Women & the 2018 midterms

Guests: Kelly Ditmar, Dawn Teele, Anthea Butler, Madeleine Deane

This week’s midterm elections were record-breaking and historic for female candidates, with at least 100 women elected to the House of Representatives and a wave of victories for women across the country. South Dakota and Maine elected their first female governors, and Tennessee elected its first female Senator. Four women — Madeleine Dean, Mary Gay Scanlon, Chrissy Houlahan, and Susan Wild —were elected to the House in Pennsylvania, a state that previously had an all-male Congressional delegation. Nation-wide, voters supported diverse candidates, electing the first Muslim women and the first Native American women in Congress.  Soon-to-be Representative Ayanna Pressley was the first woman of color voted into Congress in her state, Massachusetts. Is 2018 the Year of the Woman? And what will happen when this new crop of female politicians step into office? We’re joined by KELLY DITTMAR, political science professor at the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, DAWN TEELE, political science professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and ANTHEA BUTLER, professor of Religious and Africana studies at the University of Pennsylvania to discuss. We’ll also hear from MADELEINE DEANE, who was just elected to represent Pennsylvania’s 4^th Congressional District in the House.