Women’s leadership and power take center stage in the 2024 Presidential Election

The usual phrase heard between now and Election Day will be, “this is the most important election of our lives.” With sixty-three days remaining, the 2024 Presidential Election could become a referendum on the power of women. Yes, at the ballot box and in elected office. 

RepresentWomen is an organization that believes in a democracy with gender-balanced representation in appointed and elected government offices. It held an event at the Hubbard Inn during the 2024 Democratic National Convention. It was designed for attendees to meet currently elected women in different levels of government. Also, women who are running for elected positions were also in attendance. The meeting highlighted the importance of women in leadership. Plus, the event emphasized the need for women in state houses. 

RepresentWomen says they have an outsized focus on state legislatures because statehouses are the epicenters of American democracy right now. For example, when Roe was overturned on June 2022 by the U.S. Supreme Court, the ruling ushered in a patchwork of abortion rules. As a result, every southern state, except Virginia, has a form of an abortion ban in effect. In states like Mississippi and Texas, their attorneys general have proposed a surveillance program to monitor the periods of and the whereabouts of pregnant women. 

The Inspirations

Maya Harris is most well known as Vice President Kamala Harris’s younger sister. However, at 29, she was named Dean of the University of California Hastings College of the Law and Lincoln Law School of San Jose. Since then, Harris served as a senior policy advisor for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. She also serves on the Board of Directors of Emily’s List, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, and New York-Presbyterian Hospital. 

“She needs everyone in this room fighting right alongside her,” said Maya Harris. “So, in addition to all of the important work to be supported through these two organizations, because you are absolutely right. We are on a mission, and we need to elect women up and down the ticket in every state in this country. We must get this job done to elect Kamala Harris President United States, and we need all of you to do it.”

RepresentWomen follows Shirley Chisholm’s example

The keynote speaker was U.S. Representative Barbara Lee. Lee, a Democrat from California, represents the 12th Congressional District which encompasses Oakland. She was the first Black woman north of Los Angeles to be elected to the California legislature in 1990. Lee’s inspiration to run for office came from a visit by Shirley Chisolm, the first Black American  woman to run for President, to her college campus. Lee, at the time, was not interested in joining any political party or registering to vote. 

“So she took me to task and made me register to vote,” explained Lee. “She also told me that she had something to contribute. Like what? You know, I’m out here struggling, trying to make ends meet and trying to work to make my community better as a community worker.  Like I said, ‘with the Black things, right?’ So what happened, though, she forced me to register, but I did. I ended up going back to talking to my professor. Then, I worked in Shirley’s campaign at the Mills College campus. I got an A in the class, I registered to vote, and I went to Miami as a Shirley Chisholm delegate.”

Benchmarks and Goals

Based on the conversations during the convention, RepresentWomen are pushing for the following additional resources to support candidates:

1. Training and guidance on implementing ranked choice voting and public financing campaigns at the local and state levels.
2. Connections to other organizations and advocates working on these issues to facilitate collaboration and knowledge-sharing.
3. Research and data on the benefits of ranked choice voting and public financing in increasing women’s representation in elected office.
4. Funding and financial support to help candidates and organizations pursue these policy changes.
5. Advocacy and lobbying efforts at the state and federal level to promote legislation enabling ranked choice voting and public financing.

The key is for RepresentWomen to leverage its expertise, network, and resources to empower candidates and organizations working to create the systemic changes necessary for more women to succeed in running for office.

What is ranked choice voting?

Voters can list candidates on their ballots by order of preference. They can rank as many candidates as they want without fear that ranking others will hurt the chances of their favorite candidate.  All first choices are counted and if a candidate receives more than half (50 percent plus one vote) of the first choices, that candidate wins, just like in any other election. 

If there is no majority winner after counting first choices, the election will be decided by an “instant runoff.” 

The candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and voters who picked that candidate as their top choice will have their next choice counted. 

This process continues until there’s a majority winner or a candidate won with more than half of the vote.

Just two states — Maine and Alaska — have switched to ranked choice voting for both statewide and presidential elections. New York City also utilizes ranked choice voting. Democrats have said it best aggregates candidates and their converging interests. As a result, the city has women as the majority in the city council for the first time in its history. 

“Local elections are the worst, where only a few 100 people come out to vote, and so you have people that don’t have the majority of support,” says Laura Murphy, the Assistant Majority Leader in the Illinois State Senate. “And what happens is that you prevent women — particularly women of color — being able to win those seats. So when you can rank those choices, you have a better opportunity for winning and being successful.”

Women in office yields results

New York State Senator Samra Brouk represents the 55th District, which contains portions of Rochester. Brouk worked on Stacey Abrams’s campaign in rural Georgia, in 2018. She says Abrams’ ability to connect with people on issues like health care and criminal justice reform inspired her. This experience motivated Brouk to bring similar efforts to upstate New York. Eventually, Brouk would run for State Senate in 2022. Brouk emphasizes the value of women in elected office. She highlights studies that show women and women of color are better at understanding the needs of their constituents. Lastly, she advocates for more women in leadership roles nationwide.

“I’m a firm believer that the more women we have in elected office, the better off we are as a country,” says Brouk. “And in fact, there are actual studies that show when women and women of color are in positions of power, they are better able to  collaborate and work together with their colleagues, even across the aisle, to affect change.”

There are 18 state senates in across the country don’t have a Black woman elected to a state’s upper chamber. RepresentWomen has the data, but they also have the solution: leveraging connections and networks to run for public office. Also, advocating for the solutions in the systemic changes. Brouk says representation matters.

“Truly understand the voices and the needs of the people that they represent,” says Brouk. “So whether it’s in New York, Oklahoma or Georgia, we need to make sure that more women are getting into these positions to be able to put forward the agenda that most Americans actually want to see.”

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