SALT LAKE CITY — Republican women filed into the Capitol rotunda Monday to show support for their party, highlight their contributions and encourage more women to participate in politics.
A number of women currently running for office stood among the group — some discussing their platforms and others listening to attendees speak about the importance of participating in the political process.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Aimee Winder Newton and Kaysville Mayor Katie Witt — who is running for the seat currently held by retiring Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah — were also in attendance.
Other than solely highlighting candidates and celebrating dates like the 150th anniversary of Utah granting women the right to vote, event organizers said they also want to refute the claim that Republican women are “nearly extinct.”
A New York Times op-ed recently said that Republican women are in crisis due to the small number of elected women in Congress, said Kendra Seeley, Utah Republican Party secretary. “I’m here to tell you today Republican women are not an endangered species.”
There are 88 Democrats and 13 Republican women serving in the U.S. House of Representatives, according to the Center for American Women and Politics. In the Senate, the difference is less stark with 17 Democrats and nine Republican women holding office.
The purpose of the gathering, according to Seeley, was to highlight Republican women in all of their various roles — as campaign managers, candidates, advisers, managers of “powerful political organizations,” even nonpartisan roles like serving on a school board — and show that the numbers in Congress don’t reflect all of the women behind the scenes working to strengthen the Republican Party.
Seeley, who wrote an op-ed in the Deseret News last month emphasizing similar points, said she hopes to encourage more Republican women to run for office.
One thing she suggested as a solution to get more women involved in politics is to acknowledge that women can simultaneously be good mothers and hold an office.
“All women want to create a better community for themself, their families and their children, so let’s encourage them to help shape their community with public policy,” she said.
Kari Malkovich, Utah Federation of Republican Women first vice president, said Utah women have always led the way “in our nation and in our state.”
She thanked the gathered women for their contributions behind the scenes and the candidates for stepping up to show a “voice of competence and confidence” on the important issues facing the state.
“Women here today are represented clear from Washington County up to Cache County and all in between,” Malkovich told the Deseret News. “We wanted to let our residents know that good, strong, Republican, conservative women are behind every aspect of our state helping frame good policy.”
She, too, referenced the New York Times op-ed that Seeley refuted, saying that the Utah Federation of Republican Women wants to emphasize that “there are good Republican women serving on every level.”
“I think sometimes women feel they are forgotten and their voice is unimportant,” Malkovich said. “Not that we elect people because they are women, but we elect them because of that diversity of thought and with over 50% of our voting constituency being women, we want to make sure that thought is well represented.”
Winder Newton, a Salt Lake County councilwoman, announced her candidacy for governor in the 2020 election in October. She said she came to the Monday event because she wanted to show support for Republican women considering a run for office.
“I know as somebody who’s been in an elected office that when we have men and women at the table making decisions we get better outcomes,” she said. “Women think differently and we ask different questions and so it’s good to have both genders at the table when it comes to making decisions that affect taxpayers.”
Witt, who announced in August that she’s running for the 1st Congressional District seat, emphasized the importance of preserving freedom, expanding opportunity and reigniting patriotism — something “Republican women have a lot to add.”
Like Winder Newton, Witt believes in the importance of a having a variety of voices at the table.
“If you look at our portfolio of Congress members right now, there are some voices that are heavily represented and some that are not,” Witt said. “I am for bringing more voices in and it doesn’t just have to be Republican women. I think at the end of the day when you have a really good honest debate with lots of different perspectives, you are going to come out with better policies.”
Lorie Fowlke, district director for Utah Rep. John Curtis, R-Utah, expressed similar views. She emphasized that women have been doing great things in the state for some time and that a wide perspective of people in Congress can help with finding common ground.
“I think it’s the multiplicity of voices that helps,” she said. “I think women probably in many ways are great at finding common ground, but you’ve got to be there to play. You’ve got to be present.”