Primary Outlook: Women Candidates in Michigan

Kelly Dittmar

Gender Watch 2018From March to December 2018, the Barbara Lee Family Foundation (BLFF) and the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) partnered to offer Gender Watch 2018, which tracked, analyzed, and illuminated gender dynamics in the 2018 midterm elections. With the help of expert scholars and practitioners, Gender Watch 2018 furthered public understanding of how gender influences candidate strategy, voter engagement and expectations, media coverage, and electoral outcomes in campaigns. The blog below was written for Gender Watch 2018, as part of our collective effort to raise questions, suggest answers, and complicate popular discussions about gender’s role U.S. elections.

 

Ahead of the Michigan primary election on August 7, 2018, we outline the numbers and proportions of women who have filed as candidates for congressional and statewide office. The data below also provide points of historical comparison to give context to today’s presence and potential success of women candidates.

All data are provided from the Center for American Women and Politics, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University. For a full list of the women candidates in Michigan primary races for congressional and statewide offices, see CAWP’s Election Watch page.

CONGRESS

Current: 3 (3D) of 16 members of the Michigan congressional delegation (18.8%)
Filed: 16 (14D, 2R)
Percent of all Filed Congressional Candidates (D/R): 29.6% (16 of 54)

SENATE

Current: 1 of 2 senators

  • Incumbent Senator Debbie Stabenow (D) became the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Michigan in 2001. She is running for re-election this year.

Filed: 1 (1D)

  • Incumbent U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D) is running unopposed for the Democratic nomination. No women are running for the Republican nomination.

Percent of all Filed Senate Candidates (D/R): 33.3% (1 of 3)
Percent of all Filed Democratic Senate Candidates:  100% (1 of 1)
Percent of all Filed Republican Senate Candidates: 0% (0 of 2)

HOUSE

Current: 2 of 14 representatives (14.3%)

  • 2 (2D) women serve in the U.S. House from Michigan. They are both running for re-election this year.

Filed:  15 (13D, 2R)

  • 2 (2D) women incumbents – Representatives Debbie Dingell and Brenda Lawrence – are running for re-election.
  • 4 (4D) women are running as challengers, seeking Democratic nominations to challenge Republican incumbents in four congressional districts.
  • 9 (7D, 2R) women are running in open seat contests in MI-09, MI-11, and MI-13.

* 5 (5D) of 15 women candidates for U.S. House from Michigan are women of color, including 3 Black women and 2 Asian women, both of whom also identify as Muslim. Among these candidates is Representative Brenda Lawrence (D), who is one of 18 Black women currently serving in the U.S. House.

Districts with Women Candidates:  9 of 14
Percent of all Filed House Candidates (D/R):  29.4% (15 of 51)
Percent of all Filed Democratic House Candidates:  39.4% (13 of 33)
Percent of all Filed Republican House Candidates: 11.1% (2 of 18)

Recent history: The number of women who filed for major party candidacy for the U.S. House in Michigan in 2018 is greater than any other year between 2008 and 2018.

  • In 2012, when 2 U.S. House seats were open in Michigan, 8 (4D, 4R) women filed as primary candidates. This year, there are 3 open U.S. House seats in Michigan. There were 4 open U.S. House seats in Michigan in 2010 and 2014, when 7 women filed for office.
  • This year marks the highest number of Democratic women running for the U.S. House in Michigan between 2008 and 2018.

GOVERNOR

Current: 0
One woman – Democrat Jennifer Granholm – has served as governor of Michigan. She served from 2003-2011.

Filed:  1 (1D)

  • Democrat Gretchen Whitmer is the only woman running for governor of Michigan this year. The seat is open.

Percent of all Filed Gubernatorial Candidates (D/R):  14.3% (1 of 7)
Percent of all Filed Democratic Gubernatorial Candidates:  33.3% (1 of 3)
Percent of all Filed Republican Gubernatorial Candidates: 0% (0 of 4)

Recent history: To date, former Governor Jennifer Granholm (D) has been the only woman to win a major party nomination for governor of Michigan.

OTHER STATEWIDE ELECTED EXECUTIVE OFFICES

Michigan selects nominees for other statewide elected executive offices via party conventions in late August.

Kelly Dittmar headshot

Kelly Dittmar

Kelly Dittmar is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Rutgers–Camden and Director of Research and Scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics at the Eagleton Institute of Politics. She is the co-author of A Seat at the Table: Congresswomen’s Perspectives on Why Their Representation Matters (Oxford University Press, 2018) (with Kira Sanbonmatsu and Susan J. Carroll) and author of Navigating Gendered Terrain: Stereotypes and Strategy in Political Campaigns (Temple University Press, 2015).

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