DALLAS _ Republicans looking to bolster the number of GOP women in the House are closely watching next week's primaries. On Tuesday, more than a quarter of the Republican women running for the chamber will face their first test, including Genevieve Collins.
The energetic Dallas businesswoman is in a competitive primary to take on Democratic Rep. Collin Allred in Texas' 32nd District. She said the paltry number of Republican women in the House _ there are just 13 _ factored into her decision to run.
"That was a big impetus, to find someone that looks like me, not (just) Elise Stefanik," Collins said, referring the GOP congresswoman from New York. "If we're going to be more inclusive, we need more people that look like the rest of our community."
Collins is one of 216 GOP women running for the House this year. On Tuesday, 62 of them are competing in primaries in Texas, California, Alabama and North Carolina. Arkansas also has congressional primaries, but no Republican women are running.
Primaries have been formidable obstacles for Republican women candidates in the past. Compared with men, they struggle with fundraising in primaries and have to battle a perception that women are more liberal, said Julie Conway, executive director of VIEW PAC, which supports GOP women candidates.
"Even where we have an exceptionally conservative woman who is identical to a conservative guy ... people will always think that the guy is more conservative," Conway said.
That's a sentiment that persists even among women voters. Multiple women Republicans in Texas said they'd prefer to have more GOP women in Congress, but they don't vote based on gender.
"I wanted to vote for the woman. I did," said Trish Kennedy, a 55-year-old lawyer from Dallas who cast her early vote Sunday at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church. Yet she voted for Collins' primary opponent, retired Navy SEAL Floyd McLendon.
"I thought, what's more important, gender or experience? That's what it came down to," Kennedy said.
If Collins doesn't win a majority of the vote on March 3, she will likely head to a May 26 runoff against McLendon.
GOP leaders who want to see more women in Congress are hoping Collins and a slew of other women eventually advance to the general election. Republicans are targeting Texas' 32nd District since Allred flipped the seat in 2018 and Hillary Clinton carried it by just under 2 percentage points in 2016. Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rates the race Lean Democrat.
Not all of the women Republicans in Super Tuesday primaries are in competitive races in November, and not all of them are considered credible candidates. Roughly half a dozen of them have won endorsements from outside groups that support GOP women.
Collins and her fellow Texan Beth Van Duyne, who's running in the neighboring 24th District, have been backed by VIEW PAC, Winning for Women and a group led by Stefanik, E-PAC.
All three groups have also endorsed California Republicans Young Kim, who came close to winning the 39th District in 2018, and Michelle Steel, an Orange County commissioner running in the 48th District. California holds open primaries, in which the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, advance to the November general election.
Winning for Women and VIEW PAC have also backed Jessica Taylor, who's running in Alabama's 2nd District to replace retiring GOP Rep. Martha Roby.
VIEW PAC has endorsed a few more Super Tuesday candidates, including former Bel Air Mayor Cindy Siegel, who is running in Texas' 7th District. But Siegel is facing Wesley Hunt in the GOP primary, a black Army veteran who has the backing of GOP leaders including Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. VIEW PAC is also backing Monica De La Cruz-Hernandez, whose running in the Democratic leaning 15th District in Texas.
Susan B. Anthony List, which supports anti-abortion candidates, has endorsed Taylor, Kim, Steel, Van Duyne, as well as an additional candidate: Kathaleen Wall. The GOP donor is running in a very crowded open seat primary in Texas' 22nd District.
These groups are also backing Texas Rep. Kay Granger, the first Republican woman to represent Texas in Congress, who is facing a competitive primary.
Asked if the party has sufficiently supported women candidates, Granger said, "Obviously not, or we wouldn't have that few."
Some in the party are looking to change that. Winning for Women has focused its initial efforts on Texas. Its independent expenditure arm, WFW Action, has spent $85,000 so far backing Granger and $32,000 supporting Van Duyne.
Stefanik's group, E-PAC, raised more than $500,000 for GOP women in 2019, and the group is hoping to do the same in 2020.
Groups backing Republican women have struggled to match the influence of EMILY's List, which supports women Democrats who support abortion rights, and is a powerful player in primaries. But GOP leaders are recognizing that having so few women in the conference is a problem. McCarthy has often noted he has endorsed several women candidates, including Collins and Van Duyne in Texas.
"There's a lot more discussion of the importance of electing Republican women than there ever has been," said Conway of VIEW PAC. But, she added, "unless we continue to do more to invest in women when it matters, which is during a primary, we're going to have a lot of the same results."
Some women are taking matters into their own hands.
As Collins was greeting voters here on Sunday afternoon, Luisa del Rosal bounded up to her. Del Rosal is running for a state House seat and was knocking doors earlier in the day. She exclaimed that she found a Democratic voter who said he was supporting Collins.
Del Rosal, a Mexican immigrant, said she decided to run for office to show that there are Latino women who are conservative and that "There's a voice for us in the party."
Del Rosal and Collins have been campaigning together ahead of the primary, and she said Collins has been a helpful resource. Del Rosal hopes to do the same for other GOP women in the future.
"You have to not be afraid," she said, noting she will knock on Democrats' doors to win votes. "When you're a woman, people listen. So let's remember that."
