On the ballot: Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux and Meredith Conroy on representation in elected office

Quick! Which state leads the country in electing women of color to executive office? The answer? New Mexico. It’s not a “fluke,” Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux and Meredith Conroy contend in their FiveThirtyEight essay published on January 31, 2020. Rather, they argue, the work that has been done in New Mexico to put women in office can be used as a blueprint in other states to make our government reflect the diversity of the people it represents.

Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux and Meredith Conroy, "Why New Mexico Elects More Women of Color Than the Rest of the Country," FiveThirtyEight, 31 January 2020

 

1. Thomson-DeVeaux and Conroy name four reasons why women of color have a better chance to be elected to statewide executive office in New Mexico than in any other state. What are these four reasons? One idea they emphasize is the concept of a “long history.” What’s the long history of women of color holding office in New Mexico? What do you think is more important for increasing representation of women of color in office – a long history of local activism or top-down initiatives like Emerge? Why do you think so? Use a template from Chapter 4 to frame your response.
   
2. In what ways is political office gendered? Thomson-DeVeaux and Conroy focus on the specific issue of electing women of color to statewide executive office. Why is that so difficult, and what obstacles do women of color face both on the campaign trail and then once they hold office? What kinds of evidence do Thomson-DeVeaux and Conroy use to back up their claims? How do you see gender playing a role in elections at the local, state, and national levels?
3. Visuals do more than display evidence – they also make arguments. Look at the map in this piece. What arguments does it make? What conclusions can you draw about the role political parties, geography, and demographics play in getting women of color elected to statewide executive office? Where are women of color elected, and where are they not? What is surprising to you in this graph? Why do you find this surprising?
4. Sometimes writers respond to multiple “they say” arguments: those included explicitly in the text and others that are more implicit, pointing toward larger cultural movements, events, and conversations. What are the “they say” arguments Thomson-DeVeaux and Conroy are responding to? To help you discern some of the more implicit “they say” arguments, check out the oral histories in FiveThirtyEight’s “When Women Run” project, created in response to the 100th anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment’s ratification. Who are these women being featured? How do their experiences confirm or challenge Thomson-DeVeaux and Conroy’s claims?

Comments

[Kendall Roberts]

1. The reasons Thomas-DeVeaux and Conroy state that women of color have a better chance to be elected to statewide executive offices in New Mexico than any other state is that there is a long history of women of color serving in lower-level statewide offices, there are large shares of Latinos and Native Americans in the state electorate, shifting political winds that have turned the state bluer, and they have recently made more of an effort to get more women of color to run for office. The "long history" they mention is that there have been women of color in office in New Mexico almost as long as it has existed, including having a Latina as the secretary of state throughout the 1930's, and having 17 women elected to the state legislature from 1922-1934. I think a long-history is more important for increasing the representation of women in color because it shows that other people have and encourages others that they can do the same, instead of having people discouraged by being different than those who have always won.
2. The political offices are gendered by stereotypes of what women and men can do and handle. Women are "less likely to be assertive or decisive," so electing them to roles where they would have to exhibit those traits is more difficult than it would be for roles where people think they would be best fit. I know women and women of color are both things that people don't take seriously, so as a woman of color you would have to work twice as hard to get where you want to be.
3.The argument the map makes is that women of color are elected more in New Mexico than any other state, it is proven with how many they have elected and shown than what was shown in the others. We can conclude that more women are elected as Democrats, and that the political party elects more women in comparison to Republicans.
4. These women being featured are those who have worked hard to get where they are despite the challenges they faced. These articles confirm the writers' claims, and further strengthen their arguments.