Skip to content Skip to search

Republish This Story

* Please read before republishing *

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons license as long as you follow our republishing guidelines, which require that you credit The 19th and retain our pixel. See our full guidelines for more information.

To republish, simply copy the HTML at right, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to The 19th. Have questions? Please email [email protected].

— The Editors

Loading...

Modal Gallery

/
Sign up for our newsletter

Menu

  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Search
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships
    • From the Collection

      Changing Child Care

      Illustration of a woman feeding a baby a bottle
      • 1 in 4 parents report being fired for work interruptions due to child care breakdowns

        Chabeli Carrazana · February 2
      • Washington, D.C., offers financial relief to local child care workers

        Orion Rummler · September 20
      • As climate change worsens hurricane season in Louisiana, doulas are ensuring parents can safely feed their babies

        Jessica Kutz · May 5
    • From the Collection

      Next-Gen GOP

      Illustration of a woman riding an elephant
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • A banner year for Republican women

        Amanda Becker · November 11
      • Republican women could double representation in the U.S. House

        Amanda Becker · November 4
    • From the Collection

      On The Rise

      Illustration of three women marching
      • Can Cheri Beasley build a winning coalition in North Carolina?

        Candice Norwood · October 11
      • Los Angeles has never elected a woman mayor. Karen Bass hopes to change that.

        Nadra Nittle · September 8
      • Judge J. Michelle Childs is confirmed to D.C. appeals court

        Candice Norwood · July 20
    • From the Collection

      Pandemic Within a Pandemic

      Illustration of four people marching for Black Lives Matter with coronavirus as the backdrop
      • Some LGBTQ+ people worry that the COVID-19 vaccine will affect HIV medication. It won’t.

        Orion Rummler · November 23
      • Why are more men dying from COVID? It’s a complicated story of nature vs. nurture, researchers say

        Mariel Padilla · September 22
      • Few incarcerated women were released during COVID. The ones who remain have struggled.

        Candice Norwood · August 17
    • From the Collection

      Portraits of a Pandemic

      Illustration of a woman wearing a mask and holding up the coronavirus
      • For family caregivers, COVID is a mental health crisis in the making

        Shefali Luthra · October 8
      • A new database tracks COVID-19’s effects on sex and gender

        Shefali Luthra · September 15
      • Pregnant in a pandemic: The 'perfect storm for a crisis'

        Shefali Luthra · August 25
    • From the Collection

      The 19th Explains

      People walking from many articles to one article where they can get the context they need on an issue.
      • The 19th Explains: What we know about Brittney Griner’s case and what it took to get her home

        Candice Norwood, Katherine Gilyard · December 8
      • The 19th Explains: Why the Respect for Marriage Act doesn’t codify same-sex marriage rights

        Kate Sosin · December 8
      • The 19th Explains: Why baby formula is still hard to find months after the shortage

        Mariel Padilla · December 1
    • From the Collection

      The Electability Myth

      Illustration of three women speaking at podiums
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • Stepping in after tragedy: How political wives became widow lawmakers

        Mariel Padilla · May 24
      • Do term limits help women candidates? New York could be a new testing ground

        Barbara Rodriguez · January 11
    • From the Collection

      The Impact of Aging

      A number of older people walking down a path of information.
      • From ballroom dancing to bloodshed, the older AAPI community grapples with gun control

        Nadra Nittle, Mariel Padilla · January 27
      • 'I'm planning on working until the day I die': Older women voters are worried about the future

        Mariel Padilla · June 3
      • Climate change is forcing care workers to act as first responders

        Jessica Kutz · May 31
    • From the Collection

      Voting Rights

      A series of hands reaching for ballots.
      • Connecticut voters approved early voting. Here’s how their new secretary of state wants to make it happen.

        Barbara Rodriguez · February 13
      • Women lawmakers in Minnesota are in the vanguard of the democracy movement

        Barbara Rodriguez · February 3
      • Election workers believe in our system — and want everyone else to, too

        Barbara Rodriguez, Jennifer Gerson · November 8

    View all collections

  • Explore by Topic

    • 19th Polling
    • Abortion
    • Business & Economy
    • Caregiving
    • Coronavirus
    • Education
    • Election 2020
    • Election 2022
    • Election 2024
    • Environment & Climate
    • Health
    • Immigration
    • Inside The 19th
    • Justice
    • LGBTQ+
    • Military
    • Politics
    • Press Release
    • Race
    • Sports
    • Technology

    View All Topics

Home
  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Search
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships

We’re an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy. Read our story.

The 19th Represents Summit

Don’t miss our biggest event of 2023!

Register Today

Become a member

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

Supporters jump for joy and cheer during an election night watch party for Sen. Maggie Hassan.
Supporters cheer during an election night watch party for Sen. Maggie Hassan in Manchester, New Hampshire. (Sophie Park/Getty Images)

Election 2022

How women defied and made history in this year’s midterms

Analysis | Three key takeaways on representation and rights in the wake of an election that in many ways bucked conventional wisdom. 

Errin Haines

Editor-at-large

Errin Haines portrait

Published

2022-11-10 09:53
9:53
November 10, 2022
am

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

We’re making sense of the midterms. Subscribe to our daily newsletter for election context and analysis.

We’ve finally made it (mostly!) to the other side of this year’s consequential midterm elections. Election Day proved to be the only poll that mattered, with what we already know so far bucking predictions from pundits and prognosticators of Democratic doom and a Republican wave of victory.

Key to Democratic success in contravening conventional wisdom at the polls were the women — and in particular, women of color — who ran, organized and voted this cycle. And while Republicans didn’t get all the big wins they were hoping to celebrate, the midterms also held lessons for their party, especially at the state level. 

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

I saw and wrote about a few themes ahead of the midterm, including that women would be the deciders, that abortion and democracy were on the ballot, and that representation matters. I checked in on Wednesday with a few of the women I talked to throughout this cycle to get their early insights and takeaways from 2022, and to see what lessons they think this election holds for our future politics. 

Here’s what I am thinking about as results and reactions roll in:  

Rights were on the ballot

From the moment the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson’s Women’s Health Organization was leaked in May, activists began mounting a response that included organizing to get out the vote in the midterms for candidates and initiatives backing abortion rights. 

It was a strategy that appears to have paid off at the polls, said Planned Parenthood CEO Alexis McGill Johnson.

“What we saw last night is that abortion rights and freedom rights really helped us defy history,” said McGill Johnson said Wednesday. “What putting abortion on the ballot did was keep these midterms competitive.”

  • More Election 2022 coverage
    A person stands in front of a white voting booth.
  • What the results of the midterms mean for women’s representation, by the numbers
  • Latinas are poised to hit a new high in Congress — but not from the anticipated GOP ‘red wave’
  • House, Senate, governor and abortion measures: The 19th’s Election 2022 roundup

The women of color leading reproductive rights organizations were at the forefront of that messaging on the campaign trail in key battleground states. On Wednesday, they were claiming victory in races across the country. 

Groups including Planned Parenthood, NARAL Pro-Choice America and EMILY’s List, along with Vice President Kamala Harris, framed early on this cycle the stakes at the intersection of democracy, freedom and the erosion of rights, including access to abortion. The aim of their approach was to draw a through line, particularly for voters of color, said McGill Johnson.

“What we saw in the data early on, particularly around voters of color, was that they recognized that abortion rights signaled a harbinger of losing additional rights,” she told me. “Our bodies have always been contested. We understand what it means that when you lose the ability to control your own body, all of the other rights can be taken away.”

As a result, issues including threats to democracy, racism, gun violence, the economy and abortion were simultaneously on the minds of voters as they cast their ballots this year, McGill Johnson said. 

Alexis McGill Johnson speaks at a podium during a "Women For Fetterman" rally.
Alexis McGill Johnson, president of Planned Parenthood, speaks at a “Women For Fetterman” rally in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania in September 2022. (KRISTON JAE BETHEL/AFP/Getty Images)

Women are still underrepresented

Women make up more than half of the population and the electorate, but that representation isn’t reflected across our government at the federal, state or local level. 

The 2018 and 2020 elections swept in a wave of women to Congress, but their record representation still leaves them at only 27 percent in the House and Senate. Some congressional contests are still too close to call, but at least 129 women, including 92 Democrats and 37 Republicans, will serve in the 118th Congress, according to the Center for Women and Politics. 

And while Democratic women largely shored up the party Tuesday night, women overall were able to only maintain the status quo in terms of their representation in Congress, due to the more than three dozen woman-versus-woman general election contests on the ballot. 

It’s another indicator of progress, said Kelly Dittmar, director of research at the Center for American Women and Politics. 

“As more and more women run for office, we should see more and more women running against each other,” Dittmar said, adding that gone are the days where women defer to each other so at least one of them has a better chance at winning.

Another bright spot: A record number of women will serve as governors in 2023, but that number is still only at least 12, up from the previous record of nine first set in 2004. While women are still far from achieving representative rule, it matters to see women as executives who are leading governments. And because the role of governor is often considered a potential pipeline to higher office — including president or vice president — having more women in the conversation can help shatter myths about electability.

Still, with both Democrats Stacey Abrams in Georgia and Deidre DeJear losing their gubernatorial bids, the country has yet to elect a Black woman to serve as governor. And Val Demings in Florida and Cheri Beasley both losing their races for the U.S. Senate means the chamber still has no Black women serving.

A woman holds a portrait of Stacey Abrams as she listens to Abrams speak.
Attendees listens to Stacey Abrams deliver remarks during a “Get Out To Vote Phone and Text Party” in Atlanta on November 7, 2022. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post/Getty Images)

The work that Black women organizers and voters have put into democracy has yet to benefit them at some of the highest levels of office, said Democratic strategist Karen Finney, who pointed to these omissions as “stunning.”

“(Abrams) and Black women turned Georgia into a swing state,” Finney noted. 

What will it take to get a Black woman governor and more Black women elected to the Senate? A combination of a strong candidate, treating voters of color like persuasion voters, investing in the ground game and a favorable environment in the states they run in, Finney added.

Abortion mattered — and will continue to

Abortion was on the ballot Tuesday, both literally and figuratively. In addition to the candidates whose platforms centered the issue and the voters who prioritized it, there were ballot initiatives on abortion in five states. Voters in California, Michigan, Kentucky and Vermont all turned out to back abortion rights.  

While abortion rights groups celebrated these wins and pointed to victories by Democratic candidates who embraced abortion access as an issue, anti-abortion groups said Republican candidates who ran on the issue also won. For both sides, Tuesday’s results proved that the issue was relevant to their voters.

  • More Election 2022 abortion coverage
    Attendees hold up two fingers during a rally encouraging voters to vote yes on Amendment 2.
  • Election 2022 results: Abortion initiatives on the ballot
  • Kentucky becomes second conservative state to reject anti-abortion amendment this year
  • Democrats went all-in on abortion. For many, it worked.

Candidates who clearly articulated their anti-abortion positions and effectively cast their opponents as extreme were successful on Election Night, said Stephen Billy, vice president of state affairs for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.

When Democrats centered abortion in the wake of the Dobbs decision, some Republican candidates ignored the issue or shifted their position, what he called the “ostrich” or “opposum” strategy.

“To think that you could just avoid the issue and not talk about the issue when they have put millions of dollars into making it an issue of the campaign … is malfeasance,” Billy said. “When you don’t talk about it, when you don’t answer the question, when you don’t have a principled response, you get defined, and you let the other side define you.”

Billy pointed to Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, North Carolina Sen.-elect Ted Budd, Ohio Sen.-elect J.D. Vance, and Govs. Ron DeSantis in Florida, Greg Abbott in Texas and Brian Kemp in Georgia as candidates who effectively staked out their positions and contrasted themselves with their opponents. 

He said the organization’s efforts going forward must include finding a way to replicate candidate success at the ballot initiative level.

“We weren’t successful in making sure people truly understood the pro-abortion position on the ballot amendments,” Billy explained. “They’re going to try to use ballot initiatives to advance their policy positions and we have to be prepared for that.”

A volunteer canvasses a neighborhood in support of Proposal 3.
A volunteer canvasses with Reproductive Freedom for All in support of Proposal 3, the constitutional amendment to enshrine reproductive rights into the state constitution in Plymouth, Michigan in October 2022. (Nic Antaya/The Washington Post/Getty Images)

Both sides agree that after a long absence from our politics, abortion is officially back as a campaign issue, as voters set an expectation that they want to know where candidates stand. 

“It has been 50 years since the American people have been able to have their voices heard on this issue, so they’re going to make sure their voices are heard now,” Billy said. 

McGill Johnson agreed that abortion will be a perennial issue.  

“The stock market will go up and down, gas prices will go up and down, inflation will go up and down, but when rights are taken away, that is a generation of fighting back,” she said. “To really recognize the importance of elections related to our fundamental freedoms is important and a huge win, not just for abortion rights, but really for democracy.”

This year’s midterm elections were not just about candidates but about voters’ power. We saw voters in both parties exercising that power early and on Election Day. Any notions of a lack of voter enthusiasm were dispelled. 

Control of key states is still yet to be determined, as is which party is in charge in each chamber of Congress. Both parties have takeaways from this year’s results — and we’ll soon see how they wield the power voters entrusted to them, and how voters will continue to hold them accountable as they govern.

Explore more stories about the midterms and their impact

From abortion ballot measures to voting and races at the state and federal levels, find out what our reporters have learned about Election 2022.
Read the Latest

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

The 19th Represents Summit

Don’t miss our biggest event of 2023!

Register Today

Become a member

Up Next

Monica De La Cruz and a supporter wearing an American flag shirt pose in front of red, white and blue balloons at her election night party.

Election 2022

Latinas are poised to hit a new high in Congress — but not from the anticipated GOP ‘red wave’

At least eight Democrat and four Republican Latinas are projected to win seats in the U.S. House, and more races are too close to call.

Read the Story

The 19th
The 19th is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Our stories are free to republish in accordance with these guidelines.

  • Donate
  • Newsletter
  • Events
  • Search
  • Jobs
  • Fellowships
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Community Guidelines
  • Membership
  • Membership FAQ
  • Major Gifts
  • Sponsorship
  • Privacy
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram