For many Republican women, Senator Snowe’s departure is not about speculating on whether the “center is crumbling” in Congress or whether the Senator’s retirement will hurt the republican Senate majority. For many, these questions are rhetorical in nature. Any time a long-term member of congress retires, power structure is shaken and the same “sky is falling mentality” echoes the belt way. Time will tell whether a republican candidate can fill the senator’s shoes, and until candidates have adequate time to be vetted by the public, the “speculating” exercise, is for not.
What does make senator Snowe’s retirement unique is that she is one of five republican women in the US Senate and that she is considered a moderate.
There are currently 17 women in the US Senate, 5 of them are Republican. There are 2 senior republican women senators who have announced retirement--Olympia Snowe (ME) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX), thus leaving a 3% representation of Republican women in the Senate. Based on current information, it is not likely that either senator will be replaced with a Republican woman. Facts are undisputable. Republican women are seriously under-represented in the United States Senate and Senator Snowe’s retirement furthers this decline.
In a democratic republic, representatives are elected to mirror the constituents they represent. Senator Snowe has done just that. Likewise Senator Collins has a moderate voice which represents the voters of Maine, a voice equal to the voice of a senator from the large state of California or Texas. Two members of the United States Senate, heralding from the small state of Maine, have a large voice indeed, representing over forty percent of the Republican women in the US Senate.
What’s the point? What makes senator Snowe’s departure unique is that she represents two constituencies that loose a voice. Not just a woman, but a Republican voice and a voice for the state of Maine.
Take note, five Republican women in the US Senate and soon to be three.
