U.S. Senator-elect Joni Ernst R-Iowa

With Joni Ernst elected as Iowa’s newest U.S. senator last Tuesday night, leaders of 50-50 in 2020 are celebrating, but know much is left to do for the state to attain political gender equity.

“One of our goals for 50-50 in 2020 was to have a female elected to Congress from Iowa by 2020, the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage,” said Maggie Tinsman, one of the initiative’s co-founders. “Well, we have seen that accomplished before 2020, which is very exciting, but it is disappointing that we did not see women victorious in their races for U.S. House.”

In Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District, Mariannette Miller-Meeks lost her bid to unseat incumbent Dave Loebsack and Staci Appel lost her race against David Young for the open seat in the 3rd District.

50-50 in 2020’s goal to achieve political gender equity in Iowa also include increasing the number of women in the state legislature, which suffered a setback in Tuesday’s general election.

Of the 25 Iowa Senate seats up for election this year, women competed in just seven races, and won only two of those. That brings the total number of women in the Senate in 2015 to just seven.

In the Iowa House of Representatives, all 100 of the seats were on the ballot, with 27 women winning in 36 races. That brings the number of women serving in both chambers to 34, one less than served in 2014.

“We knew going into the election that the odds were not in our favor to increase the number of women serving in the Iowa Legislature, but that only makes our resolve stronger,” 50-50 Co-Founder Jean Lloyd Jones. “We will continue our bi-partisan efforts to recruit and train qualified women to run for office, knowing that the best government comes when gender balance brings everyone’s interests to the legislative table.”

Until Ernst’s election, Iowa, Vermont, Delaware and Mississippi were the only states in the nation to never have elected a woman to Congress.

About 50-50 in2020

The Founders

Maggie Tinsman and Jean Lloyd-Jones belong to different parties, but they share a deep conviction that our political system would be improved if at least one-third of its leaders were female. In 2010 they brought together a group of like-minded women and adopted a 10-year plan to reach political equity in Iowa by the year 2020, in time to celebrate the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in this country.

The First Year

50-50 in 2020 was launched on Sept. 22, 2010, with the Iowa Women’s Foundation as its fiscal agent and 15 other organizations as partners and associates. There followed a series of NUDGE (No Use Delaying Gender Equity) Parties, speeches to other organizations, and table displays at various conferences to spread the word and encourage women to run.

Additional information about 50-50 in 2020 can be found at 50-50in2020.org.