retired, Scott Surovell won the nomination without a challenge.  After Gladys Keating lost her seat in 1999, Mark Sickles took the nomination in the next cycle.  The only two Democratic women in Fairfax elected recently were Kaye Kory (who did so by challenging an incumbent- not being selected) and Eileen Filler-Corn who ran unsuccessfully in 1999 against Jim Dillard and was passed over for Dave Marsden in 2005 when Dillard retired, only to finally get her shot when Marsden went to the Senate in 2010. 

So what exactly is going on here and why are NoVA Democrats struggling to recruit women to run?

Meanwhile, the GOP is making gains in Northern Virginia in the House of Delegates with many of their incumbents having never faced a woman (or at least not recently).  There are a number of districts where Democrats should be focusing on recruiting a viable female candidate which include:

Tom Rust:  Rust won by less than 10% in 2007 and 2009 over Jay Donahue and Stevens Miller but has not faced a woman challenger since he was elected to this seat in 2001.

Tag Greason:  Greason won this seat from incumbent David Poisson in 2009 then got a pass this year from Democrats for re-election.  Greason is best known for having been accused while in the army of masturbating next to a sleeping female subordinate and ejaculating after she woke up- then being offered a baby wipe to clean up.  Think a woman could draw a contrast here? 

Rich Anderson:  Narrowly defeated incumbent Paul Nichols in 2009 and then got a pass from Democrats in 2011.  This seat was held by a GOP woman before Nichols (Michelle McQuigg) and Prince William County women have won or held numerous local Supervisor and School Board seats that overlap with this district.

Scott Lingamfelter:  Scott hasn't faced a woman in the ten years he has been in the legislature.  Given his general attitude (similar to most VMI grads in his age range) and demeanor he would likely have a lot of problems with a female challenger.

Jim LeMunyon:  LeMunyon beat incumbent Chuck Caputo here in 2009 and then challenger Eric Clingan in 2011.  Democrats have had a ready made candidate here for a while in local school board member Kathy Smith, but haven't yet recruited her to run.   She's probably the only person who could seriously challenge LeMunyon in 2013.

Dave Albo:  Despite being in office since 1993, Albo hasn't faced a female challenger since his first race.  Will twenty years without a female challenger here be enough to find one in 2013?

Bob Marshall:  An obvious choice for a female challenger, Marshall hasn't faced once since Denise Oppenhagan ran in 1999.

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It's pretty obvious that Virginia Democrats (especially in Northern Virginia) better start looking at their own failures in recruiting women to run for office more closely.  Any strategy to begin making up lost ground to the GOP will rely on recruitment of younger female candidates in swing districts.

Comments

[Loudoun dem]

The problem is women and minorities. Democrats recruit few minority candidates.

[Greg L]

I love this idea. Establish gender quotas for Democratic candidates and don't worry about qualifications. Please run Krystal Ball, Judy Feder, Sharon Pandak, Dianne Blais or Jeanette Rishell against these incumbents. They're Democrats and they're of the proper gender identity according to this tactic, and they even have extensive campaign experience to boot, so the learning curve is short.

I beg you.

If that doesn't work out, you can refine the idea and demand even more narrowly targeted criteria, such as multi-lingual minority transgendered women with at least one physical disability. Perhaps targeting numerous constituencies this way will automatically mean they will draw near universal support from key Democratic voting blocks regardless of what would likely be weak resumes, lack of experience, or the demeanor needed to run.

[PWC Democrat]

Denise ran against Bob in 2001 as well.

[RC]

Henrico Democrats shocked the Eric Cantor political establishment in the county when they elected a woman named Shannon Taylor for Commonwealth Attorney.

I understand thay also elected a couple of women to the Water and Soil Conservaton Board.

[Andrew]

Robin Abbot needs to be ready to run again in 2013, too.

[nova]

Despite the fact that Patsy Ticer endorsed her, you treated Libby Garvey as an also-ran in the 31st Senate primary. Seems slightly hypocritical, no? Not saying you might not have had your good reasons, but...

[Just wondering]

Ben--just curious... do you think some of the losses by Democratic women in swing NoVA races in recent years plays into the equation? Cathy Belter and then Janet Oleszek both lost to Ken Cuccinelli (while David Marsden eventually won the seat). Rosemary Lynch lost to Jay O'Brien (while George Barker eventually won the seat). Patti Morrissey lost to Dick Black (while David Poisson eventually won the seat). Hilda Barg lost to Jeff Frederick (while Luke Torian eventually won the seat). And Margie Vanderhye lost re-election to Barbara Comstock (though she is, of course, also a woman).

Even in some Democratic primaries, voters have chosen male candidates over female ones (David Bulova over Janet Oleszek; Englin over Libby Garvey, Elsie Mosqueda, and Laura Mandala; Ebbin over Garvey for Senate, Ebbin over Teresa Martinez for House).

I am not sure the reason for this and would love to hear your anaylsis. Is it sexism in recruitment? Is it sexism among voters? Is it just coincidental?

[Jack]

WOMEN is a noun, not an adjective. The word you are looking for is FEMALE.

[Justin Time]

The foul accusation made against Tag Treason was proven to be unfounded but yet you continue to repeat it. Better yet, in spite of the Democratic Party mailing out this unfounded accusation in a mass mailing it was soundly rejected by voters. I guess if you say it over and over again it will make it true. Now click your heels together Dorothy

[Not Larry Sabato]

Tag "Treason"? Really? LOL. Freudian slip there.

[Ralph]

Justin Time, have you ever been present for a political campaign in Northern Virginia before... like, ever? You should see some of the shit Republicans mail out. You might need to take a Tylenol after.

[change]

Maybe the democratic party just does not like women!!! Lol…

Apparently they don’t like horses either, as I just read that Obama signed a bill to restore horse slaughter for human consumption.
Reminds me of the country song “save a horse ride a cowboy”.
When it comes to horses and women, maybe the D’s like the idea of eating horses instead of … oh never mind… lol…

All jokes aside, I think you might be overreaching, “most” of the “VA” women who hold office are very qualified (be they D or R) and I believe as more come forward they will win elections.
I believe, at least from the conservative point of view, that one’s gender or race etc… is much less important than their qualifications, beliefs and ability.

I still belive that if Hillary had won our country would not be in the mess we are currently facing.

[Jack]

"Tag Treason" looks like an IPod or IPad "helping" with spelling.

[Jack]

Change, Bill Richardson had more experience than every other candidate the Democrats fielded that year -- combined. The dems decided it would be cooler to have a Black -- even if only half-Black or less -- than to have a woman or a Latino. This is the result.

[blank]

Lingamfelter faced a female candidate in his first race for the HoD. Forget her name, but it was it was a more dem friendly seat then it is now and I think he won that race with over 53%

[Not E. Blackburn Moore]

Scott Lingamfelter's first Democratic opponent, in 2001, was Michele "Mickie" Krause. She received 44% of the vote.

[Gnarly]

Hmmm...maybe voters care about policy positions and not identity politics? Conservative women have no problem winning elections.

[Noticed]

The cool thing about female office holders is that Ben can attack them with much more disrespectful language!

Of course, Ben, if you want more female candidates, this is the time for you to empower yourself. You can become a woman and run for office yourself. It won't be like the (pardon the expression) abortive attempts you have launched in the past. The way I see things, you can bring the bring the brains of Janet Oleszek along with the beauty of Janet Reno and have a winning combination. All you need is to choose a good name for yourself, such as Peach, or Rosalina, or Toadette, or best of all, Janet Junior. So go ahead, schedule your medical appointments now. I'm sure that ObamaCare will accommodate you.

[just the facts]

Noticed,

Nice to get in gratuitous digs at women yourself while accusing Ben of sexism. Really classy -- NOT!!!

And thanks for the total digression about Obamacare, which actually is extending coverage to many young people that couldn't previously afford it and children with preexisting conditions.

[just the facts]

As for the issue at hand, in terms of the pool of qualified female candidates...

In Henrico Shannon Taylor is clearly a rising star

In Hampton Roads we can expect to see Robin Abbott run again in a better cycle for Dems. Any thoughts about Adrienne Bennett running again vs Villanueva now that she's raised so name recognition?
Also Paula Miller for Congress in 2nd Congressional District sounds plausible

As for Fairfax, I fully expect to see either Margi Vanderhye or Pam Danner back when Comstock steps up to run for Wolf's seat in Congress. And Kathy Smith for LeMunyon's seat makes sense. Beyond that I had seen Kate Wilder mentioned as a possible challenger for Albo a cycle back. I presume depending on how things go Meghan McLaughlin may or may not be considered for other offices.
Any other prospects in Fairfax?

The Democratic bench in Loudoun got beaten up in November and Dems are basically rebuilding from scratch there. Dems are in better shape electorally in Eastern Prince William but I haven't seen any names of prominent women candidates emerge there yet -- any ideas?

[SE VA MWC Alum]

Another one is Hampton Roads that I think would be great for higher office-Hampton Mayor Molly Ward.

[Will the whiners make up their minds]

Democratic Senators got hammered for supporting Barbar Favola instead of a male in the 31st District.

By your logic, they did the right thing. Thanks for writing an article that shows Saslaw, Howell and Whipple knew what they were doing...building the Democratic Party.

[Dem Senators - Building the party one female at a time]

"Will the Whiners Make up Their Minds is So Right."

The blogging community was so upset when the Senate leadership recruited and supported a NOVA woman for Senate (Favola)and yet Ben says Dems need to recruit more women.

[Agree with Ben's Post]

Thank goodness Barbara Favola was elected to the Senate. She is the only new Democratic female elected to the legislature from NOVA.

[GretchenLaskas]

--_Hmmm...maybe voters care about policy positions and not identity politics? Conservative women have no problem winning elections.---

Gnarly -- you should have quit after your first sentence, because now I am forced to chime in saying, "Unless they run for the Fairfax County School Board." :)

[Noticed]

Poo' wittle jtf! Never seen sarcasm before? Wassamatta baby, can't take what you dish out? Speaking of baby stuff, yes, all that health care is going to be free! And it works, or at least your professor of "Economics for Womyns Studies Majors" said so.

[just the facts]

Noticed,
you are the only one with a thin skin here....