Pink Wave: Women to Flood Congress After Historic Election Night
*By Chloe Aiello*
The Democrats may not have gotten quite the blue wave they were hoping for ー but for women in politics, Election Day was an indisputable success.
"I think the night was better than you thought it would be going in. I'm seeing something like a pink tsunami, compared to that Democratic blue wave," Bustle senior political correspondent Erin Delmore told Cheddar on Wednesday.
Female candidates won congressional seats and governorships in record numbers Tuesday night. At least 95 women won seats in the House Wednesday morning, breaking a previous record of 84 women, [NBC news reported.](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/how-did-women-candidates-do-2018-midterms-n932801) Nine women will call various governors' mansions across the U.S. home.
These wins were mostly fueled by the Democratic Party, which put a record numbers of women on the ballot.
"When you talk about Democrats clinching control of the House, you have the women candidates to thank," Delmore said.
Delmore said that many of these candidates adopted a new approach when campaigning for their various positions. Instead of downplaying their various backgrounds and ties to family ー they leaned in.
"This is something new we saw from women candidates: they are not trying to focus on their resumes and tout their accomplishments and push their families aside," she said. "People really leaned into their backgrounds, their biographies, their family lives, their struggles ー and it really resonated with voters."
And several of the female candidates broke records of their own.
Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan became the first Muslim women elected to Congress. Sharice Davids defeated a Republican incumbent in Kansas to become the first openly LGBTQ woman to represent Kansas. Also a Native American, Davids will join Debra Haaland of New Mexico in becoming the first Native American women in Congress. New York's Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez became [the youngest woman ever elected to Congress](https://cheddar.com/videos/lgbt-muslim-and-women-candidates-make-history-in-the-2018-midterms) at 29-years-old.
For this wave of women leaders, the next few years are going to be about much more than stereotypical women's issues.
"Don't expect women to sit back and talk about birth control and reproductive rights as women's issues. Women's issues are the economy, their education, their gun control. They are everything that hits your pocket book, hits your kids and hits you in your everyday life," Delmore said.
A Gallup poll finds that now 7.1% of American adults identify as LGBTQ, jumping from 3.5% in 2012. The increase is driven by Generation-Z – those born between 1997 and 2003 – of whom one out of five identify as LGBTQ. Cheddar News speaks with Washington Blade reporter Chris Johnson about the significant shift.
As the Biden administration continues to see the potential for an imminent invasion of Ukraine after contradictory reports of a Russian troop pullback or buildup, Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif. 7th District), a member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, joined Cheddar News to give his insight into the tense situation. "When I was in Ukraine a couple of weeks ago and we were talking with the Ukrainian leadership with President Zelensky, they said we ought to approach Vladimir Putin as though he was a poker player," he said. "So this could be one of those head fakes where he's saying one thing and doing another thing."
The Biden Administration has now issued new guidelines when it comes to carbon capture. The new guidelines handed down this week encouraged the widespread use of climate attacks that traps and stores carbon emissions. The goal here is the process would help keep carbon out of the atmosphere without requiring a whole lot of change by big companies and manufacturing plants. Several scientists say that this method would be crucial to help us decrease the use of carbon emissions by the year 2050. Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University, Mark Jacobson, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Natalie Fertig, federal cannabis policy reporter for Politico Pro, joins Cheddar News to discuss the latest in marijuana legalization in the United States.
The Biden administration is launching a new task force to promote the use of 'cleaner' construction materials with lower life cycle emissions. This comes as the White House works to speed up government purchases of greener products. Sweta Chakraborty, climate change expert and U.S. president of "We Don't Have Time," joins Cheddar News to discuss.
Due to the staffing shortages of teachers in New Mexico, the state has been encouraging its National Guard members to fill in as licensed substitutes to keep schools open. Kurt Steinhaus, New Mexico secretary of education, joined Cheddar News to explain the state's stopgap measure amid its lack of teaching professionals. "The first thing they have to go through a fingerprint background check, just like any other substitute new Mexico. The second thing they have to do is go through some online training, and then we provided some in-person professional development about classroom management," Steinhaus explained about the qualifications process.
With contradictory reports about Russian troops pulling back or being added to the border with Ukraine and the expulsion of a U.S. diplomat from Russia, tensions in the region appear to be escalating. Jack Detsch, a Pentagon and national security reporter for Foreign Policy, joined Cheddar News to break down the situation. "Certainly a different tone out of Moscow today and a different tone out of the West. Even as the Kremlin has made the case that troops are moving back, the U.S. is saying that is certainly not the case with the satellite imagery that we have pouring in," he said.
New York City's famous subway system is currently facing scrutiny after several recent attacks on platforms. Now, local leaders in the Big Apple are calling on the MTA. To step in and take action.
