Is She On the List?: Understanding the Role of Women

• In Event: Beyond Race or Gender: Intersectional Analysis and Political Behavior

Abstract

The 2018 election cycle was not only historic because of the number of Black women who ran for office, but also because of the seats won by Black women at the local, state, and national level. While 2018 is a shining example of Black women’s electoral success and speaks to questions about Black women’s electability, it is part of a larger story about Black women’s increasing numbers in political office. Although Black women do not represent the largest group of officeholders, their numbers have continued to grow over time (Smooth 2006). This is despite the fact that the cost of political campaigns is on the rise and Black woman may face challenges in raising funds to run for office (Sanbonmatsu 2015). In conjunction with the attention to Black women candidates in 2018, there has also been a lot of discussion about organizations that recruit, train and fund women candidates. While these organizations are not new, we are still learning about the impact that they have in decreasing the gender disparity in political office – particularly when they do the work of contributing to women’s political campaigns. Taking all of this together, there are two important questions here: Where do Black women find support to fund their campaigns and how do women focused campaign funding groups matter for Black women’s ability to run and win? Using both candidate data from the 2018 Reflective Democracy Project and data collected on campaign finance I highlight differences in where Black women receive campaign funds from their male and female counterparts. In addition, I speak to the raced and gendered effects of political actions committees.

Author

• Jamil Shatema Scott, Georgetown University