The Women's March Inspired Them To Run. Now They're Unseating GOP Men.
In January, Atlantic County Freeholder John Carman posted a meme to his Facebook page mocking the Women’s March.
“Will the women’s protest be over in time for them to cook dinner?” read the text, laid over an image of a woman in the kitchen.
That “women’s protest” stretched across the globe and became the largest single-day protest in U.S. history. And less than a year later, on Nov. 7, Carman would lose his seat to a woman who decided to run after protesting Carman’s comments.
Ashley Bennett, 32, showed up with dozens of other women constituents at a public meeting Carman held on Jan. 24, just days after he posted the sexist meme. Inspired by the Women’s March and what she saw as Carman’s “mocking and belittling people who are expressing their concerns about their community and the nation,” Bennett decided to run against him.
Though the seat is in a Republican district, Bennett bested Carman by 1,000 votes, out of 14,000 votes cast. Last month, Bennett told the AP that protests like the Women’s March “woke a lot of people up.”
Ashley Bennett, who ran for local Atlantic County Freeholder after John Carman mocked the women's march, knocked him off the board.
— Amy S. Rosenberg (@amysrosenberg) November 8, 2017
Bennett wasn’t the only woman who won on Tuesday night after getting angry post-presidential election.
Kelly Fowler, a Virgina Beach, Va. resident, attended the Women’s March with her daughter Tessa Anne in January.
“I thought the march was gonna be for her,” Fowler said in a campaign ad. “I realized that it was for both of us and I didn’t feel alone anymore. So I knew I needed to do something. I need to be part of the legislative process.”
On Tuesday night, Fowler won a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates. She unseated incumbent Ron Villanueva ― who had voted to make the anniversary of Roe v. Wade the “Day of Tears” in the state. ― and flipped the 21st district from Republican to Democrat.
Hala Ayala, who helped organize buses from her Virginia community to the Women’s March on Washington, also won a seat in Virginia’s House of Delegates, becoming one of the first Latina women to serve in the House.
“Once I heard that the Women’s March was happening, I knew I wanted to be involved and to walk shoulder-to-shoulder with men and women,” Ayala told Elle in August. “We were just able to come together and kind of recalibrate ourselves, do what we needed to do to organize our thoughts and our energies and figure out the next steps. But we have to continue to take action. We have to make change. We can’t let that be the end of the road.”
On Tuesday night, Ayala unseated Rich Anderson, a 4-term Republican incumbent.
Organizations like She Should Run and Emily’s List have seen record numbers of women stepping up since November 2016. Many on Twitter noted the snowball effect that the presidential election and the Women’s March have had in driving women to run for office ― and win.
Tonight proves that the January's Women's March was so much more than a March! Congratulations to @HalaAyala, @WendyforDel, @VoteforFowler, @JCarrollFoy, @pwcdanica, @guzman4delegate, @kmurphyva and more! #WomenLead
— First Ask (@TheFirstAsk) November 8, 2017
All I did was block people on Facebook for dissing the Women's March. This amazing woman took on the assholes and won. Eternal respect. https://t.co/w9VgG1vJ8j
— MelG (@mel_giancarlo) November 8, 2017
She marched, she ran, she won!!! Congrats to our own @bethkerriganltc, West Hartford Town Council!!! https://t.co/yIyJevs3Pg
— Women's March CT (@womensmarchct) November 8, 2017
YAS, LADIES: Of the 14 seats Democrats have flipped in the VA House of Delegates so far, all were originally held by men, and 10 of those races were won by women.
— Lily Herman (@lkherman) November 8, 2017
A N.J. Republican mocked the Women's March online.
32-year old Democrat Ashley Bennett was angered by the remark, challenged him in his re-election bid.
She won.
Moral of the story do not piss us women off. #WednesdayWisdom— Hailey Renee👊❄🇺🇸✌ (@pacificnwmomma) November 8, 2017
HEAR OUR VOTE
HEAR OUR VOTE
HEAR OUR VOTE
HEAR OUR VOTE
HEAR OUR VOTE
HEAR OUR VOTE
HEAR OUR VOTE
HEAR OUR VOTE
HEAR OUR VOTE
HEAR OUR VOTE
HEAR OUR VOTE
HEAR OUR VOTE
HEAR OUR VOTE
HEAR OUR VOTE
HEAR OUR VOTE
HEAR OUR VOTE
HEAR OUR VOTE
HEAR OUR VOTE
HEAR OUR VOTE
HEAR OUR VOTE— Women's March (@womensmarch) November 7, 2017
Sometimes, karma’s a bitch ― and she looks like a motivated, pissed off woman.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misstated John Carman’s title. He is a freeholder of Atlantic County, not Atlantic City.
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.