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Final Federal Election Of 2011 A Big One For Women

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Remember how 2010 was supposed to be the Year Of The Woman in politics? Yeah, that didn’t pan out.

But so far, 2011 has proven to be a boon for women in Congress — and a special election coming up in January could mean that the 112th might be a good Congress for female representation after all. And that could be very good for activists trying to draw a bright line between Democrats and Republicans heading into 2012.

The small bump in female representation in Congress stemming from special elections since the 112th was seated means women have pulled even with their 2009 representation numbers after taking a step back in the tea party-fueled 2010 cycle.

It’s an under-reported story of 2011, and one that advocates of Democratic women say could be part of the story of the more feisty Democratic party that has emerged in recent months.

Let’s breakdown the history. Heading into the 2010 elections, there were 73 women in the House (including Democrats and Republicans.) Despite the emergence of powerful women on the Republican side like Rep. Kristi Noem (SD), the number of women in the House actually shrank on Election Day 2010 to 72 — a net loss of one — breaking a long cycle of advancing female representation on Capitol Hill that had stretched back for three decades.

Then, Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) resigned to lead a think tank shortly after the 112th was seated, leaving just 71 women in the House.

Then Democratic women began winning special elections and restoring their numbers.

On May 24, Rep. Kathy Hochul won in the hotly-contested NY-26 special, which was kicked off by the first of two resignations by married male members of Congress who sent women sexual pictures from their cell phones.

Rep. Janice Hahn won the race to replace Harman in CA-36 on July 12, a race that was marked by a sexually-charged and highly-offensive commercial made to support the Republican. The ad was condemned by all sides.

Those wins put the number of women in Congress at parity with their numbers from the 111th Congress. The streak came to an end when Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV) defeated Democratic nominee Kate Marshall on Sept. 13 in Nevada’s special election.

Now comes the chance for women to actually gain a seat in the 112th, led by a woman trying to replace a disgraced man in another sexually-charged scandal. On November 8, state Sen. Suzanne Bonamici will face two candidates in the Democratic primary in OR-01, the first step toward the January special election that will determine who replaces Rep. David Wu (D), who resigned after it was alleged he made unwanted advances on the daughter of a donor.

EMILY’s list is backing Bonamici, and a pair of recent polls — one put out by the Democratic women’s group — show her with a huge lead over her two primary opponents.

If Bonamici wins the nomination and goes on to win in January, the number of women in the House in the 112th will stand at 74, a gain of one since the 111th. EMILY’s list — which has had a hand in all the gains for women this year, lending endorsements and financial support to all the Democratic women on special election ballots — is confident that Bonamici will at least get her shot at the general.

“Suzanne Bonamici is poised to put women back on target, making gains in the House just like we should be,” said Jess McIntosh, spokesperson for EMILY’s List.

Despite their gains so far this year, Democratic women as a whole have been dismayed by the GOP-controlled House agenda in the 112th, which has been surprisingly heavy on new restrictions on abortion and the de-funding of Planned Parenthood.

McIntosh says every gain for Democratic women is a vote against the House GOP’s social conservative push.

“We know the best defense against the GOP anti-woman agenda is more Democratic women in Congress, and that’s what we’re delivering,” she said. “The Democratic Party has real momentum going into 2012, and it’s because of the women running – and winning – in special elections this year.”

November 2012, of course, is a whole new battlefield. And early signs suggest it will be another election partially defined by the number of women on the ballot. But so far, the real Year Of The Woman in politics is shaping up to be 2011.

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