So far few women in Louisiana running for Congress

WASHINGTON — Although there’s been a surge in interest nationwide among women to run for Congress, Louisiana appears to be slow to follow the trend.

Mildred “Mimi” Methvin, a Democrat and former state magistrate judge, could change that next month with her planned announcement to run for Congress. She filed papers with the Federal Election Commission Wednesday indicating she plans to raise money for her bid to unseat incumbent Republican Clay Higgins in the 3rd Congressional District.

“She’s moved by the history of the moment and the general level of awareness people are paying to politics,” said Mike Stagg, Methvin’s campaign manager. “There’s nobody speaking from a woman’s perspective — at least from this district."

Stagg said Methvin decided to run in part because of the 2016 election of President Donald Trump. Increased interest among women also comes as the nation focuses on the #MeToo movement on sexual harassment, domestic violence and the renewed push for gun control.

A record number of women are expected to run for Congress this year, according to the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) at the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University. There were 421 running as of Friday. None are from Louisiana or Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory.

“They didn’t get the memo that this is the Year of the Woman,” said Debbie Walsh, the center’s director.

The deadline to file for a run in Louisiana is July. Political experts say more local women could announce plans to jump in before then.

“They could wait to the very last minute and then qualify," said Pearson Cross, a political scientist at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

But many candidates start early to raise enough money, he said.

Historically in Louisiana, there haven’t been many women serving in statewide or federal posts. Louisiana trails in the number of women in the state legislature — often a pipeline to Congress.

“We’re in the Deep South, and there are fewer women who run down here,” Cross said. “It’s not such a traditional thing to do. We’re in a conservative, traditional part of the country and you get fewer women who see themselves as activists in that regard. I think it’s changing, but we’re still not there."

Former Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu called it “a real missed opportunity.”

“I believe many people in our state are looking for a strong voice on sexual assault and domestic violence," she said in an email. “Our state needs champions in Congress for investments in education from early childhood to higher education, and our state has many qualified female leaders.”

Landrieu was the last woman to represent the state in Congress. She was also the last woman senator from the Deep South. Landrieu lost her re-election in 2016 to Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy.

Today, Louisiana’s congressional delegation is made up of eight men. Seven are Republicans and one is a Democrat. There are six House districts. The two Senate seats are not in play this year.

At one point, Landrieu served at the same time as Kathleen Blanco, a Democrat and the first woman elected governor of Louisiana.

Cross said it matters to have more women in office.

"Women are very under-represented at all levels of government in the United States and I think that has deleterious effects on issues that women care about, including family health and well being, and education," he said.

Methvin, a native of Alexandria who lives in Lafayette, plans to make health care a key part of her campaign. She also plans to push for campaign finance reform and won’t accept money from political action committees, Stagg said.  

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“Women have not been prominent players even in state government," Stagg said.

Melanie Campbell, president the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, which is pushing for more women to run for elected offices, said it’s never good when a woman is not among the candidates.

But she said it bodes well for Louisiana that voters recently elected women to head major cities, including Democrat Latoya Cantrell as the first woman mayor of New Orleans.

“There’s always a new opportunity down the road," she said. “I think even Louisiana has some interesting things in its future when you talk about one of the largest cities in the state just elected the first black woman mayor … We don’t want to miss the fact that that’s happened.”