Dems’ ‘war on women’ is OVER as GOP females make historic gains

Joni Ernst, Shelley Moore Capito Senate victories highlight breakout year for GOP women.

Here’s another reason the Democrats’ “war on women” strategy imploded in this year’s midterm elections: A wave of Republican women ran for office — and won.

Even as Democrats decried Republicans for being insufficiently sympathetic to women’s issues, female GOP candidates were having a breakout year, pulling off victories in high-visibility races and building their numbers in both houses of Congress, in state legislatures and in state executive offices.

The most striking result may have been at the lowest level: Republicans elected a net of 47 more women to state legislatures, while Democrats lost a net of 75 women in office.

Elected Democratic women outnumber their GOP counterparts overall, but Republican women set the pace on Nov. 4. They picked up two Senate seats — in Iowa with Joni Ernst and West Virginia with Shelley Moore Capito — even as Democratic women lost at least one seat with North Carolina Sen. Kay R. Hagan’s defeat. Another Democratic incumbent, Sen. Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana, faces long odds in a Dec. 6 runoff against Republican Rep. Bill Cassidy.

Each party elected two additional women to the House, and the Republicans may net a third, depending on the outcome of the recount in the Arizona House race between Democratic Rep. Ron Barber and Republican Martha McSally, with Ms. McSally holding a slim lead. But Republican women made their biggest gains at the state level.

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