Christy Hoppe of the DMN notices something missing on the Republican side of the 2014 ballot.
Rep. Kay Granger
The Texas Republican Party has a girl problem.
A glance down the list of GOP nominees set after Tuesday’s runoffs makes it look as if U.S. Rep. Kay Granger of Fort Worth has signed up for shop class.
She is the lone woman among the 50 congressional, statewide and top judicial Republican candidates.
In a year when the marquee races for governor and lieutenant governor will feature Democrats Wendy Davis and Leticia Van de Putte, the Grand Old Party looks like it’s going stag.
Candidate Lisa Fritsch warned during the primaries of “the party of all these men and the same old recycled candidates.”
And Fritsch is a staunch conservative who was challenging Greg Abbott for the nomination for governor.
State party chairman Steve Munisteri said he’s noticed.
“I would tell you I’ve had discussions with elected officials and party leaders about this very issue,” he said Tuesday. “Frankly, it is a concern.”
He said he is placing women in high-profile jobs and hoping to recruit more women to run for office.
The story has gone national, but it should be noted that Rep. Granger isn’t quite as lonely as Hoppe says. There is one more Republican lady among the statewide and Congressional candidates – there is also Susan Narvaiz, who is running for CD35 against Rep. Lloyd Doggett. And it’s not like there were a bunch of viable female candidates that filed but couldn’t make it through the primaries. The only serious contender for a statewide office on the R side was Debra Medina, who finished third for Comptroller with 19% of the vote despite that crappy Trib poll that I’m still not tired of mocking that showed her leading, and the only serious contender for a Congressional seat was Katrina Pierson, who was defeated easily by Rep. Pete Sessions despite having Ted Cruz as her overlord. The lack of Republican ladies on the ballot was a problem that one could see coming from a good ways away.
To be fair, there’s not an overabundance of ladies on the Democratic side, but there are three women running statewide. Two of them you’ve probably heard of, plus Justice Gina Benavides of the 13th Court of Appeals, who is running for Supreme Court. There are also two Congressional incumbents – Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee and Eddie Berniece Johnson – plus two more Congressional candidates, Shirley McKellar and Tawana Cadien. That’s two Democratic incumbents to one Republican incumbent even though Republican incumbents overall outnumber Dems in this group by more than three to one, and seven Democratic candidates to two for the GOP. I’d have liked for there to be more female candidates on our ballot – I did vote for Maxey Scherr in the Senate primary, after all – but given the historic nature of the Wendy Davis and Leticia Van de Putte candidacies – the first time ever that a party has nominated women for both of the top two slots – it’s still something we Ds can be proud of. Better luck next time, Republicans.
I think the GOP realizes the risk. The Gala at the state conveniton next week is designed to honor women activists, and features US Senators Deb Fisher and Kelly Ayotte, hardly the usual headliners for such a prime event. I recall that Paul Ryan was the last speaker, maybe the Wisconsin Governor as well.
Hey Kuff,
Thanks for noting there are 2. I jumped on that as soon as the story broke, just because an inaccuracy so obvious annoyed me. I appreciate seeing other journalists catch this!