She is a Korean-American immigrant, and a self-made woman who championed a pro-DACA, pro-chain migration and student-loan forgiveness platform. The other is the daughter of Cambodian refugees who seized the American dream and pursued a degree from Stanford University. Another is a businesswoman, farmer and a mother, not to mention a two-time bone marrow donor. They are environmentalists, activists, philanthropists and housing advocates.
However, the “year of the woman” failed to hold true for them. They are the Republican women who fought in congressional races in California.
This month, more women were sworn into Congress than ever before. Mainstream media applauded the success of the election as a tribute to women. Nancy Pelosi was quoted in an interview saying, “Every woman’s success helps other women … women helping women — people are now seeing the magnified impact of that, and it’s a beautiful thing to behold.”
Ironically, Pelosi campaigned against and spent millions of dollars to unseat women, even in her home state of California where the women by and large agreed with much of her own platform.
The reason is quite simple: the women in California didn’t meet the progressive criteria laid forth by the Democratic Party in 2018.
This wasn’t really about “girl power” — this was about power, period.
The truth is, men won the day for Pelosi. Over 50 percent of the California Republican women who ran for Congress lost to Democratic men. In fact, every female Republican congressional candidate lost their races.
It was a Democratic assault disguised as a feminist movement.
The conservative women in California did not run on radical platforms. They worked tirelessly in their communities, and addressed real policy issues. They lost because other women, including Nancy Pelosi, raised and spent over $50 million against them. These reasonable, minority women were maligned in hit pieces by the Democrat party — the same party that claims to prioritize race and gender, specifically minorities and women. They were targeted not based on policy, but based on political affiliation alone. This is hardly an example of “women helping women.”
Extremist progressive women’s groups protested events that Mimi Walters, Young Kim, and Diane Harkey attended. At these events and in various campaign advertisements, these accomplished women were called anti-woman, puppets, fake, cheats and desperate. A misleading hit against Mimi Walters on tax reform was rated “mostly false” by PolitiFact.
Elizabeth Heng, a young, intelligent Republican candidate in the 16th congressional district nearly beat Democrat Jim Costa in California’s open primary. As the race heated up, like many on the right, her campaign ads were blocked by Twitter and Facebook in blatant, unfair censorship.
Republicans had diverse and educated candidates with track records of working across party lines in the public sector. As an assemblywoman, Asian-American female Young Kim introduced and successfully passed legislation that strengthened sentencing guidelines for those who violated protective orders in domestic violence cases. During Rep. Mimi Walter’s time in Congress, she had bipartisan support for her legislation on opioid addiction and human trafficking. Nevertheless, these ladies were portrayed as thoughtless accomplices instead of the independent, successful women that they have proven themselves to be.
No, this wasn’t “year of the woman.” The hypocrisy of the left must be exposed. Contrary to what mainstream outlets report, Republicans have embraced diversity and female candidates. This time, it was Democrats who chose white men over women.
Ashley Hayek is executive director of California Women’s Leadership Association and a fundraiser who has raised millions of dollars for GOP candidates in California.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller.