Women on the Verge of a Political Breakthrough

NEW YORK - Already American women are setting records in this election cycle, running for office in ground-breaking numbers, as I write in my latest Female Factor column. But beyond the sheer numbers, among the scores of veterans and newcomers, several women stand on the brink of making history.

Few of them may be more remarkable than Representative Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, 50, a Democrat who is running for the U.S. Senate against Tommy G. Thompson, 70, the former longest-serving governor of that state. If Ms. Baldwin wins, she will be the first female senator from Wisconsin and the first openly gay senator in U.S. history.

Ms. Baldwin, with an undergraduate degree from Smith College and a law degree from the University of Wisconsin, is among the most liberal members of the House. But she's not a conventional liberal. Unlike many liberals, she is pro-gun and pro-hunting. She supports the Second Amendment, owns a gun herself and has a coalition called Sportsm en and Sportswomen for Tammy.

What's more, she has not allowed her sexual orientation to become a distraction or an issue in this center-right state, and when she decided to run for the Senate, she didn't consider that her sexuality might become an obstacle, she said in a telephone interview on Friday.

“I listened to the people of my state,'' she said. “Middle-class families are struggling. Too many Wisconsin families are squeaking by and are very frustrated by the disconnect with what's happening in Washington, D.C., with partisanship and special interests.”

In the past few months she has raised more money than her opponent and has been able to spend freely on advertising, getting contributions from national groups like Emily's List and LPAC, a lesbian political action committee.

When asked about the possibility that she'll become a “poster child” for the gay movement, she demurred. “I have always been a strong advocate for equality and e quality of opportunity,” she said, “and I have been a voice against discrimination, but the fight that is up and center in the United States right now is how do we get our economy back at full throttle.”

While Ms. Baldwin commands the political stage with the ease and political savvy that comes with experience, Val Demings approaches her run for a U.S. House seat in Florida with the bold enthusiasm and optimism of a newcomer. There's nothing studied about her. She's learning as she goes and seems happily challenged by the very thought that she might have a seat in the well of the House.

Her life has evolved in unexpected stages. Up from poverty in central Florida - her mother was a maid, her father a janitor - Ms. Demings, 55, attended Jacksonville's public schools and earned an undergraduate degree at Florida State University and a master's degree from Webster University.

She began as a social worker and then joined the Orlando police department. “ I started off as an officer working patrol and worked my way to the top,” she said in a telephone interview.

Five years ago, in 2007, she became the first female police chief in Orlando, running a department of a thousand people, at a time when crime had climbed to record levels and the department's budget had to be trimmed.

“We were able to do it,” she says. “We reduced violent crime by 40 percent and established much better relationships with the community.”

Three and a half years later she decided to retire. “When I was sworn in I made a promise to myself that I would retire when my work was done.'' But soon after she made the announcement, she started getting calls from people asking her to consider running for Congress.

“I thought they were out of their minds,” she says with a laugh. “I am not a politician. I'm kind of rough around the edges. I say what I mean and mean what I say. I am a cop!”

But she couldn't resist the challenge. “I made the decision because we've got a mess in Washington,” she says. “What I see in Washington is a lot of political games being played.”

“I'm a lifelong Democrat, proud of that,'' she says. “But this is not about a particular party or individual. It's about who has the ability to come to the table and make the tough decisions, and that's really my style of leadership.”

Running now against a Tea Party incumbent, Ms. Demings, who is married to the sheriff of Orange County and has three grown sons, stays in touch with diverse communities in her predominantly Republican district, riding her motorcycle around town and packing a 9-millimeter pistol in her Dooney & Bourke bag, a farewell gift from her police department.