During Martha Coakley's concession speech this morning at her campaign's headquarters in Somerville, one subject in particular made her visibly emotional: encouraging women to run for office.
"I want to say this to all the young women who have worked on this campaign, who have thought about running for office, who have tried and maybe not won: it's important that you do it. It's important that you lean in," Coakley said.
It's a subject that hits close-to-home for homeland security expert Juliette Kayyem , who ran against Coakley earlier this year in the gubernatorial primaries. While a woman failed to take the top seat in Massachusetts, Kayyem pointed to victories for women in hotly contested states like New Hampshire, Iowa, and Rhode Island as a sign that the tide is turning. In fact, come January, Congress will have more than 100 women for the first time.
"I think things are changing for women candidates," Kayyem said.
The reason for that success, she explained, was that these newly-elected Congresswomen deliberately ran on platforms encompassing on a wide range of subjects beyond those traditionally lumped into the category of "women's issues," like reproductive rights.
"The lessons learned on the women issue are this: for a female candidate to win—and you look at Iowa for a perfect example, [Republican Joni Ernst] didn't win the female vote, she won the male vote—every issue is a woman's issue," Kayyem said. "It's not just reproductive issues, particularly in a state like ours, where it's not as contentious."
"Women fight wars. They are in the military. They are police officers. They are the breadwinners. They care about climate change," she continued.
"What women and what female candidates have to say is that every issue is a women's issue."
For more from homeland security expert and former gubernatorial candidate Juliette Kayyem, tune in to her full interview on Boston Public Radio above.
