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April 10, 2018DES MOINES, Iowa |  By: INS / Vinzant

Emerge Iowa trains Democratic women leaders to run for public office

Women make up 51 percent of the United States' population, but just over 19 percent of Congress. And, with a record number of women running for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018, most of them Democrats, those numbers could change come November. In Iowa, 98 women are expected to have their names on the ballot in the June 5 primary – a 44 percent increase over 2016. Many are being trained by Emerge, a group with a mission to boost the number of Democratic women leaders in public office. Judy Downs, the executive director of Emerge Iowa, says if women want social change, they need to get their names on the ballot.

There are currently 28 women in the 100-seat Iowa House and six in the 50-person Iowa Senate. Emerge has chapters in 24 states focused on training women to run for political office. Research shows women often don't run for office because they don't feel qualified, or haven't thought about politics as a potential career path. Downs was recently elected to her local school board in Urbandale, and says women have to get as comfortable representing their state as they do their kids.

In 2017 Iowa women defeated incumbents in several local firsts: Decorah elected its first female mayor, and in Waterloo two women defeated incumbents on an all-male city council.