Hawkins dances. Whether at Hunter High School in salt lake city, utah. Or Michigan City high school in Michigan City, indiana. Or raleigh, North Carolina. The the young men at these dances will be the invited dates of the young women in attendance. The Popular American tradition has evolved some over the decades. The clever and inventive new ways girls ask their dates are documented and shared on pinterest boards. It all started with a comic strip. Remember lil abner . He was the naive son of mami and papi in the fictional town of doll patch, usa. The strip is a long running satire also included a character named sidney hawkins. One day in november, 1937, sadies father rounded up all the bachelors for a foot race. Whoever sadie caught had to marry her. Soon after the comic was publisheded the tradition took route. College campuses started holding Sadie Hawkins dances as early as 1939, in which loroles were reversed. Girls were able to choose their dates. It would reach a fever pitch before she caught up with him in the comic and married him in 1952. Fast forward to tuesday where the importance of a womans choice will translate at the polls. We could just as well call it the Sadie Hawkins election, because women will be key, and not just in deciding who wins and loses. In kentucky, Alison Lundergangrimes is trying to unseat republican leader Mitch Mcconnell in an incredibly tight race. Equal pay for equal women has been a rally cry for grimes. When it comes to a senator that after 30 years hasnt learned the women of the this state, of this nation, deserve equal pay for equal work. He says that preferential treatment. Are we ready to deliver a knockout . Let me hear you say yes . In iowa, poll data show republican joni ernst is widening her lead over democratic opponent bruce braley. Ballot measures in tennessee, colorado and north dakota, could, if approved, jeopardize a womans constitutionally protected right to choose. And just four days before voters head to the polls, president obama gave a speech friday on the economy. And Administration Policies directed at, you guessed it, women. While many women are working hard to support themselves and their families, theyre still facing unfair choices. Outdated workplace policies. That holds them back. It holds us all back. We have to do better because Women Deserve better. By the way, when women do well, everybody does well. Those remarks were delivered in rhode island. One of the countrys bluest states. But where the Gubernatorial Race is quite close. The democratic candidate is a woman, and its no secret the womens vote is key. But it is, of course, a little more complicated than that. Let me take you back to the last time we talked about the gender gap here on mhp. It involved virginia last year when terry mc was elected. And women came out strong voting against his policies against reproductive rights. Heres the important takeaway. He didnt win among all women. He won among black women. Take a look. In 2013 mcauliffe captured 51 of the overall womens vote. He received only 38 of white womens votes. And an overwhelming 91 of africanamerican womens votes. Lets underline that. Nearly every black woman in the state of virginia who voted voted for mcauliffe. Thats exactly what happened in president obamas reelection of 2012. He won the votes of women of color. And now a new report. This one right here, reveals just how much of a growing force women of color are in the american electorate. According to the center for american progress, in the last two years, more than 2 million women of color have joined the vote eligible population, and since 2000, there are more than 12 million new eligible women of color voters and these eligible voters are exercising their right at very high rates. Research shows in the last section cycle, black women registered and voted at the high rate of any group across race, gender and ethnicity. A turnout rate of 70 . This report shows women of color have increasingly the potential to sway electoral results, influence which candidates run and when and play a greater role in shaping the policy agenda. Joining me now, maya harris, a senior fellow at the center for american progress. I want to start with this. Its not quite a myth of the gender gap. But its a misunderstanding of the gender gap. Is it really a gender gap, or is it a race gap . Its race and gender. Thats why i wanted to do this research and this report. What we uncovered is not that simple. Which is that women of color are the Fastest Growing segment of americas largest voting bloc, which is women. They are also the most active segment of the people of color vote. You know, in terms of their turnout rates. And so, what we have seen in terms of the participation that we have, its really, really dramatic. You need to actually dig deep into the numbers to see what that really means. So you highlighted at the top of the show the fact that over the last, you know, period of time, women of color have grown, you know, 12 million. That is the growth of voting eligible women, women of color. Just in the last two years since 2012 t voting eligible population growth of women has been 90 women of color. So whats important is actually to look at the intersection of these two things, because what we do in the gender gap is talk about women. We talk about people of color. So our conversation tends to be all gender, no race. All race no gender. All the women are white. All the blacks are men. And theyre all brave. And the women at the intersection are invisible. The report was designed to make the numbers visible to really illustrate the power inherent in women of color. So allow me to understand that. Because if you kind of take the back and say typically when we look at what ought to predict voter turnout. It should be education, it should be income. A variety of things where africanamerican women, like denas other women of color actually end up low on the scale. And yet overwhelmingly outperforming. What is it that is bringing women of color to the polls that is clearly different than sort of what our typical models of what should bring people to turnout are . Well, i think women of color have a lot at stake in what happens in our elections. And the fact is that the, you know, the issues at the center of the lives of women of color dont often make it to the center of our political agenda. So they have a lot of stake in participating. Its sort of if youre unseen, unheard, people are unaccountable to you. And so i think that women of color understand the importance of government. They understand the importance of who is selected to represent us in government. And i think that that helps to drive their participation. They really do have a deep stake . What happens in these elections. I wonder if given how the importance of women of color in these key elections, putting everyone from the election to the governor of virginia in their office, if nonetheless there still seems to be a lack of accountability. I mean, when i think about can i arctticulate a black womans agenda. Can i articulate a la tee na agenda . I would still have a harold time showing these candidates who are now Office Holders have been actively pursuing that agenda. I think it speaks to a couple of different things. One is, its not just about casting your vote on election day. You have to stay engaged with your political representatives, with the political process in between elections. To hold people accountable. So i think that the mobilization, the organization of women of color between elections is really important in order to seek that kind of accountability. But it also points to the point about being engaged in every election cycle. Not just in president ial elections. Also in Midterm Elections. Which is where women and women of color tend to fall off. So why within the africanamerican communities are africanamerican women so much a greater proportion of the voters. Is it about fellow disenfranchisement . Is it about black men being forced out or about black women being more active than white counterparts . The men in the community. I have to look more deeply into that to give a definitive answer. I would suspect its both. Black women are really leaders in their communities, leaders in the family. They get other people to the polls. They get other people to vote. They talk about the issues in the their families. They talk about the importance of going out and voting. I think in the the example that you gave, black women tend to be active in terms of their Civic Engagement and participation. Theres no doubt issues around disenfranchisement have had an extraordinary impact on the the black vote and the vote of black men. Thanks. Stay with us, maya. Im going to bring in additional voices to the discussion, as we take a look at specific races in everything from women and their guns to threats of castration to the weird thing about having two last names. What do i know about that . We are three days out from the election and theres a lot to get to. Were going to be right back. Im going to clean my glasses so i can see some. Growing. Growing. Getting in a groove. Growth is gratifying. Goal is to grow. Gotta get greater growth. I just talked to ups. They got expert advise, special discounts, new technologies. Like smart pick ups. Theyll only show up when you print a label and its automatic. We save time and money. Time . Money . Time and money. Awesome. Awesome awesome awesome awesome all awesome i love logistics. Oats go wow go power oats go go power yayyyy hi. 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Can get the real answers you need. Start building your confident retirement today. When you run for office part of the deal is getting to know the people you represent. And vice versa. Yes, you can craft quirky and memorable campaign ads. One of the best ways is to sit down with the people who know the local issues at stake, local reporters. Thats why National Media takes notice when candidates sit down with the Editorial Boards. Its a chance for them to really dig deep on the issues that matter to their readers. These are often newsworthy, and thats not surprising. Just ask the democratic candidate for the u. S. Senate seat in kentucky. During last month she was asked who she voted for in the the last president ial election. Did you vote for president obama, 2008, 2012 . This election isnt about the president. Its about making sure we put kentuckians back to work. Did you vote for him . I respect the sanctity of the ballot box. I know the members of this board do as well. So youre not going to answer . Thanks in part to a 2010 interview, we know how wisconsins republican scott walker really feels about reproductive rights. You may be confused by his recent campaign ad that seems to suggest he considers abortion an issue between a woman and her doctor. It is so far from his real record that i had to send him a letter about it recently. Thest a far cry from the hard line he took in the 120 interview with the Editorial Board of the milwaukee journal sental. Its the same issue. You aoppose abortion in cases of rape and incest. Tell me if i got that right . Thats correct. From scott walkers moment of truth to another moment of bizarreness for another candidate. Mark callahan was asked to leave a meeting with the Editorial Board of the local paper after testy exchanges like this one. Climate change, do you believe its a myth or real the i . Its a myth. Yes. Where are you on the easter bun bunny . Whats that . Where are you on the easter bunny . Are these really the questions i was called here to answer . I called you out for putting blah blah blah on your notepad and youre asking me questions like this . Maybe iowas republican candidate for the u. S. Senate joni ernst was hoping to avoid a scene like that when she skippeded meetings with the boards of the three newspapers. Or maybe she hoped her now famous hog castration ad will be enough to have voters squealing with delight. Ernst says she skipped the meeting with the Des Moines Register because she knew the board would back her opponent. She was right. Maybe ernst didnt want to risk her slim lead over her opponent. The last poll shows her with a fourpoint advantage heading into the final weekend of the campaign. Or maybe, just maybe ernst didnt want to face the Editorial Boards because she knew she would have to face tough questions on everything from her position on guns to the role of gender in the race. And why a woman poised to make history in iowa is not winning iowa women. That story when we come back. Your goals, our experience. Your shoppers, our technology. Your data, our insights. Introducing synchrony financial, bringing new meaning to the word partnership. Banking. Loyalty. Analytics. Synchrony financial. Engage with us. [ female announcer ] with five perfectly sweetened whole grains. You cant help but see the good. Republican Senate Candidate joni ernst is looking to make history by becoming the first woman ever to represent iowa in the house of congress. She isnt running as a breaker of glass ceilings, but shes skillfully created her own unconventional brand of femininity. Mom, farm girl and lieutenant who carries more than just lipstick in her purse. Joni ernst will take aim at wasteful spending, and once she sets her sights on obamacare, joni is going to unload. Lets not forget the ad that rocketed her to the top of a crowded primary field, where she defeated four opponents, all of them men. I grew up castrating hogs on an iowa farm, so when i get to washington, ill know how to cut pork. Washingtons full of big spenders. Lets make them squeal. Oh, you got to love it. Her strategy looks like its working in the general election. Its still a tight race, but according to the latest poll, ernst is up four points over her opponent, democrat bruce braley. But its not because ernst is raking in the votes of her fellow iowa women. The republican gender gap is still in play as much as ever. According to the poll, ernst is trailing braley when it comes to women voters, 50 back braley. Only 42 back ernst. But shes handedly beating braley among male voters. 17 points. And this is all part of ernsts strategy. She was never trying to overcome the gender gap, to end womens voters by her too being a woman. As she told the New York Times, im not running on my gender. Back with me is maya harris, a senior fellow at the center for american progress. Joining us now also is keaton dawson, a former South Carolina gop chair and kristina beltron, associate professor of culture analysis at nyu. So katon, is it that republican women just make more sense as midterm candidates because theyre running on a kind of like being a woman that defies sort of narrowly defined femininity . And after all, more men are going to show up to vote in this election. I think joni is probably one of the most authentic candidates you have in the country. What you see is what you get. The big point about men is joni hit the entire target when she was shooting the gun pretty good. She was on target, on message. I tell you what i did find out about republican primaries especially, melissa. In South Carolina, very disappointing early on about electing women. Better candidates, more articulate. In the early 2000s we couldnt get anybody elected. We did a big sur va on the universities. I did and found out the reason why our women werent winning was the female voters. They were asking three more questions of women than they were men. And i thought it would have been the male vote was holding us back from electing women in the Republican Party. That wasnt the case. It was female voters asking, are you qualified . What are you going to do with your children . Can you do the job . The male voters werent asking that. Did you hit the target . Are you talking about taxes . Can you castrate a hog . Can you cut a hog so hes bigger in the offseason . I understand that. But thats interesting to me. This idea that in this case, as were thinking about a gender gap, its in the other direction, and im wondering if we see something here, we typically see women candidates as having trouble getting male voters, but if instead the issue is that women are less likely to cross the partisan divide in order to just vote for a woman because of an identity politics connection. Right, right. It seems like clearly women in some way are generally populations like africanamericans, latinos, are a little more pragmatic. They look at policy and take that seriously. Thats something that matters to them. I think the other thing interesting here is we have often talked about the republican war on women. Weve talked about the Republican Partys anxieties about race. But we dont talk enough about are the pleasures of multicultural conservatism and the male voters enjoy supporting women candidates. They agree with ideologically. So theres a certain kind of pleasure that conservatives take in voting white voters take in voting for candidates of color, and male voters take in supporting a woman. What it makes them feel like, the pleasure they take in her changing up traditional gender norms. Theres Something Else going on there we dont tend to notice. This is a fascinating race. I think, you know, shes made her