by

Susan A. MacManus

USF Distinguished University Professor Emerita

and

Amy N. Benner

Ph.D. Student, Rutgers University-New Brunswick

Research Assistant, Center for American Women and Politics

One hundred years ago, women won their long and hard-fought struggle for the right to vote. On August 18, 1920, Tennessee brought the nation to the three-quarters mark of the states needed to ratify the 19^th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. 

A lot has changed. In Florida, as in many states, women now comprise a larger share of registered voters and turn out to vote at higher rates than men, reviving proclamations by advertisers and others that “You’ve come a long way, baby!”  Women make up 52% of Florida’s registered voters (41% Democrat, 33% Republican, 24% no party affiliation (NPA), and 1% minor party—as of June 2020.

Much slower to come has been women running for Congress and the Florida Legislature. According to the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), women make up 28% of the state’s current congressional delegation and 29% of Florida state legislators. But the pace of women’s candidacies has certainly picked up. This year, record numbers of women (178) are running for Congress, the Florida Senate, and the Florida House of Representatives.

On this historical Primary Election Day, we detail just how many Florida women have thrown their hats into the ring for these positions.  We examine their backgrounds—party affiliation (Democrats, Republicans, NPAs, or write-in candidates) and race/ethnicity. We focus on the primary contests in which these women are competing: Is there an incumbent in the race? If so, is it a woman? Are there multiple candidates? Are women candidates running against each other?

While not the focus of this article, we know from reviewing their campaign websites and news coverage that their rationales for running are as diverse as their backgrounds. The most commonly cited reasons include the following:

• intense dislike of the incumbent,
• making sure their party fields a candidate,
• focusing on a certain issue or constituency,
• recruited to run by their party,
• encouraged to run by an organization and/or major donors,
• a desire for more representation for their gender, race, and/or generation,
• a preference for a different ideological or governing approach, or
• an attempt to gain experience with an eye to running in the future.

Many Races Now Feature a Female Candidate(s)

Long gone are the days when major races in Florida feature only a handful of women candidates. In 2020, two-thirds or more of all congressional and state legislative contests have at least one woman candidate (see Table 1). This represents a major gain.  More women choose to run for the state House, of course, because the seats are more numerous and the districts are smaller and more homogeneous, making these seats appealing to first-time candidates.

While it’s true that men are still a majority of the total number of candidates running for these positions, women are approaching parity in Senate contests (41%) and improving their share in state House (34%) and congressional races (32%). Achieving more gender parity in candidacies has been the goal of both political parties and groups aimed at getting more women into office (Ruth’s List Florida—Democrats; Maggie’s List—Republicans). The rise to prominence of suburban women, especially those with young children, as an important swing vote has been a big impetus for this push to attract more women candidates.

Table 1. Seats that Feature Woman Candidate(s) 

Note: *In presidential election years, odd-numbered Senate seats are up for election. Not included in this analysis is a special election to fill a vacancy, District 20; that race is between a male Republican and a female Democrat, both white.

Sources: Florida Division of Elections, Center for American Women and Politics.

Party Affiliation of Female Candidates for Congress & State Legislature

In 2020 more women Democrats than Republicans (62% v. 31%) are running for office. (See Table 2) One explanation is that more women are registered as Democrats than Republicans (41% v 33%) AND women make up a larger share of registered Democrats (58%) than of registered Republicans (49%). (See Figure 1.) Florida Democrats also more heavily recruited candidates to run for state House and Senate races this year, with a goal of fielding candidates in every contest. Among those recruited were first-time women candidates, some of whom agreed to run in more Republican-leaning districts to give their party a presence now, with an eye to changing district demographics in the future, following redistricting in 2022.

After the historic gains for Democratic women in 2018, national Republican women’s groups, like Congresswoman Elsie Stefanik’s Elevate PAC (E-PAC), committed to getting more Republican women in office. In Florida, more Republican than Democratic women filed to run for Congress, choosing to run in open seats and in Democratic-held districts in which incumbents were viewed as vulnerable.

While the number of women running as NPAs and write-in candidates is small, it reflects the fact that more Floridians are registering as NPAs. Somewhat surprising are the few who chose to run as write-in candidates, only one of whom did so to prevent a universal (open) party primary.              

Table 2. Partisan Breakdown of Female Candidates

Note: Total percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding. 

Sources: Florida Division of Elections, Center for American Women and Politics.

Figure 1 Women Make Up a Larger Share of Democratic Party Registrants

Source: Graphic calculated from Florida Division of Elections, Florida Voter Registration 
System data as of June 2020.
 

Race/Ethnicity of Female Candidates for Congress & State Legislature

Florida’s population is growing more racially diverse with each passing year. Its population is projected to be majority nonwhite before this decade’s end.  Florida already has one of the most diverse electorates of any state. Among registered women voters, more than one-third (37%) are women of color (WOC)—Hispanic (16%), Black (15%) Asian/Pacific Islander (2%), and Other, multi-racial (4%). (See Figure 2).

Figure 2. Racial/Ethnic Diversity of Florida’s Registered Voters by Gender

Source: Graphic calculated from Florida Division of Elections, Florida Voter Registration System data as of June 2020.

Excluding one candidate whose race is unknown, women of color make up nearly half (48%) the total number of women candidates—Black (27%), Hispanic/Latina (14%), Middle Eastern/North African (3%), Asian/Pacific Islander (1%),  and multi-racial (1%), reflecting an upward spike in their candidacies. WOC are 48% of all women candidates for Congress, 46% of state House candidates, and 44% of state Senate candidates.  (See Table 3.)  The vast majority of WOC candidates are concentrated in the heavily populated urban areas of south and central Florida, which have more congressional and legislative seats. 

The larger number of Black women running for Congress is in lockstep with a national pattern. A study conducted by the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) concluded that the number of Black or multi-racial Black women running for a congressional seat was the highest in more than a decade.  Many have been inspired to run by the successes of other Black women. Others are driven by racial, social, and economic injustices, especially in criminal justice reform, health care, and education.  This includes racial disparities in maternal mortality rates, mandatory sentencing guidelines, as well as equal pay in the workforce (August 13^th was Equal Pay Day for Black women).  Black women are much more likely than Latinas to run as Democrats because Latinas are more diverse in their party affiliations. (See Table 4.)  But multiple Black women are running as Republicans (5 total), often strong proponents of school choice and pro-life policies, and Black women of Caribbean descent can differ from American-born Black women in their political preferences.  

Hispanic/Latina candidates are more mixed in their party affiliations (Table 4) with historic differences by country-of-origin (with candidates of Cuban, Puerto Rican, Colombian, Nicaraguan, and Peruvian descent) and generation. Health care costs, the president’s immigration policies separating children and parents at the border, and low wages are big priorities for Latina Democrats. Latina Republicans, especially Cubans, Venezuelans, and Colombians, are strongly committed to fighting against socialism.

Future elections in Florida may see an increase in candidates from a wider array of racial and ethnic backgrounds.  This includes candidates of Asian and Middle Eastern descent, as these populations are growing across the state.  Also expected are more bi-racial and multi-racial candidates, as Florida’s younger generations are much more racially diverse than previous generations.

Table 3. Race/Ethnicity of Female Candidates for Congress & State Legislature

Note: Percentages were calculated excluding the candidates with unknown race/ethnicity (N=177).

Sources: Florida Division of Elections, Center for American Women and Politics.

Table 4. Party Affiliation of Women Candidates by Race/Ethnicity

Note: Total percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding.

Sources: Florida Division of Elections, Center for American Women and Politics.

Competitiveness of District Seat Sought

Historically, candidates have been at least somewhat strategic in selecting which positions to seek--choosing to run in an open seat rather than one in which an incumbent is running for reelection.  Out of the 167 total seats up for election in Florida, 127 feature incumbents running for reelection (51 Democrat, 76 Republican).  (See Table 5.) Only 36 of these seats are held by women (26 Democrat, 10 Republican). 

Among these women candidates, 77 are unopposed by anyone in their party for the seat they are seeking; thus they do not compete in a primary election (Congress – 9 Democrat, 1 Republican; State Senate – 9 Democrat, 5 Republican; State House – 40 Democrat, 13 Republican).  Out of the 77 women who face no opposition in their party’s primary, 26 are incumbents (17 Democrat, 9 Republican).

Table 5. Seat Status for Women Candidates in Primary Election*

*Note: A total of 77 women (Congress – 9D, 1R; State Senate – 9D, 5R; State House – 40D, 13R) have no opposition in their primary election (no primary election held).

Sources: Florida Division of Elections, Center for American Women and Politics.

Several of these intraparty primaries are considered competitive this election season.  A total of 88 primary contests feature multiple candidates, including 60 races that include at least one woman on the ticket (68%).  Republicans have more contested primaries (53) than Democrats (45), but the GOP has fewer women running in these races (24 v. 36). 

A noticeable shift, coinciding with the spike in the number of women’s candidacies, is that more women are running in primaries against other women.  This includes 14 Democratic contests (mostly in the state House) and 9 Republican races (split between Congress and the state House).  As more women enter the political arena (particularly facing one another in electoral settings), an important question comes to the forefront: Will it be politics as usual, OR will these women change the rules of the game?  Politics and campaign tactics have long been cast as a “man’s world.”  Will women take this opportunity to civilize political discourse and center their campaigns on issues and their constituencies? Will they attempt to counter gender stereotypes that define women as passive and emotional with images depicting how “tough” they are? Or will such stereotypes just fade away as more women are elected? Only time will tell.

Major Findings

Analyzing party primary candidacies is one of the best ways to examine the future of women in elected offices. It is, in essence, a measure of the size of the “pipeline” streaming more women into elected positions. This analysis of Florida women running for Congress and the Florida Legislature has shown that:

• Florida women are running for congressional and state legislative offices in record numbers in 2020, albeit for different reasons; they are diverse in their party affiliations, race/ethnicity, and positions sought.
• Women of color are on the rise, nearly reaching parity with white female candidates; other research finds that more register, more vote, and more graduate from college than men of color.
• More women are running as challengers in contests where an incumbent is running for reelection either in their party’s primary or in the general election (opposition party).
• More women candidates means more races pitting women against each other, especially in party primaries.

This highly charged, partisan-polarized environment has drawn more women to seek political office. Democratic women have been more heavily recruited by social movement organizations and women’s groups (all vehemently anti-Trump) and are more willing to run for “red” districts to make a point. Republican women have been more likely to seek open seats and swing seats and to enthusiastically and openly campaign as pro-Trump.

Looking back to 1920, women can definitively say, “Yes, we’ve come along a long way,” but more importantly, “There’s no turning back now.”