In the 2020 and 2022 election cycles, there has been an increase in the number of Republican women running in primaries. However, the crucial factor in electing more women is the competitiveness of the races they are in, and whether they have a chance of winning in November. This is evident in many races, where a candidate runs unopposed in the primary for a seat that is expected to be lost. Research has shown that Republican women are often sacrificial lamb nominees more frequently than Democratic women.
In Pennsylvania’s House primaries held today, this trend continues as only two out of 19 GOP candidates are women. In stark contrast, on the Democratic side, 12 out of 25 candidates running for the U.S. House are women. Since the mid-1990s, it has been observed that more Democratic women are elected to Congress than Republicans, largely due to more Democratic women running for office.
One such race is the 5th District of Pennsylvania, where Alfeia Goodwin is the sole Republican candidate on the ballot. She will face a tough challenge in November against incumbent Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, who has a strong hold on the safe blue district. However, former President Trump has not endorsed any candidate in this race or any other House primary race this cycle despite his support for female candidates like Elise Stefanik and Vivek Ramaswamy’s endorsement for Maria Montero in Pennsylvania’s 7th District race against state Rep Ryan Mackenzie and veteran Kevin Dellicker who also runs for GOP primary vote but he too did not receive endorsements from key GOP women’s groups such as VIEW PAC, Maggie’s List, E-Pac or Winning For Women despite their missions to support female candidates running for office.
The phenomenon of “sacrificial lamb” candidates is evident when looking at these races and how certain political factors contribute to this trend among Republican women compared to Democrats.
Overall, while there have been efforts to increase diversity within both parties through initiatives like “Girl Power” campaigns and targeted voter outreach programs by organizations like Emily’s List and She Runs For America; still much work needs to be done to address systemic barriers that prevent more women from entering politics or getting elected once they do run.