Democratic women are struggling to win governors’ races this year.
From high-profile primary defeats to surprisingly tough general election bids to long-shot races that just won’t tighten, female gubernatorial candidates are having a rough year across the country.
Despite recent successes in congressional races, Democratic women will struggle this year to pick up even one new governorship.
Some wonder whether it has to do with the job.
“You’re just looking at an environment and a tradition that has always been male-dominated,” said Annette Dubas, a state senator who dropped out of the Nebraska Democratic gubernatorial primary.
Of the 50 governors in the United States, just five are women, and four of them are Republicans. New Hampshire’s Maggie Hassan is the only female Democratic governor serving right now.
It’s a problem in deep red states, bright blue states and purple states in between.
In Democrat-friendly Massachusetts, recent polls shows Martha Coakley in a virtual tie with Republican Charlie Baker for the open governor’s seat. Baker is helped by socially moderate stances on gay marriage and abortion which have left Coakley and liberal groups fewer lines of attack.
Emily’s List, a national group that backs pro-choice Democratic women, sent an email criticizing Baker over his opinion on whether embattled NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell should step down, a much weaker issue for Democrats than birth control this year.
In Rhode Island, Gina Raimondo is having a tough time wrapping up a race with Republican Allan Fung. Although there’s scant polling on the contest, a Rasmussen poll from late September showed her up by just 5 points, barely outside the 4-point margin of error.
As in Massachusetts, Fung, who is pro-choice, has neutralized some of the typical attacks.
Other Democratic women have struggled to make it out of the primaries.
In Maryland, Heather Mizeur would have been the first openly gay governor in the country and the state’s first female governor, but she lost the Democratic primary badly to the state’s lieutenant governor, Anthony Brown.
In Pennsylvania, Rep. Allyson Schwartz, a former abortion clinic director, gave up her shot at keeping her House seat to launch an ill-fated gubernatorial bid against Republican Tom Corbett, arguably the most vulnerable governor of this cycle, but she also lost the primary badly to self-funder Tom Wolf.
Even two of the most-hyped Democratic women this year have struggled.
In Wisconsin, businesswoman Mary Burke is Democrats’ hope to defeat Gov. Scott Walker, but she’s trailing him by 5 points in a poll by Marquette University.
And in Texas, state Sen. Wendy Davis has not been able to translate unparalleled national attention into any electoral momentum. Her opponent, Attorney General Greg Abbott, has held a cushy 12-point lead for most of the race.
Things could change before Election Day, but for now it doesn’t look like 2014 will be a year for Democratic women to remember.
