Your Guide To All The Women Running For Governor In 2018
By Natalie Wexler
It’s 2018 which means it’s a midterm year in American politics. During midterms this year, 33 of the 100 senate seats are up for election along with 36 out of 50 gubernatorial positions. At the beginning of election season, over 575 women have declared they intend to run for the House, Senate or governor. Below are the 14 females that won their parties nomination for governor in the primaries and will be on the November 6th ballot along with the female candidate trying to win the Democratic primary in New York.
Alabama: Kay Ivey (Republican)
Kay Ivey (R) is running to continue to serve as the governor of Alabama, a position she has been in since April 2017 when the previous Governor Robert Bentley resigned. During her time in office so far, Ivey has worked on cleaning up Montgomery, the capital city of Alabama, and working towards restoring people’s trust and belief in the necessity of government. On her website, Ivey states she is “a conservative fighter, whose life has prepared her to lead our state toward more jobs, bigger paychecks, and better schools for all Alabamians.” She is running against Democrat Walt Maddox.
Georgia: Stacey Abrams (Democrat)
Stacey Abrams (D) is a lawyer, entrepreneur, romance novelist, and politician that is running to be the governor of Georgia. When she was in the Georgia General Assembly, according to TIME Magazine, Abrams “single-handedly stopped the largest tax increase in Georgia history.” According to her website. Abrams believes that “every Georgian deserves the freedom and opportunity to thrive, but too many are being left behind or left out.” She believes that everyone working together can collectively fix this issue. Three of Abrams more predominant goals for the state of Georgia are to have “bold, ambitious children,” “a fair and diverse economy,” and an “effective and engaged government.” She is running against Republican Brian Kemp.
Hawaii: Andria P.L. Tupola (Republican)
Andria P.L. Tupola (R) is a politician running to be the governor of Hawaii. On her website she says her “vision is to build a Hawaii where more people can stay in this place they call home for generations to come.” To ensure that families can stay in Hawaii for years to come, Tupola will implement “innovative, yet simple solutions to decrease the cost of living… create an atmosphere for local businesses to thrive… and improve the quality of life by being a champion for education and underserved communities.” She will be running against the incumbent governor Democrat David Ige.
Iowa: Kim Reynolds (Republican)
Kim Reynolds (R) is a native Iowan politician running to be the governor of Iowa, a position she has held since 2017 when the governor at the time, Terry Branstad, resigned to become the United States Ambassador to China. Her top priorities for the state of Iowa if she is reelected are “creating good-paying jobs, cutting taxes, investing in public schools, and increasing opportunity in every part of Iowa.” Reynolds will be running against Democrat businessman Fred Hubbell.
Idaho: Paulette Jordan (Democrat)
Paulette Jordan (D) is a politician running to be the governor of Idaho. She believes that “far too many Idaho families go without quality education, affordable healthcare, or economic opportunity.” Her vision for Idaho is a state where “every child can attend a good public school and receive a world class public education… and every family has a trusted doctor and the ability to pay for medical care.” Jordan also wants “every acre of our public land [in Idaho] protected and preserved for future generations.” Overall, she wants to create “an Idaho in which every Idahoan has the opportunity to earn a fair, livable wage, and pursue a productive career.” Jordan will be running against Republican Brad Little.
Kansas: Laura Kelly (Democrat)
Laura Kelly (D) is a politician running to be the governor of Kansas. According to her campaign website, “she has made it her life’s work to fight for children and families on the job, in her community.” Kelly’s platform centers on her core issues which include education, lowering health care costs, working with the general public and the government to subsequently create stable jobs for the citizens of Kansas, and improving the daily lives and recreation of people through the parks and other recreation services. She is running against Republican Kris Kobach and Independent Greg Orman.
Maine: Janet Mills (Democrat)
Janet Mills (D) is a lawyer and politician who is running to be the governor of Maine. As stated on her website, Mills has spent her life “fighting to protect Maine families, defend working people, and preserve the stunning natural resources.” The core issues Mills is looking to solve as the governor are tackling the opioid crisis, growing the Maine economy, ending childhood hunger, expanding Medicaid and working with Maine’s indigenous people. She is running against Republican Shawn Moody.
Michigan: Gretchen Whitmer (Democrat)
Gretchen Whitmer (D) is a politician running to be the governor of Michigan. Whitmer says “Michigan needs a governor who can get things done that will actually make a difference in people’s lives right now.” As part of her plans if elected governor, Whitmer wants to focus on a plethora of problems affecting the state of Michigan including fixing the crumbling roads, making health care more affordable, cleaning up the drinking water, holding government more accountable for their actions, give people better skills and improve education so the residents can get better jobs, fight urban poverty, repeal the retirement tax, fight for women’s rights, freedoms of Michiganders, better serve veterans and tackle the opioid crisis. She is running against Republican Bill Schuette.
New Mexico: Michelle Lujan Grisham (Democrat)
Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) is a politician running to be the governor of New Mexico. She is looking to bring the New Mexican economy into the twenty first century, creating new jobs, mitigating methane, making New Mexico a leader in clean energy, leveraging trade, combating gun violence in the state, redesigning the school systems to be more effective for students, making a new ID system, tackling the opioid crisis, and fighting for women’s rights. She is running against Republican Steve Pearce.
New York: Cynthia Nixon (Democrat)
The New York Democratic Primary will be happening on September 13th where Cynthia Nixon will be going up against the incumbent Governor Andrew Cuomo for the spot in the general election on November 6th.
Oregon: Kate Brown (Democrat)
Kate Brown (D) is a politician who has been serving as the governor of Oregon since February 2015 when Democrat John Kitzhaber resigned due to a scandal. So far as governor, Brown has “focused on supporting small businesses that are growing the economy, worked successfully to raise the state’s minimum wage, ensured a fair work schedule, and guaranteed paid sick leave.” She has also “instituted new teacher development resources” to improve education and given senior citizens “access to a professionally invested retirement account.” Brown has also worked to end the use of coal power. She will be running against Republican Knute Buehler.
South Dakota: Kristi Lynn Noem (Republican)
Kristi Lynn Noem (R) is a politician running to be the governor of South Dakota. Noem has a lot of goals for South Dakota including “kick starting the economy, improving education’s impact, growing agriculture, enhancing tribal relations, increasing government transparency, improving transportation and infrastructure, fighting human trafficking, preserving pheasant hunting and campaign finance reform.” She will be running against Democrat Billie Sutton.
Texas: Lupe Valdez (Democrat)
Lupe Valdez (D) is a former Sheriff of Dallas County who is running to be the governor of Texas. Valdez wants to create a Texas “where everyone has a fair shot to get ahead” and wants to “strengthen economic security and defend the dignity and respect of every human being.” She also wants to solve issues with women’s rights, immigration, LGBTQ equality, property taxes, border security, criminal justice, disability rights, voting rights, and issues dealing with transportation. She will be running against Republican Greg Abbott.
Vermont: Christine Hallquist (Democrat)
Christine Hallquist (D) is a politican and businesswoman running to be the governor of Vermont. Hallquist wants to raise the minimum wage to $15, collaborate with other states to create a universal healthcare system, protect workers rights and collective bargaining, reach a 90% renewable energy supply by 2050, ensure children in schools won’t be affected by gun violence, stop racial disparities in the Vermont justice system, tackle the opioid crisis and have monthly town halls with Vermont residents. She is running against Republican Phil Scott.
Wyoming: Mary Throne (Democrat)
Mary Throne (D) is a former attorney and current state legislature who is running for governor of Wyoming. She knows “Wyoming’s potential is vast” and “believes today’s problems deserve better than yesterday’s thinking.” She takes a particular interest in preserving the vast nature in the state of Wyoming and one of the reasons why she is running for governor is because she “was tired of politics as usual.” Throne also has an interest in reducing standardized testing and preserving privacy in Wyoming public schools. She is running against Republican Mark Gordon.
Stay tuned for the results on Election Day 2018 (November 6th) and use this link to register to vote.
First Lieutenant Hierl Makes History
By Paige Miller
First Lt. Marina Hierl is making history in the military world. She is the first women to pass the Marine Corps Infantry Officer Course which is a very physically and mentally demanding 13 week program in Quantico, Virginia. Hierl is the first and only woman to ever lead an infantry platoon in the Marines. She first was interested in the Marines after high school but she was told to attend college so she would be better prepared for her journey. In an interview with The Times she said, “I wanted to do something important with my life, I wanted to be part of a group of people that would be willing to die for each other.” First Lt. Marina never gave up and persisted through all the challenges that she was faced with while training. At the beginning of her training in 2016, women were not allowed to join the Marines; however, she fought for what was right and in two years she became the leader of the pack. Thanks to her, many women have started seeing a future in the Marines.
