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May

18

News-Herald says women top ballot again; OH senate could be barren of GOP women


This commentary in today’s News-Herald, written by the paper’s David W. Jones, catalogues numerous races more or less local to its readership that demonstrates what I thought a while ago, when some people said, oh, there’s such hatred for Hillary Clinton. If she is at the top of the ticket, we will see more women lower down on the ticket lose.

We’ll probably never know if that will come to pass, but I’ve thought that her presence in the race, if not the ticket, would increase the number of women who run, if not win (hopefully other women running will have better campaigns and managers, less flaws and lighter baggage).

The one quibble I have is that Jones doesn’t mention how the Ohio state senate will have no women from the Republican party starting in January 2009, as things currently stand. I wrote about this fact last fall. As the Columbus Dispatch wrote then:

The testosterone level on the Republican side of the Senate couldn’t get much higher these days.

When Republican Sen. Patricia Clancy was ushered out of her seat into a county job two weeks ago to make way for fellow Cincinnatian Bill Seitz, half of the chamber’s GOP women disappeared.

In a state where females make up 51 percent of the population, being a female, a senator, and a Republican has been a lonely demographic combination for nearly nine years. Since 1999, no more than two women have served in the Senate GOP caucus at any one time, and of 21 members today, only Sen. Joy Padgett of Coshocton remains.

She’s not sticking around past 2008. Rep. Jimmy Stewart of Athens wants to take her place.

Unless former state Sen. Karen Gillmor decides to run next year, Senate Republicans have no female candidates lined up to join the team in 2009, meaning that for the second time in 24 years the caucus could be all-male and all-white.

It appears that Karen Gillmor is running against Marysville Mayor Tom Kruse (D) for the state senate’s 26th district. I’m not sure what her chances are there, but if she wins, she’ll be all by herself as a Republican, female state senator in Ohio.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:43 am May 18th, 2008 in Campaigning, Elections, Gender, Government, Ohio, Politics, Republicans, Statehouse, Women 

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