Author: Nancy L. Cohen

Nancy L. Cohen is an editor-at-large for Ms. She is the author of four books, including Delirium: The Politics of Sex in America and Breakthrough: The Making of America’s First Woman President. She has appeared as a guest on MSNBC and her writing has been published in the New York Times, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times and elsewhere. Find her on Facebook and Twitter @nancylcohen.
Welcome To Washington: Nine New Feminist Women Join the U.S. House of Representatives

Welcome To Washington: Nine New Feminist Women Join the U.S. House of Representatives

Nine new Democratic women have joined the 117th Congress. Two defeated male incumbents in their Democratic primary races. Four are women of color. Three flipped seats in the South from red to blue.

As a whole, they support paid family and medical leave, affordable quality child care, the Paycheck Fairness Act and LGBTQ equality, as well as ending the wage gap and raising wages for the largely female caregiving work force. Many see long-standing feminist economic empowerment policies, such as paid leave and universal child care, as pillars of a society that values care work and caregiving.

Women's Representation: Trump Drives Away Women Voters in "Historic" Numbers

Watch the Women (Part 2): Kansas, Arizona, Georgia and Texas

As she anticipated with her dying statement to her granddaughter—”My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed”—the vacancy Ruth Bader Ginsburg leaves on the Supreme Court has set off an intense partisan fight just weeks before the 2020 election.

Which party controls the Senate in 2021 could depend on how the many women candidates fare.

Watch the Women

As she anticipated with her dying statement to her granddaughter—”My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed”—the vacancy Ruth Bader Ginsburg leaves on the Supreme Court has set off an intense partisan fight just weeks before the 2020 election.

Which party controls the Senate in 2021 could depend on how the many women candidates fare.

Pro-Choice Candidates Like Marie Newman, Others Prove Reproductive Health is a Winning Issue at the Polls

While the coronavirus crisis has prompted states to postpone primaries and thrown into question how voting will proceed in the coming months, primary results so far suggest that pro-choice candidates are in a strong position to increase their numbers in the House come November. Protecting the House pro-choice majority is critical to women’s rights, regardless of the outcome in the senate and presidential elections.

Congressional Candidate Christy Smith Provides a Masterclass in Campaigning While Female

On Super Tuesday, Smith earned a first-place finish. But to win, she’ll have to prevail in two elections over the next eight months. National Democrats are looking at the May special election as a bellwether for 2020. Do Democrats have what it takes to hold the House majority? With Trump on the ballot, can the women of the 2018 wave survive their first test as swing district incumbents in what will be the most polarized election in a generation?