Wyoming Set to Mark a Quarter-Century of Women in its U.S. House Seat While Nominee to be Alaska’s First Woman in the U.S. House Faces Tough Odds

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.

 

Two primaries were held on Tuesday in Alaska and Wyoming. Full results, including candidate lists, summaries, and historical comparisons, are available via the Center for American Women and Politics’ (CAWP) Election Watch page.

Among the most notable results for women:

  • Mary Throne won the Democratic nomination for governor of Wyoming. She is the 14th woman to win a major-party gubernatorial nomination for governor this year and the 10th Democratic woman gubernatorial nominee selected in 2018. Trying to become the first woman governor of Wyoming in nine decades, Throne will face an uphill climb against favored Republican nominee Mark Gordon.
  • Incumbent Representative Liz Cheney secured the Republican nomination for her re-election to Wyoming’s at-large congressional district. If successful – as favored – in November, her service in the 116th Congress will mark a quarter-century of women representing Wyoming’s at-large district in the U.S. House. No woman has served in the U.S. Senate from Wyoming.
  • In Alaska, Debra Call was unopposed in her bid for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor. While unfavored for victory against incumbent Byron Mallot and the GOP nominee this fall, Call would – if elected – be the first woman of color elected to statewide office in Alaska and just the second Native American woman elected to statewide executive office in the U.S.
  • Alyse Galvin won the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican incumbent Don Young in Alaska’s at-large congressional district. Galvin plans to run as an Independent in a contest where Young is strongly favored for re-election.
  • According to CAWP, a record number of women are nominees for state legislative contests after Tuesday’s primaries in Alaska and Wyoming.

Alaska

  • In Alaska’s contest for its at-large seat in the U.S. House, Alyse Galvin secured the Democratic nomination to challenge incumbent Republican Representative Don Young in a race currently rated as solidly Republican by Cook Political Report. Galvin plans to run as an Independent. One other woman candidate – Carol Hafner – was defeated in the Democratic primary.
  • Debra Call was unopposed in her bid for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor. While unfavored for victory against incumbent Byron Mallot and the GOP nominee this fall, Call would – if elected – be the first woman of color elected to statewide office in Alaska and just the second Native American woman elected to statewide executive office in the U.S. Three more women competed for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor, but appear unlikely to win in a race that remains too close to call as of Wednesday morning.
  • There were no women among the nine (1D, 1I, 7R) candidates for governor of Alaska.

Wyoming

  • Incumbent Representative Liz Cheney defeated two primary opponents to secure the Republican nomination for her re-election to Wyoming’s at-large congressional district. If successful – as favored – in November, her service in the 116th Congress will mark a quarter-century of women representing Wyoming’s at-large district in the U.S. House. A woman has held the seat since 1995. No women other than Cheney ran for Wyoming’s at-large House seat in 2018.
  • There were no women among the seven major-party candidates for U.S. Senate In Wyoming. Wyoming has never sent a woman to the U.S. Senate.
  • Mary Throne won the Democratic nomination for governor of Wyoming. She is the 14th woman to win a major-party gubernatorial nomination for governor this year and the 10th Democratic woman gubernatorial nominee selected in 2018. Wyoming elected the first woman governor in the U.S. – Nellie Tayloe Ross (R) – in 1925 to fill a vacancy caused by the death of her husband. Trying to become the first woman governor of Wyoming in nine decades, Throne will compete against Republican nominee Mark Gordon in a race currently rated as solidly Republican by Cook Political Report. One other woman – Harriet Hageman – was unsuccessful in her bid for the Republican nomination for governor.
  • Two women (2R) are nominees for statewide elected executive offices other than governor. No other women ran for these four offices.
    • Kristi Racines won the Republican nomination for state auditor, a seat currently held by Cynthia Cloud (R). Cloud did not run for re-election this year.
    • Incumbent Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Ballow is unopposed in both the primary and general election.
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).

Read more