The Sarah Palin Effect: Influence on Female Candidates

Yesterday’s primaries were a victory for the ladies of the Republican party. In California, both Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman won their primaries. Nikki Haley will now face a runoff against Gresham Barrett in South Carolina, where she is favored to win. Sharron Angle, favorite of the Tea Party activists, won the party nod in Nevada. This is welcome news.

However, I was listening to Fred Grandy’s show, The Grandy Group, on WMAL this morning on my way to work, and he posed an interesting point that Tuesday’s primaries were a win for the Tea Parties and a huge win for Sarah Palin. While I agree with Grandy that the results from yesterday’s elections were a victory for the tea parties, I do not necessarily agree with the point that this was a huge win for Palin.

Palin, who was a one-time Vice Presidential nominee and Governor of Alaska, has been traveling across the country endorsing candidates, who are running on conservative principles. She has encouraged many to seek higher office, but there is a question: Is she the main reason that Republican women are seeking office? It’s a good question that needs to be answered.

Long before Palin entered the scene, female Republican candidates were seeking political office. They were doing it based on their own merits and not waiting for the endorsement of a said candidate. For example, Christie Todd Whitman sought and won the Gubernatorial nomination in New Jersey in the 1990s. While she received endorsements by party activists, she won based on the ideas she had for improving New Jersey.

I think this is the same for those who won yesterday’s primaries. They were running to make a difference, and yes, while the endorsement for Palin may have made an impact on their campaign strategy, it was not the main reason these candidates won. It was the merits of each of these candidates and their visions for improving America that won the election.

It will be interesting to see what will happen in future election cycles and to see if Palin will bring out more females seeking higher office under the Republican banner.