Aiming for Office

The latest woman tapped to join the Trump administration is Kirstjen Nielsen, named to head the Department of Homeland Security, as reported by NPR . She'll need Senate confirmation before replacing John Kelly, who left DHS to become White House chief of staff. Meanwhile, on the electoral side, two women of color are facing off in the race for mayor of New Orleans, and one will become that city's first woman mayor, as we learn from The Times-Picayune . Senator Dianne Feinstein of California is running for re-election, per The Hill. Seeking to join her in the Senate is Representative Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, according to The Tennessean . The crowded race for governor of Maryland is getting another woman, Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, says The Baltimore Sun.  Essence highlights five Black women to watch, and northjersey.com tells us that more women are running for office in New Jersey, both in 2017's state legislative elections and in 2018 congressional races.

 

Not Running

Maine Senator Susan Collins has decided not to run for governor of Maine, but to stay in the Senate, says Politico . Representative Carol Shea-Porter, who has been in and out of the House representing New Hampshire since 2012, will not seek another term, according to Roll Call.

 

Wisdom from Women Who've Been There

From Cosmopolitan's How to Run for Office treasure trove, we get tips from experts on (what else?) how to run for office and thoughts from Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen , who will retire after 2018 as the dean of Republican congresswomen. From Vogue , there's a chat with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand about politics, feminism, and her (presidential?) future. The Hill  tells us that Minnesota's senior senator, Amy Klobuchar, often gets identified as the wife of Minnesota's junior senator. Cleveland.com starts a series of interviews with political women by talking with Representative Marcy Kaptur, currently the longest-serving woman in the House. Washington DC City Council member Brianne Nadeau tells Fox5DC about being the first woman to give birth while serving there. Roll Call takes five with Senator Tammy Duckworth. In Politico , Hillary Clinton has a lot to say on her book tour; she issues a warning about the "double standard" future female presidential candidates - e.g. Senators Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren - are likely to face, should they run. And, on the other side of the world, The New York Times  reports on Liberian women who fear the end of a peaceful period as their female president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, steps down and a man succeeds her.

 

Survey Says...

As part of its How to Run for Office collection of articles (many of which are linked in today's ICYMI), Cosmopolitan conducted a survey and found that "women between the ages of 18 and 34 were about equally likely to say the 2016 election made them less likely to run for office as they were to say the election inspired them to run. Eighteen percent of young women said the election made them less likely to run, while 16 percent said the election made them more likely to run."  See what else the magazine found in its survey here.

 

Really???

Depressing, but true, stories from CNN , The Washington Post , and National Geographic .