Race to run against Rep. Peter Roskam in November reflects new wave of women candidates

Jan. 16--The 6th Congressional District race is indicative of a wave that is rolling across the nation.

Of the seven candidates vying for the opportunity to run head-to-head against incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam this November, five are women.

In record numbers women are jumping into political races. As of mid-December, more than 600 women registered to appear on the ballot for federal and statewide offices across the country, according to statistics gathered by the Rutgers University Eagleton Institute of Politics and its Center for American Women and Politics.

The biggest increase is in the number of female U.S. House candidates, 414, which includes 328 Democrats and 86 Republicans, according to data as of Tuesday from the Rutgers center.

"That increase is entirely among Democratic women," said Kelly Dittmar, a scholar with the Rutgers center. It also is almost four times the number at the same time in 2015.

The groundswell began about a year ago, after President Donald Trump was elected.

Dittmar said the women's marches last January and this coming Saturday are, in part, the result of concerns about the policies and messages from Trump and his administration related to such topics as gender equality, health-care reform, reproductive rights and religious freedoms.

The protests also served as a wake-up call for female Democrats.

"The loss of (Hillary) Clinton was a reminder that women often are excluded from the table," Dittmar said.

Rather than focusing on grassroots efforts to get policy changed, Dittmar said women "want to be where policy is being made" and where they can have the most impact. "They see the power and value of women's voices," she said.

In response, nonpartisan groups such as the Center for American Women and Politics and the League of Women Voters and partisan organizations like EMILY's List have hosted training programs over the past year to help elect more women to public office.

While the training produced the candidates, Dittmar said it's a far cry from getting the votes.

She said Democratic Party wins in Virginia in November gave added hope to challengers, who are vying for seats in traditional Republican strongholds, like Illinois Sixth Congressional District.

Of the more than 300 women Democrats on spring ballots, "a lot of those women are challengers running against incumbents," Dittmar said.

The same impetus driving women to seek office elsewhere, also led Naperville's Carole Cheney, former chief of staff for Naperville Democrat U.S. Rep. Bill Foster to step out from behind the scenes to pursue Roskam's congressional seat.

"We have a voice too, and we want to be heard," Cheney said. "We need a Congress that represents the people who live in the districts, and in the 6th District, there are more women than men."

Cheney likened this election cycle to the outpouring of women candidates who reacted to the treatment of Anita Hill when she testified during U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' Senate confirmation hearings in 1991.

That 1992 wave seated four newcomers to the U.S. Senate: the country's first female African-American senator, Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois; California's first pair of female senators, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer; and Patty Murray, of Washington. Barbara Mikulski, of Maryland, also was re-elected that year.

Cheney said women have momentum and power, as evidenced by the #MeToo movement.

She said the Women's March Chicago and its March to the Polls theme is aimed at inspiring women to get out the vote.

Dittmar said traditionally that's not been a problem. In every presidential election since 1980, the proportion of eligible female adults who voted has exceeded the proportion of eligible male adults who voted.

What has changed, Dittmar said, is in women's giving toward political campaigns. Now not only are women voting, they're also starting to fund candidates who support their ideals.

How women's financial support can affect local elections has yet to be seen.

While Illinois doesn't have a U.S. Senate election in 2018, it does have a host of other seats up for election in the March 20 primary, including the governor's race, which has a Republican woman challenging the incumbent.

State Sen. Jeanne Ives, of Wheaton, is taking a shot at Gov. Bruce Rauner in the primary, and three women Democrats are vying for the chance to challenge Republican Evelyn Sanguinetti in the race for lieutenant governor.

In the race for attorney general, three women -- one Republican and two Democrats -- are on the ballot this spring.

In all, 29 women are running for state or congressional offices in the primary, Center for American Women and Politics statistics show.

Women in Illinois fare better than most states.

Of the current U.S. Senate and 18 House seats in Illinois, there is one woman senator and three congresswomen, and three women hold elected executive positions statewide.

In the Illinois Legislature, women hold 35 percent of the seats: 17 of 59 in the Senate and 45 of 118 in the House.

Only six other states report higher percentages of women holding office, with Arizona and Vermont both at 40 percent, according to center figures.

At the county level, men hold most of the cards in DuPage County. All the county offices except for treasurer and regional school superintendent and 78 percent of the county board seats currently are occupied by men.

In March, female candidates are running for DuPage County Board chairman, county clerk, treasurer, regional school superintendent and in all six county board districts.

In neighboring Will County women hold 42 percent of the county board seats and the county clerk, circuit clerk and recorder of deeds seats.

All three of the Will County clerk candidates are women, and women are running for 14 of the 16 open seats on the Will County Board.

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