More Women than ever on Capitol HIll

2012 will go down in history as groundbreaking for women:

184 women ran for Congress this year, half were elected
29 women of color will now serve, a record number
20 female Senators, up from 17
81 women elected to the House
4 states - HI, MA, ND, WI elected first female senators EVER
New Hampshire has nation's first all-female delegation
First Asian-American woman in the Senate, Mazie Hirono D-HI
First openly gay Senator - Tammy Baldwin D-WI
First Hindu in Congress, Tulsi Gabbard D-HI
First Disabled Female Veteran in Congress, Tammy Duckworth, D-IL

This election was really something else, and the Republicans underestimated women, just as they underestimated the votes of Latinos, African-Americans, and college students.


From The Daily Beast:

. . . the results came in. It quickly became clear that women hadn’t just reelected the president–they’d dealt a historic blow to the religious right, helped put a record number of women in the Senate, and become the heart of a new governing coalition.
According to CNN exit polls, women made up 53 percent of the electorate, and they went for Obama by 11 points. (Romney, meanwhile, won men by 7.) According to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers, it was the second-largest gender gap in American history, exceeded only by the 1996 electorate. Because of women’s votes, Republicans lost two Senate seats they once seemed certain to win–Missouri and Indiana–after their candidates made shocking comments about rape, pregnancy, and abortion.
Among some conservatives, a realization has begun to set in that they need to start winning over women or get used to being a permanent minority party. Writing in National Review Online, the Independent Women’s Forum’s Carrie Lukas admitted that she’d been wrong in assuming that the “war on women” frame wouldn’t work: “This should be a wakeup call for everyone on the right.”

From Discovery.com

All six female incumbent Democrats won their re-election, including Claire McCaskill of Missouri, who had been in tight race until her opponent, Rep. Todd Akin, made his comments about "legitimate rape." Democrats joining the Senate next year will be Democrats Tammy Baldwin (Wis.), Mazie Hirono (Hawaii), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), and Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.). (Rick Berg of North Dakota conceded the race late yesterday to Heitkamp.) Six other female Democrat senators were not up for re-election this year.

Thus the full list of female senators for 2013 includes 16 Democrats:

1. Tammy Baldwin (Wisconsin, incoming)
2. Mazie Hirono (Hawaii, incoming)
3. Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts, incoming)
4. Heidi Heitkamp (North Dakota, incoming)
5. Claire McCaskill (Missouri, re-elected)
6. Debbie Stabenow (Michigan, re-elected)
7. Dianne Feinstein (California, re-elected)
8. Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota, re-elected)
9. Kirsten Gillibrand (New York, re-elected)
10. Maria Cantwell (Washington re-elected)
11. Patty Murray (Washington)
12. Barbara Boxer (California)
13. Barbara Mikulski (Maryland)
14. Mary Landrieu (Louisiana)
15. Kay Hagan (North Carolina)
16. Jeanne Shaheen (New Hampshire)

And four Republicans:

17. Deb Fisher (Nebraska incoming)
18. Kelly Ayotte (New Hampshire)
19. Susan Collins (Maine)
20. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska)