By Catharine and Melissa Richmond.
A lot has been written about Mormon voters distaste for Donald Trump. What began as an initial discomfort, following Trump’s suggestion that Muslims should be banned from the country, ended with firm opposition when a tape was released on which Trump bragged about sexually assaulting women. Most pundits are now predicting that Mormon voters will flock to third party candidates, like Gary Johnson and fellow Mormon Evan McMullin. But, why won’t Mormon women become part of history and vote for Hillary Clinton instead?
Reliably Republican Voters Don’t Defect
Mormon women reliably turn out in droves to vote Republican.
According to Pew, an astonishing 70 percent of Mormon voters identify as either Republican or Republican-leaning and nearly 80 percent voted Republican in the last two presidential elections. Despite her historic candidacy, Hillary Clinton won’t win over Mormon women because they are strong partisans and not identity politics voters.
Clinton has always been left. She’s for abortion, increasing taxes, and universal health care. And, she’s been pushed further left to secure the votes of those who still feel the Bern. As a particularly partisan group, Mormon women’s loyalties won’t be changed by a candidate who is more progressive than her husband before her.
Ideology and issues will drive the “Mormon woman vote.” Not gender. And not a distaste for a woman who dares to be strong.
Lindsay Hansen-Park thinks otherwise. In a recent article for Quartz, she argues that Clinton’s authoritative manner, specifically her strong voice, will drive Mormon women away. Hansen-Park assumes that because the Mormon church’s leadership is a hierarchy predominated by males, Mormon women have been so socialized to view women as weak and incapable of traditional leadership they will reject voting for Clinton merely because she is a woman who is speaking up in a “man’s world.” But, the Pew data suggests Mormon women are faithful Republican voters, more likely to be swayed by policy positions than by a voice that appeals to primary school children. But, in case the numbers aren’t convincing, the history of Mormon women proves they aren’t turned off by strength.
Mormon Women – A Surprising Tradition of Strength
Take the trailblazing Mormon pioneers. Our ancestor Melissa Burton Coray Kimball (whom Melissa is named for) was one of those pioneers. She marched 1,800 miles with the Mormon Battalion in 1847, cutting roads (later used in the California Gold Rush) and chartering unsettled territory along the way. Did we mention she was one of just five women among 500 men and was eighteen and pregnant? Melissa later ran a profitable stagecoach inn near Salt Lake City, Utah and the first peak named for a woman in the Sierra Nevada mountain range honors her. We doubt Melissa would have shied away from voting for a woman merely because the woman didn’t speak in a soft voice.
Fast forward just a few years to 1869. The Utah territory, predominately occupied by Mormons, unanimously voted to extend to suffrage to women. After the right was repealed through national anti-polygamy legislation, a Mormon woman, Emily Richards, established an association aimed at regaining the vote. Women ran the organization and lobbied hard. State legislators listened and included universal suffrage in state’s constitution in 1895. We doubt Emily Richards or her grassroots sisters would recoil at the thought of exercising their hard-earned voting right in favor of a fellow woman.
Mormon women today are no less empowered. Take Mia Love. She’s Mormon. She’s a Congresswoman. She’s young. She’s black. She’s a modern day trailblazer. Do you think Congresswoman Love would avoid voting for Clinton because she’s too powerful?
As modern Mormon women we are choosing not to cast our ballots for Clinton because her policies don’t align with our political positions. Catharine is an independent and Melissa is a Republican. If we cornered you at a party, we could rationally articulate why we disagree with Clinton’s substantive policies. To paraphrase Leo Durocher, Jackie Robinson’s coach and champion, we don’t care if a candidate is a woman or has stripes like a zebra or wears religious garb different than our own. We care only if that person will represent us. Clinton won’t.
Not Trump or Clinton, And That’s Okay
Melissa is also the Vice President of Running Start, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that trains young women to run for political office. It is her life’s work to change the face of Congress to more accurately reflect the composition of the population. For her, Clinton’s gender is an asset, rather than a liability, and she is a historic first for women in politics. But, it doesn’t mean Melissa must vote for her because she is a woman.
We concede that the optics of Mormon women’s power could be improved. We agree that many Mormon women do not occupy traditional roles of power in modern society. We understand that as Mormon women we could be better at describing the great roles of power Mormon women play outside the home, within and apart from our church.
What we don’t agree with is that Mormon women are so weak, disenfranchised, and submissive because of their religion that they couldn’t conceive of voting for a strong female candidate. We’re Mormon. We’re strong. We’re certainly not alone in that historically or presently. And, like the vast majority of right-leaning Mormon women, we’re not voting for Clinton because of her polices, not her power. And, we’re not voting for Trump either.
Who Then?
Although many will cast a ballot for a third party candidate or write in someone else altogether, as far as we can tell, Mormon women voters appear to be unrepresented in this election. Who knows — maybe this void will spur one of them to run herself in the next cycle.
Catharine Richmond practiced law at Jones Day for a year before clerking for Justice Elwood Lui on the California Court of Appeal. The United States Attorney’s Office in the Central District of California recently tentatively offered her a position as an Assistant United States Attorney in its criminal division, pending a successful background check; all going well, she plans to accept a final offer. She loves living in the grit and glory of downtown Los Angeles.
Melissa Richmond is the Vice President of Running Start, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that trains young women to run for political office. Melissa worked for Mitt Romney over a period of ten years, starting as an intern and ending as the Director of Donor Relations in 2012. Melissa serves on several boards and recently attended the Republican National Convention as an elected alternate delegate for Virginia. She lives in Arlington, Virginia with her rescued dog, Lady.
Melissa and Catharine have published several times together, including with the Cardozo Journal of Law and Gender.
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