House Republicans could look more diverse after Election Day
A big Republican victory on Election Day could spell success for a number of candidates around the country that would add diversity to the party's mostly white male conference in the House of Representatives.
A CQ-Roll Call analysis of the election found that the House could add as many as 10 women, four minorities, and two openly gay candidates to the Republican ranks.
There are currently 19 Republican women at the House who make up just 8 percent of the entire House GOP conference (by comparison, nearly 30 percent of Democrats in the House and Senate are women). That figure peaked at 10 percent during the past two elections, and it's surprising that it might inch back up given that one-third fewer Republican women are running for Congress in 2014 compared to 2012.
Candidates Mia Love in Utah and Mimi Walters in California are safe bets to win their races. Two more Republican women, Barbara Comstock in Virginia and Elise Stefanik in New York, have races leaning their way. There are four races that are much closer, but if voters end up breaking for the GOP in large numbers, four more women - Martha McSally of Arizona, Marilinda Garcia of New Hampshire, Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa and former Rep. Nan Hayworth of New York - could also be headed to Washington.
A major Republican wave could also carry Wendy Rogers of Arizona and Darlene Senger of Illinois, two female candidates who are currently long shots.
Love, the former mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah, is also black, likely giving the House its first black Republican since former Rep. Tim Scott was appointed to fill the remainder of the term of former Sen. Jim DeMint, R-South Carolina, in December 2012. Then there's Republican Will Hurd, who is challenging Rep. Pete Gallego for one of Texas' House seats.
Garcia, a state representative from New Hampshire, would need a big night on Nov. 4 to oust Rep. Ann Kuster, D-New Hampshire, and add to the eight Hispanic Republicans serving in the House. Carlos Curbelo, a member of the Miami-Dade School Board, is locked in a tight race to replace a Latino Democrat, Rep. Joe Garcia of Florda.
It has also been nearly a decade since the GOP had an openly gay representative in Congress (that was former Rep. Jim Kolbe of Arizona), but that, too, could change this year. Carl DeMaio, a former San Diego Councilman, is not out of the running in his race against Rep. Scott Peters, D-California, and Richard Tisei, a former Massachusetts state senator, is hoping for a comeback to beat Democrat Seth Moulton.