Primary Outlook: Women Candidates in Wisconsin

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 Wisconsin primary election on August 14, 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 Wisconsin primary races for congressional and statewide offices, see CAWP’s Election Watch page.

CONGRESS

Current: 2 (2D) of 10 members of the Wisconsin congressional delegation (20%)
Filed: 7 (4D, 3R)
Percent of all Filed Congressional Candidates (D/R):  22.6% (7 of 31)

SENATE

Current: 1 of 2 senators

  • Incumbent U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D), the first woman senator from Wisconsin, is running for re-election this year.

Filed: 2 (1D, 1R)

  • Incumbent U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D) is running for re-election. She is unopposed in the Democratic primary.
  • One Republican woman is seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Senator Baldwin in the general election.

Percent of all Filed Senate Candidates (D/R): 33.3% (2 of 6)
Percent of all Filed Democratic Senate Candidates:  100% (1 of 1)
Percent of all Filed Republican Senate Candidates: 20% (1 of 5)

HOUSE

Current: 1 of 8 representatives (12.5%)

  • Incumbent Representative Gwen Moore (D), just one of 2 (2D) women who has represented Wisconsin in Congress, is running for re-election this year.

Filed:  5 (3D, 2R)

  • Incumbent Representative Gwen Moore (D) is running for re-election. One Republican woman is running for the GOP nomination in the same district to challenge Moore in the general election.
  • 2 (1D, 1R) more women are running as challengers; 1 Republican woman is challenging the Republican incumbent in the 5th congressional district primary and 1 Democratic woman is seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge the Republican incumbent in Wisconsin’s 7th congressional district.
  • Cathy Myers (D) is seeking the Democratic nomination in Wisconsin’s 1st congressional district, a seat open due to Speaker Paul Ryan’s retirement.

* Of the 5 women candidates for the U.S. House in Wisconsin, two are women of color; WI-04 incumbent Representative Gwen Moore (D) and challenger Cindy Werner (R) are Black.

Districts with Women Candidates:  4 of 8
Percent of all Filed House Candidates (D/R):  20% (5 of 25)
Percent of all Filed Democratic House Candidates:  27.3% (3 of 11)
Percent of all Filed Republican House Candidates: 14.3% (2 of 14)

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

  • While this year marks the highest number of Republican women running for the U.S. House in Wisconsin, there were more Democratic women candidates in 2008.

GOVERNOR

Current: 0
No woman has ever served as governor of Wisconsin.

Filed:  2 (2D)

  • Democrats Kathleen Vinehout and Kelda Roys are competing for the Democratic nomination to challenge incumbent Republican Governor Scott Walker.

Percent of all Filed Gubernatorial Candidates (D/R):  16.7% (2 of 12)
Percent of all Filed Democratic House Candidates:  20% (2 of 10)
Percent of all Filed Republican House Candidates: 0% (0 of 2)

OTHER STATEWIDE ELECTED EXECUTIVE OFFICES

Current: 1 (1R)

  • Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch (R) is currently the only woman among Wisconsin’s 6 statewide elected executive officeholders. She is running for re-election this year.

Filed:  6 (4D, 2R)

  • Incumbent Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch (R) is running for re-election. She is unopposed in the Republican primary.
  • Arvina Martin (D) is challenging the incumbent of her own party in seeking the Democratic nomination for Secretary of State.
  • 4 (3D, 1R) women are running for State Treasurer, an office that is open this year. Only one man – a Republican – is in the race.

Percent of all Filed Candidates for Statewide Elected Executive Office (other than governor) (D/R):  40% (6 of 14)
Percent of all Filed Democratic Candidates for Statewide Elected Executive Office (other than governor):  100% (4 of 8)
Percent of all Filed Republican Candidates for Statewide Elected Executive Office (other than governor): 25% (2 of 6)

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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