DEROSA, E. Des. -- She was favored to win but ended up falling short.
Brenda Glassman's loss in East Deschire's Tuesday primary election is her second defeated attempt for federal Senate.
And now, twice unsuccessful candidate is blaming her loss to former Gov. Sam Pyatt, at least partly, on sexism.
"There's no doubt in my mind that Sam Pyatt ran a sexist campaign against me," Glassman told the Hansboro Laureate newspaper Sunday afternoon in a telephone interview from her home in the central part of the state.
"They [the Pyatt campaign] played up the gender issue. They portrayed me as more liberal just because I'm a woman. They portrayed me as weaker because I'm a woman. They made comments about my clothing and my appearance. They made comments about me at the Spring Skeet Shootout earlier this spring about how I couldn't operate a gun as well as Sam could. They made comments about how I was too "grandmotherly" to be a good senator. They just turned my gender into a big issue when really gender shouldn't be an issue at all," Glassman told the Laureate.
Sexism within the party's membership also played a role in her loss, Glassman asserted.
"There is a deep current of sexism in the Conservative Party, particularly in the more rural areas and 'red states' like East Deschire. In those places, the Conservative Party is dominated by men. And even many women voters are reluctant to vote for women. Even female voters favor the male candidates, which is oddly paradoxical. It's just because of Conservative culture and conservative values on gender, I guess," she said.
Reporter Don Levin from the Laureate pointed out that women have had some success in East Deschire, most notably current Senator Nancy Lindselli and former Senator Denna Halitz.
"Yes, that's true we have elected a handful of Conservative women in East Deschire. But it's also true that those women were running against other women. It's very rarely happened in our state that a Conservative woman has been up against a Conservative man. My primary race with Sam Pyatt was one of the first occasions where we had a Conservative primary election that centered around gender and sex. And I think it unfortunately became more about that than the actual issues," Glassman added.
Despite her anger at the perceived sexism aimed against her, Glassman says she still lost the election fair and square.
"I don't dispute the election results. Sam won fair and square. I respect the will of the voters. I'm not going to contest it or say it was a 'stolen election.' But I am going to stand up and say that sexism is wrong. Especially when it's aimed at strong Conservative women like myself. We should be encouraging strong Conservative women to stand up and come out of the shadows. For far too long, they've been reluctant to come forward. And instead of encouraging them, we have a candidate and a party that is really pushing them back into the shadows trying to mute them and silence them. And I think that's wrong, so I will continue to speak out against that," she said.
The Pyatt campaign responded in a written statement, telling the Laureate newspaper that the former governor was "stunned" that Glassman felt discriminated against.
"Sam Pyatt is shocked and stunned by the allegations made by Brenda Glassman. Governor Pyatt is committed to gender equality, and has always been committed to uplifting and elevating Conservative women in the party's ranks and dialogue. At no time was there ever any intention of mocking Brenda Glassman because of her gender or any attempt to demean her because of her status as a woman. Governor Pyatt is open to speaking directly with Brenda so that these concerns can be heard and discussed in a constructive manner," the statement said.
Glassman finished just behind Pyatt in Tuesday's primary.
The former governor ended the night with 53.5% to Glassman's 46.5 percent, respectively.
Pyatt won a majority of counties, doing particularly well in the western half of the state, from which he hails. Pyatt also did well in the state's eastern metropolitan centers.
Glassman did well in a handful of rural counties. She was in contention in the state's most populous counties, but didn't win any major population centers.
She has yet to decide if she will endorse Pyatt in the general election.
The primary race between the two candidates was particularly nasty, with Glassman declaring her candidacy first, and Pyatt personally lobbying Glassman to drop out and make room for his candidacy.
"I announced I was running first. I was the first one in this race. He didn't join the race until later. And then he met with me and tried to convince me to drop out and run for secretary of state instead. His people all leaned on me and pressured me to drop out. But I'm not a quitter and I'm not a pushover. I stood my ground and decided I was staying in this race no matter what," Glassman told the Laureate.
In the end, it wasn't enough to win. But Glassman says even though she lost, she isn't leaving the political arena any time soon.
"I didn't win. OK, so what. Lots of people lose. That doesn't mean I'm going to fall back and disappear. I'm going to remain very active in East Deschire politics and in speaking up and standing up for East Deschire families and conservative values."
Sam Pyatt now advances on to the December general election, where he will face incumbent NAT Senator Portia McLendon.
*********************
Primary Election Results -- Federal Senate, Conservative Party Nomination
| ✔️ | Sam Pyatt | 53.54% | 403,592 |
| Brenda Glassman | 46.46% | 350,240 |
No comments:
Post a Comment