Is a new day dawning? At least on the Left Coast? Women in Western Washington have reached another rung on the ladder that leads to full parity in our legislative bodies. They are running in greater numbers for local offices and, in some cases in this past election, the final two candidates for some Washington positions were both women.
One example is Seattle. As I reported in August, the two candidates for mayor were both women, so Seattle was certain to have its first woman mayor since the mid 1920’s. Jenny Durkan, the new mayor, campaigned as the first openly gay U.S. Attorney.
In Everett, just north of Seattle, there are also two women running for mayor, after beating the incumbent in the primary election. They are currently deadlocked with only a handful of votes separating them. Unlike Seattle, Everett has never had a woman mayor.
Further south, just before the Oregon border, in Vancouver, Washington, Anne McEnerny-Ogle beat four men in the primary. After the current mayor dropped out, she was the only candidate remaining. Vancouver will have its first woman mayor since before the Civil War, when the city was founded.
Tacoma, Washington, a city near the capital city of Olympia, already has a woman mayor. In fact, if you travel the I-5 corridor (running from Bellingham in the north, to Vancouver in the south), there are eighteen cities with women mayors. For the whole state, there are more than thirty.
Just one step down from mayor are the city council seats. In Burien, just south of Seattle, women already hold the majority of city council seats. Seattle will follow suit with women holding six of the nine council seats. Women are running for these seats in greater numbers, as they are for seats in the state legislature.
Western states like Washington were on the forefront of granting women the right to vote, even before the Nineteenth Amendment clarified that right for every American woman. It is not surprising that they would also be on the forefront of electing women to office. A few years back, Washington had two women Senators and a woman Governor at the same time, the first and only state to do so.
Emily’s List (Emily means “Early Money is Like Yeast”) encourages women to run for office and helps raise funds for them. Last year 900 women indicated they were interested in running. This year 20,500 women contacted Emily’s List. It seems women are storming the castle. The ladder is braced against the castle walls. Hopefully, it won’t be long before women vault over the ramparts.
