Happy New Year! Politics Women to Watch in 2012

December 28, 2011

By Kathy Groob, Publisher ElectWomen Magazine – While several high profile women are on the ballot for 2012, it will be the down ticket women, running at the local and state level who would conceivably make their mark on next year’s election.  Women’s organizations across the country are engaged in massive recruiting efforts to recruit and prepare women to run at all levels.

There are more questions than answers at this point about the outlook for women candidates.  Women still face challenges with respect to political experience and money.  Training and awareness efforts could finally pay off in 2012 if all goes well.  Below are high profile women in politics that we will be watching throughout the year:

1.  Rep. Gabrielle Giffords – The popular Arizona Congresswoman who was shot in the head last January; will she run again in 2012?  Giffords has made a remarkable recovery, but with the filing deadline in late May, we might just have to wait until then for the answer.

2.  Elizabeth Warren – Can the Harvard professor and consumer protection guru defeat incumbent Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown?

3.  Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg – Not an elected position, but at 78 years old and multiple health problems, it is likely the Supreme Court Justice will retire in 2012 to allow President Obama to select a replacement.  Would President Obama continue his record of appointing women to the high court to keep three women on the nine-member bench?

4.  Rep. Michele Bachmann – The only woman in the GOP field of presidential candidates, polling currently at under 10%, the question is when does she get out of the race.  After Iowa?  After New Hampshire?  Will she be on anyone’s ticket as the VP nominee?

5.  Gov. Bev Perdue – Will face a tough re-election battle in North Carolina and if she wins, will be the only Democratic female governor in the country.

6.  Rep. Tammy Baldwin – Wisconsin Congresswoman is running for the U.S. Senate and would become the first openly gay woman to serve in the Senate if elected.

7.  Rep. Shelley Berkley – Nevada Congresswoman giving up her safe seat in the House of Representatives to run for the U.S. Senate to combat what she believes is an assault on senior citizens in her state.

8.  Senator Claire McCaskill – Can the first term Senator from Missouri hold onto her seat against a strong challenge from the Tea Party?

9.  Hawaii U.S. Senate – Two women are running in primaries for the open U.S. Senate seat in Hawaii – former Governor Linda Lingle (R) – Mazie Hirono (D).

10.  Debbie Halvorson – former Congresswoman running in the newly drawn Illinois 2nd Congressional District against incumbent Representative Jesse Jackson Jr.