Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Success Sparks Debate
The big story from the June 26 ^th primary was a stunner of an upset in New York's 14 ^th congressional district, where Joe Crowley, an oft-rumored future Speaker of the House, was defeated in the Democratic primary by relative newcomer Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Both NY1 and The New York Times compared the Ocasio-Cortez win to the victory of Elizabeth Holtzman against half-century-incumbent Emanuel Celler in 1972.

Ocasio-Cortez's win set in motion a thousand think-pieces, many of which called on CAWP for insight. Glamour spoke to CAWP Scholar Kelly Dittmar about women candidates owning the conversation about their style; CAWP Director Debbie Walsh gave context to NPR about the difficulties young women encounter as candidates; and CAWP data was cited in an Elite Daily piece about millennials stepping up and seeking a seat at the table.

Then, of course, there are the political repercussions. The New York Times and The Washington Post took a look at a race with similar dynamics in Massachusetts. Meanwhile, Vox examines the impact that women legislators have on legislative output. And what does this mean for the Democratic Party? The Washington Post reports that liberal icon Barbara Lee is mulling a run for Crowley's party leadership position. If successful, she would become the first woman to chair the House Democratic Caucus.

 

CAWP in the News
Data and commentary from CAWP continues to be a crucial component of coverage of the 2018 midterm elections, so much so that this newsletter offers only a sampling of our appearances in the media. For even more, make sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook .

FiveThirtyEight and NBC use CAWP data to examine why the majority of women candidates for House seats are running as Democrats rather than Republicans. For CNN, Nia Malika-Henderson cites Kelly Dittmar in her commentary on women candidates breaking the gender double bind. Dittmar also gave comments to The Washington Post for a piece highlighting little-known women candidates leveraging viral videos to gain exposure and amplify their messages.

At the state and local levels, too, CAWP plays an important part in keeping people informed. The New York Times relied heavily on CAWP's state legislative data and analysis in a piece highlighting the potential for nine states to see gender-balanced or majority-women legislatures as a result of this year's election. In New Jersey, former State Senator Diane Allen launched a political action committee, runWOMENserve, to help get women elected to the New Jersey legislature, and  The Philadelphia Inquirer featured CAWP commentary and data on women's representation in state legislatures nationwide. In their interview with Cynthia Nixon , CBS Sunday Morning presented CAWP data on women running in gubernatorial races around the country. Finally, CAWP Associate Director Jean Sinzdak spoke to The Washington Post's local edition about a school board in Maryland that will be led entirely by women following this November's election: "It's not the norm to have all-female governing bodies, no matter what level you're talking about." That's likely true. For now.