Women are running for Congress in record numbers—and another record is being set by the veterans among them:
Women who served in the military are running for elected office in greater numbers than at any time in history. Many broke gender barriers in uniform and say it’s now time to make their mark in politics. For generations, military veterans who become elected officials have overwhelmingly been male and Republican, but these female veterans, many of whom served in pioneering combat roles in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, are overwhelmingly Democrats and critical of President Trump. [...]
Only four of the 535 members of Congress are female veterans, two Republicans and two Democrats. But at least 32 more women who served in the military are now campaigning for the House and Senate - 25 Democrats and 7 Republicans, according to Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.
These are women who’ve been told they can’t do things, and gone on to do them anyway. Women who’ve fought to earn their place in male-dominated settings:
“Many of us felt like we really had to focus on some of the areas that needed further groundbreaking such as the House of Representatives and the Senate,” said [Mikie] Sherrill, 46, a Democrat running in New Jersey’s 11th congressional district. Sherrill said she and other female veterans are motivated to run for office by what she calls a “lack of respect” for women by the Trump Administration and by the dearth of women on Capitol Hill. She said she was astounded to see an all-male Senate panel deciding last year whether to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
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