U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier on Women’s Midterm Victories

REP. JACKIE SPEIER: So 1992 is the year of the woman, this year 2018 is the year of the women and astronomical changes and very exciting because you know, California and much of the rest of the country has seen women in places of significance but not across some of the red states and you saw some elections in red states. The United States ranks 90th in the world in the number of women serving in their Congress. We have a long way to go but this is a great shot in the arm.

AMANPOUR: What do you attribute it to? I understand that the Kavanaugh issue was very polarizing issue and broke down quite a lot on party and gender lines but what else do you attribute this women’s wave to?

SPEIER: President Trump. We can’t forget that the largest demonstration anywhere anytime in our country was the Woman’s March the day after he was inaugurated. Women have really spoken up and many women ran for congress for the very first time having never served in any public office because of President Trump. We expect to be respected, we expect not to be treated like we are chattel and his Hollywood Access tape I think ired many women and thus we have so many women who ran.

AMANPOUR: Can I just ask you about the Muslim issue, I mean obviously President Trump did also campaigned demonizing Muslims and then there was the Muslim ban. It is amazing that Ilhan Omar has won, veiled or turbaned and overtly and proudly Muslim-American.

SPEIER: It says wonderful things about the diversity of our country and that no matter what comes out of the President’s mouth, that in truth, we are a country that embraces diversity, embraces various religions as part of our constitution, first amendment and we will continue to open our arms.

AMANPOUR: What do you think were the issues, President Trump, obviously the Democrats won the house, the Republicans held and increased their margin in the Senate and there was a sort of a what will the issues be, is it the immigration that President Trump was campaigning on or the healthcare and other issues that the Democrats were campaigning on. What do you think it boiled down to?

SPEIER: I think it’s different in each of the houses, in the House, clearly retaining the Affordable Care Act was key and it was important for us to point out that for 65 different times the Republicans tried to repeal it. In the Senate, it is more of a reflection of Rural America. They have undue, frankly, influence in the Senate because for instance, California by population has two senators, it takes 11 other states to equal the population of California, that is 22 other votes. But again, that gives an advantage to Rural America as a result.