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Reader Poll: When will PA have a female Governor or Senator?

Allyson-Schwartz-2013-lores1As you well know, Tom Wolf prevailed in the Democratic gubernatorial primary while the once-frontrunner Allyson Schwartz finished second.

In her concession speech, Schwartz took a shot at those who had felt her gender would prevent her from reaching the Governor’s mansion.

“All of the Harrisburg establishment pretty much just couldn’t think that a woman could serve as our governor, couldn’t imagine even a woman with my experience and my accomplishments could actually be the governor of Pennsylvania,” she said.

Schwartz’s comments, as well as her “breaking up the old boys network” campaign theme, sparked a debate about whether or not gender was a factor in Schwartz’s defeat.

Meanwhile, the day before the election, Nate Silver’s site FiveThirtyEight compiled a record of how many female Governors and Senators had been elected in every state. Pennsylvania was one of just 14 states to never elected a woman to any of these positions.

On the other hand, detractors point to Kathleen Kane’s election as Attorney General in 2012 as evidence that the right candidate in the right campaign can win regardless of gender.

So, we decided to ask you our readers, how long do you think it will take for Pennsylvania to elect a female Governor or Senator?

When will PA have a female Governor or Senator?


  • 8-11 years (29%)
  • 4-7 years (29%)
  • 12 years or more (26%)
  • 0-3 years (16%)

Total Voters: 556

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14 Responses

  1. I had considered voting for a woman for governor. It just wasn’t the one that ran on being a woman.

  2. Schwartz’s blaming sexism for her loss is consistent with the lousy campaign she ran. Kane went though 4 campaign managers in her last race, where all she had to do was tie Corbett to Sandusky. Both would be disasters running for Senate.
    Katie McGinty has proven herself the classiest woman in statewide politics. She should be the frontrunner for Senate–if she wants it.
    PoliticsPA’s next reader poll should put the names out and let us vote.

  3. Two thumbs up to Mr. Bonavita. The problem with these type polls is they offer too narrow a choice of answers. Let’s hope the best candidate wins & people don’t vote based on gender. That would be sexism at its best – which women strongly speak out against.

  4. Oh, my God! Who gives a hoot? I want COMPETENT governors and senators. Any idiot who votes for someone because of gender ought to be forever disbarred from the voting booth, and never allowed to eat peanut butter again! You are perpetuating the stereotypes by even ASKING such head-up-butt questions!

  5. As soon as a moderate woman is nominated. Schwartz was horrible and the moderate democrat won.

  6. We’ll have a female gov. or sen. when there is a female who runs a better campaign than any of the male candidates running against her, just like any candidate. You have to run a better campaign than your opponents.

  7. Kane Sucks (Not ! )

    Has anyone else noticed the deafening silence from Seth Williams about his “slam-dunk” cases after Kane turned over the files?
    Kane’s decision not to prosecute was based on
    1) the overall mishandling of the investigation
    2) the racial taint/targeting
    3) the questionable informant who got away with huge criminal activities of his own to participate in the “sting”
    4) the fact that some of these supposed bribes were for votes that were unanimous Dem votes anyway. So the claim, that they changed their votes for a bribe, makes no sense, since there would be no reasonable expectation for them to vote the other way.

    Kane can remain A.G. if she still wants the job, or she can run for Senate. In either case, she will enjoy strong Dem support in a Presidential year, with high Dem turnout (and especially high female turnout supporting Hillary).

    My understanding that she hasn’t spoken about Sandusky case because the investigation is ongoing and she’s being a professional by not discussing it until the report comes out. If she finds malfeasance by Corbett or his staff, she’ll report it. (The Dems will cheer and the GOP will call her a partisan.) If she clears them of criminal wrong-doing, she may still find them guilty of sheer incompetence. The Dems will respect her despite their disappointment, and the Reps will have to admit she was fair. (but they’ll still whine that she shouldn’t have done her job and investigated in the first place)

    You are claiming that Kane “refused to defend PA’s Defense of Marriage Act law because she personally was against it”. Well, then what’s Corbett’s excuse for not defending it with an appeal? Are you implying that Corbett is against the law too?

    The law was a clear violation of the equal protection clause of the US constitution as well as a violation of civil rights protections in the PA constitution. Kane, in her role as A.G., can assess cases on their constitutional merit as well as their likelihood to prevail in court. She can use her judgement to decline to take a case. Also, as a officer of the court and a representative of the citizens of the state, she’s not supposed to make arguments to the court that she believes unconstitutional or without legal merit. The PA marriage law did not pass either threshold of viability.

    The judge who did strike it down was a Republican appointee by George W Bush, and was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate (including Rick Santorum).

    Kane is here to protect us from being at the mercy of bigotry and other unfair policies by the Gov or legislature. That’s why the A.G. office is independently elected, and not appointed.

  8. Kane will never hold another office in PA. She’s a one-trick pony that got elected by promising to investigate the Sandusky case and prosecute anyone that broke the law. Oddly, we haven’t heard a single peep from her about the Sandusky case since she was elected. Strange how often that happens with politicians. Also, she refused to prosecute corrupt politicians, who just happened to be Democrats, then refused to defend PA’s Defense of Marriage Act law because she personally was against it. We’re all at the mercy of Kane and whatever laws she decides that we must follow. Plus, she’s a lying political hack that used child rape to get elected. That’s disgusting, even for a politician.

  9. Probably Sen Kane in 2017. Gender had nothing to do with Schwartz’s loss. She finished last behind McGinty in most of the counties outside of SE PA and the Lehigh Valley. She was strictly a regional candidate and even there she came in second.

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    Total Voters: 30

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