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This was a #Metoo election and those who say differently ignore the ‘Pink Wave’ at their peril

The youngest Democratic congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez greets supporters at her midterm election night party in New York City - REUTERS
The youngest Democratic congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez greets supporters at her midterm election night party in New York City - REUTERS

The US political landscape was transformed in yesterday’s midterm elections, not only by Democrats seizing the House but the crucial role that women played in that victory. As the final results are tallied, the power of #MeToo couldn’t be clearer.

At least 100 female candidates won seats in the House of Representatives, many of them first time candidates. And there were more firsts - Sharice Davids of Kansas and Deb Haaland of New Mexico became the first Native American women elected to congress, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota became the first Muslim women elected to Congress. Ayanna Pressley became the first black woman elected to Congress in Massachusetts, and 29-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made history as the youngest woman ever elected to Congress.

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh is sworn in after much controversy - Credit: JONATHAN ERNST/Reuters
U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh is sworn in after much controversy Credit: JONATHAN ERNST/Reuters

Many of these women were inspired to run because of Trump, and no doubt many of them won, in part, because of the appointment of Brett Kavanaugh. By giving Democrats a majority in the House, these women brought an end to one-party rule in Washington. They gave Congress the power to derail the Republican agenda, to stop the decimation of social infrastructure such as Obamacare and social security. They showed that hope can overcome fear.

The last time American politics felt this good was, of course, Obama’s 2008 Presidential election. I worked on this Presidential campaign as a field organiser and it felt so good, in fact, that I ended the night clutching a bottle of scotch on an embalming table (short on funds, the Democrats picked a funeral parlour for their campaign headquarters in North Carolina). In that moment, I couldn’t have imagined that a decade later women and minorities would be fighting dangerous ideas that we allowed ourselves to believe were marginalised to the point of extinction.

Christine Blasey Ford being sworn in before testifying the Senate Judiciary Committee in September - Credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images 
Christine Blasey Ford being sworn in before testifying the Senate Judiciary Committee in September Credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images

Lengthy campaigns, near limitless spending and a media cirque du soleil, makes US politics a bigger spectacle than any other. In the merry-go-round of elections, the highs are high but the lows are rock bottom. When Hillary Clinton lost the election to a man accused of sexual assault and harassment by a dozen women, it felt as though the glass ceiling had been double-glazed. When Christine Blasey Ford opened her heart to tell of the attempted rape by Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh, only to be mocked by that same President to the delight of his base, it felt impossible.

But instead of making themselves smaller, and ignoring decades of electoral wisdom curated by men, these candidates put their identity front and centre. They stood in Republican safe seats and campaigned for the highest office. They breastfed for campaign ads, told their own stories of sexual abuse and were unapologetic in presenting women’s needs and interests as political demands. The result was that many women, this time turned out in huge numbers to say ‘Me Too’ at the ballot box.

Founders and leaders of the Women's Equality Party Sandi Toksvig (blue shirt), Catherine Mayer (yellow shirt) and Sophie Walker.  - Credit: David Levene/eyevine
Founders and leaders of the Women's Equality Party Sandi Toksvig (blue shirt), Catherine Mayer (yellow shirt) and Sophie Walker. Credit: David Levene/eyevine

It was this same impetus that led Sandi Toksvig and Catherine Mayer to found the Women’s Equality Party in the UK. Frustrated by the glacial pace of change, we wanted to push women’s equality to the top of the political agenda and UKIP had shown that you need only threaten the vote share of mainstream parties to achieve real change. If your policies are popular enough, the old parties will quickly contort themselves to look like you.

In just three years, the party has grown from an idea on Facebook to a movement of 35,000 members and registered supporters (Trump is one of our biggest recruiters). The party has succeeded in putting childcare and violence against women and girls on the political agenda, and has made it possible for women to take abortion pills in the safety of their own home. In our first election outing in 2016, the party exceeded its own expectations and gained more than 350,000 votes, beating George Galloway in London.

As the party's chief of staff, I watched as a quarter of voters supported the Women’s Equality Party candidate in Lewisham’s Ladywell ward in local elections this year, while our candidate in Islington Hillrise ward came second to Labour, leapfrogging the Greens and Lib Dems. It was overwhelming to think that for young people voting for the first time in the last General Election, women’s equality has always been on the ballot.

We know that progress will not be linear. The other big story of the US midterms is that the Republicans strengthened their hold on the Senate. That gives them an opportunity to make further appointments to the judiciary, which could result in women’s rights being rolled back for many years to come.

It is also notable that every single senator who voted against Kavanaugh’s appointment lost their seat in this election. Here in the UK, the Article 50 Bill made it possible for equality and employment rights to be signed away by our executive and without any parliamentary scrutiny and the austerity agenda that women have paid for, is nowhere near over.

This morning, Bernie Sanders declared that midterm election results have paved the way for a progressive candidate to take the White House in 2020. He is right that in times of great turbulence, we stand to make the most progress. But in what is being dubbed ‘the year of the woman’ he didn’t, of course, rule out the possibility that he would be the candidate.