Media Round Up: Week of January 5th

 

Happy Friday! Welcome to our Media Round Up. Each week we’re collecting and sharing our favorite gender + politics stories. Here’s what caught our eye this week:

Can Elizabeth Warren’s Selfie-Taking, Plan-For-That Campaign Win Her the Nomination?

Nathan Heller, Vogue

Looking for a more personal look into the 2020 campaign trail? Vogue takes a look into Elizabeth Warren’s selfies, electability, and plans. Warren says, “To plan… helps me make sure that I’m headed in the right direction, and that I know what the eventual goal is.” This lines up with Barbara Lee Family Foundation research, which finds that women need to be prepared on the campaign trail, and are even punished by voters if they’re perceived to be “learning on the job.”

You can read the full article here.

Women donate to multiple candidates. But men tend to stick to people who look like them.

Grace Haley, Vox

With Julián Castro’s exit from the Democratic presidential primary, only one candidate who has raised half of their funds from donors who are women remains in the race. It appears to be a sign that male donors still hold considerably more influence when it comes to money in politics, and that their preferred candidates — who tend to look like them — are lasting the longest in the field.

You can read the full article here.

Latinos make up only 1% of all local and federal elected officials, and that’s a big problem

Dianna M. Náñez, USA TODAY

Despite the nation’s ballooning Hispanic population, Latinos running and winning political offices across the U.S. are too often rare. Even in Hispanic-majority districts, Latinos don’t run or win elections at the rates of their white counterparts, various studies show. For example, Latinos are the largest ethnic group in California (40%) but make up only 24% of the California Legislature, according to a 2018 study. Now, candidates – and their supporters – are looking to change that.

You can read the full article here.

The Number of Women in the Senate Hits a New Record

Kristen Bellstrom and Emma Hinchliffe, Fortune

On Monday evening, Kelly Loeffler was sworn in as Georgia’s newest senator. The newly elected businesswoman was appointed by the state’s governor Brian Kemp (who you may recall from his 2018 race against Stacey Abrams) to fill the seat of retired Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson. She becomes the 26th woman in the Senate—setting a new record.

You can read the full article here.

Virginia May Ratify The Equal Rights Amendment. What Would Come Next Is Murky

Danielle Kurtzleben, NPR

Many advocates for women’s rights are watching Virginia closely as the state’s legislature began its session Wednesday. If the ERA passes there, Virginia would become the 38th state to ratify it; an amendment needs 38 states to be fully ratified and added to the U.S. Constitution. But a curveball came from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel on Wednesday, when it posted an opinion saying, “The ERA Resolution has expired and is no longer pending before the States.” Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, a Democrat, says, “When Virginia becomes the 38th state to ratify the ERA, I am going to do everything in my power to make sure that the will of Virginians is carried out and the ERA is added to our Constitution, as it should be.”

You can read the full article here.

 

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