since President Joe Biden announced he was exiting the 2024 presidential race favorability for Kamala Harris is increasing several new polls out this week show the presidential race between kamla Harris and Donald Trump tightened in key Battleground States the new data comes as vice president Harris could be the first black woman and Asian-American person to win the Democratic party's nomination for president despite what could be a historic nomination women are still largely underrepresented when it comes to the number of females running for federal and Statewide office according to a new report by the center for American women and politics so could Harris's nomination be enough to Spur more women to run for office and what role will the female voter play in the upcoming election I spoke with the authors of the new report to discuss more on the heels of Vice President kamla Harris becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee for president the center for American women in politics hosted a virtual press briefing to discuss the role of women in the 2024 elections big kind of storylines below the top of the ballot are that we don't have a record year in terms of women running for office whether it be at the Congressional office or below at the State Legislative Office um and when it comes to race and ethnicity the diversity of women candidates as well um we've only have one kind of minor record um when it comes to the number of women by different racial and ethnic groups that are running this year Kelly dmar is the director of research for the center of women in politics at Ruckers University and an associate professor of political science at Ruckers Camden she says their latest release points out the current structural and institutional barriers that women in politics face there are a lot of reasons you know that contribute to the dir of women in office some of those are structural and institutional barriers that happen later in life you know women's access to money um party gate Keepers who have been dominantly white and male the center which is a unit of the Eagleton Institute of politics at Ruckers is a main source for tracking in terms of the number of women running for office who wins and looking at Trends over time by Party by race and ethnicity and by state in place women are doing better than they have but we are still less than a third of members of Congress women still barely make a third of state legislators of the 50 governors in the United States only 12 are women um and there's also tremendous partisan disparity um at all of these levels of office Democratic women are doing much better Republican women not so well Debbie Walsh is the director of the center of women in politics Walsh says according to the center's data money has also been a huge barrier for women candidates she says while many women in other countries around the world have elected women to serve at the highest level we hear in the United States have not done so yet even in 2024 there's a perception particularly for women of color that they are not able to raise the kind of money necessary to win uh particularly for Statewide offices so the United States Senate Governors um we've never seen a black woman Governor by the way um if the perception is that that women or women of color can't raise the big dollars um then they're not seen as viable and when they're not seen as viable they can't raise the money because people don't want to give to candidates that aren't seen as viable which is why Walsh is confident that Harris will energize Women Voters who in turn will play a key and pivotal role in this upcoming election she brings to this uh position as the nominee uh some tremendous assets um that have to do with race and gender and being able to be relatable to communities of Voters uh that she can speak to issues um in ways that even Joe Biden couldn't speak to she says while the vice president's endorsements and support for her presidential run is historic she says the presidency alone does not tell the story of women's representation or under representation or even the impact of women in office which is why it's important to keep eyes on the other other levels of office [Music]