May 15, 2018

Wave of women in Pennsylvania primaries

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

None of Pennsylvania's 20 members of Congress are women, but 21 are running in the state's primaries today.

Why it matters: Pennsylvania could provide a successful playbook for women candidates in other states to help the Democratic Party take back the House. Record-breaking numbers of women nationwide are running for Congress this year, most of them Democrats.

EMILY's List, a Democratic pro-choice group that backs women candidates, has endorsed five women in Pennsylvania. Those five seats are almost 1/4 of the total seats they need to take back the House.

"They're part of the essential calculus to taking back the House ... We needed a moment like this with candidates like this bringing a whole new group of passionate activists and voters into this system."
— EMILY's List President Stephanie Schirock

Three factors helping Democrats:

  • Republican retirements: Five Republicans are not seeking re-election in Pennsylvania, three of which are in districts Clinton won making them potentially easier pick-ups.
  • The new congressional map has given Democrats better (and more) opportunities to win seats. Two of the EMILY's List districts shifted toward Democrats and the Cook Political Report lists seven PA seats as potentially competitive.
  • Uncrowded primary fields: Five Democratic candidates, including one of EMILY's List's women, are running unopposed, which means all resources will be focused on just one person.

Go deeper

Axios
19 mins ago - Podcasts

The art and business of political polling

The election is just eight days away, and it’s not just the candidates whose futures are on the line. Political pollsters, four years after wrongly predicting a Hillary Clinton presidency, are viewing it as their own judgment day.

Axios Re:Cap digs into the polls, and what pollsters have changed since 2016, with former FiveThirtyEight writer and current CNN politics analyst Harry Enten.

Orion Rummler
3 hours ago - Technology

Twitter launches warnings on election misinformation and delays

Photo: courtesy of Twitter

Twitter will start pinning notices to the top of all U.S. Twitter users’ timelines warning that results in next week’s election may be delayed and that they may encounter misinformation on mail-in voting.

Why it matters: Delayed election results are expected across many states that are handling unprecedented amounts of absentee and mailed ballots, which President Trump has baselessly called "very dangerous" and "corrupt."

Go deeper (<1 min. read)Arrow
Miriam Kramer, author of Space
3 hours ago - Science

NASA confirms water exists on sunny parts of the Moon

Photo: NASA/JPL/USGS

Water on the Moon might be more easily accessible than previously thought, opening up new possible avenues for future human exploration, according to a new study.

Why it matters: NASA is aiming to send people back to the Moon as part of its Artemis program by 2024, with plans to eventually create a sustainable presence on the lunar surface. That sustainability relies on mining the moon for its resources, like water.

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow