New Times

The faces in American politics will soon be changing. Women had enough of the sloppy politics and are taking matters in their own hands. This week there was the second annual women’s march all over the world that was highly successful and highly attended. We need to thank Trump and all the sexual abusers for enticing women to say enough, we need a change. This year we see the women taking their concerns a step farther. Some women in their pink wave of hats are taking their frustration to Washington. Even the government shutdown was over stubbornness over children. Women protect all children immigrants or citizens, a women’s nurturing instincts take over. Our government should have NOT shut down over children’s issues.

More women are running for congressional seats because we ALL are displeased with the amount of work that does NOT get done in Congress on behalf of all Americans. Mikie Sherrill is one of those very ambitious women who is now willing to take on Washington. She is a Democrat New Jersey Congressional Candidate now. She is also a mother of 4 children, coaches soccer and lacrosse teams, was a Navy Pilot and a Federal Prosecutor. Yes, she is one of those wonder women who can do it all. She decided to run for Congress when the 22 year Republican Congressman would not discuss anything with the people from the district. His job is to represent the people of his district and he doesn’t meet with them. UNACCEPTABLE!

Now women are turning their anger into political activism. Currently 389 women are running for the United States House of Representatives. There are only 84 women in the House of Representatives now. 49 women are currently running for the United States Senate. 79 women are currently running for Governor in states. This represents the largest surge of women running for elective office ever in the history of America. Women are being brave in many occupations. They have had enough. No more pussy grabbing by the President, no more sexual abuse of children by medical professionals. Aly Raisman a six time Olympic Medalist in the United States Olympics said, “We are here, we have our voices and we are not going anywhere.” The doctor who sexually abused Olympic gymnastics children is facing life in prison. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand from New York said, ”We will not be silent on this issue.” And led the charge   for sexual abuse to not be tolerated in the Senate and Senator Al Franken resigned who abused women.

At the Golden Globes, Opera who achieved a lifetime award said. “I want all the girls here and now to know that a new day is on the horizon.” Trump still has his women supporters and say that this new wave of feminism is not for them. There are websites to help any women from any party to run for political office. Since Election Day in 2016, more than 26,000 women have signed up to run for office and more than 8,000 people  have signed up to help them run. Emily’s List is a group organization that helps women run for public office. This year the site has seen a surge of women willing to run for political office. There exists Higher Heights #Black Women Lead.

Women helping women is a key part of the movement. VoteRunLead.org is a non-partisan group. They boast that they have 26,000 plus women trained for local and state office. This organization holds training sessions to teach women how to campaign, fund raise and choose the right office for them. They believe that it is possible to be a conservative and a feminist. If feminism means that women   should be politically, economically and legally equal then all women should be on board with that message. Republican women should not feel left out. They had a 70% win rate for their first time candidates. If there is any doubt that these groups are succeeding just look at recent elections.

This past November nine legislative seats were flipped. 11 total women won. It is  the highest level of delegates in recent history. The women were backed by “Emerge Virginia” an organization that promotes Democratic female candidates. Sworn in was one of the first Latina Delegates, Kathy Tran is one of the first Asian-American elected who was pregnant during her campaign. An openly trans-gender woman won and was significant since she ran against a man who held the seat for 25 years. He had a strong anti-LGBTQ stance. Despite these recent gains, women are still underrepresented at nearly every level of office. Women hold roughly only 20% of elected seats. The surge of women Black voters who voted in Alabama got the racist Mr. Jones to lose that election.

We all know that when a women decides to clean her house, things get done and things get clean. Now women are determined to clean America’s political house. Can they do that too?