Women kick off 2018 with unprecedented power in the Senate

Following the 2016 general election, 21 women were slated to serve in the Senate, and with Wednesday’s swearing in of Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN), that total reaches 22. Seventeen of those women are Democrats.

Smith was selected to replace Democratic Sen. Al Franken upon his resignation.

“We’re thrilled that with the swearing-in of Sen. Tina Smith, we’ve reached a historic number of women in the Senate,” said Christina Reynolds, vice president of communications at EMILY’s List, in a statement to Shareblue Media. “It’s a big step — but we still have work to do. If this year has taught us anything, it’s the importance of women being heard and being in power — which is why electing more women in our legislatures is such a critical goal for us. We are proud of our Democratic women who have always been fierce advocates against the GOP’s outrageous agenda, and we’re working every day to send them reinforcements.”

In an era in which bipartisanship is exceedingly rare, even Republican women have occasionally contributed to the resistance against Trump and his enablers. In addition to 48 Democrats, including every woman senator, it was Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine who cast the votes that enabled John McCain to take credit for defeating Trumpcare.

But it is the Democratic women in the Senate who represent the greatest hope for correcting the disastrous course that Trump’s election has put our country on. Among those 17 women are leaders who will not only challenge the Republicans’ attempts to ram through Trump’s agenda, but who also have the qualifications and the drive to challenge Republicans for the presidency in 2020.

Hillary Clinton broke a diamond-hard ceiling in 2016 while beating Trump by 3 million votes, and women around the country spent 2017 reminding him of that fact. In 2018, more women than ever will be there to check Trump’s power, while he still has it.