In Tuesday's elections, women won big. Here are three things we learned about women and politics.

In Tuesday’s elections, women won big. Here are three things we learned about women and politics.

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Jennifer Carroll Foy holds campaign literature to hand out before the election. Foy, who was running for the 2nd District of the Virginia House of Delegates, won her race on Tuesday, joining a wave of women newly elected to the Virginia legislature. (Photo by Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)

The story line emerging from Tuesday’s statewide elections in Virginia and New Jersey revolves around Donald Trump. Observers have focused on what the Democrats’ big night means for Trump’s political fortunes, the future of “Trumpism” in the Republican Party, and the 2018 midterms. But on a night that saw a record number of female candidates, and major wins by women in Virginia, what do the results tell us about women and politics? We see three takeaways.

1. There was a Trump effect.
For a year now, Democratic women have been angry, energized and active. And last night, their dismay with the president appears to have been a key factor in both states’ election outcomes.
In Virginia, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ralph Northam won 61 percent of the vote among women, according to exit polls. In New Jersey, Democrat Phil Murphy won the governor’s race thanks to 55 percent of the women’s vote. It’s not unusual for women to support Democratic candidates, but these margins proved to be a significant advantage, especially for Northam on a night when Democrats turned out to vote at high rates.

The results of a Politico/American University/Loyola Marymount University poll from May 2017 help explain why women may have so strongly backed Democratic candidates on Tuesday. )https://www.american.edu/spa/wpi/upload/The-Trump-Effect.pdf)
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2. Women made major gains by taking chances in all kinds of contests.
In Virginia, female Democratic candidates were on the ballot in five open seat races, winning three of them. But Democratic women also knocked out eight male Republican incumbents, several in long-shot contests. Defeating incumbents is hard to do. But by capitalizing on a favorable political environment and running in all types of contests, women made big gains.
[4 important takeaways from the Virginia governor’s race] When the House of Delegates convenes in January, rather than 17 women, there will be at least 25 (another two races featuring women are still too close to call). That’s roughly a 50 percent increase in women’s representation.

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3. A Democratic “Year of the Woman” has a potential downside.
The vast majority of the female candidates in Virginia and New Jersey were Democrats. In Virginia, it was 81 percent; in New Jersey, 61 percent. And the same was true of the winners.
These facts highlight how women’s electoral fortunes depend on the vagaries of the political environment much more than do men’s. When Democrats have a good night — as happened Tuesday, especially in Virginia — so do female candidates. But when the political environment favors Republicans — as was the case in 2010 and 2016 — the gains for women tend to be much smaller, if there are gains at all. Ultimately, the prospects for substantial increases in the number of women in political office depend on getting more women to run from both sides of the aisle.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/11/09/in-tuesdays-elections-women-won-big-here-are-three-things-we-learned-about-women-and-politics/?utm_term=.fc52004818b8