ms. pearson: thank you for the question. the answer i think is partially .nknown and complicated but you are referring to the big increase in gross of democratic women in both the house and the senate and the same dynamic is true in state legislatures across the country, compared to the smaller numbers of republican women. this dynamic is repeated in terms of women's candidacies, not just to get elected. starting at the level of primaries for the u.s. progress. back research that goes several decades and shows that with a few exceptions, in most election cycles, women and men will -- when their congressional primaries as well. increasingly in recent years, democratic women stand a slightly better chance, but a significant chance of winning their primaries compared democratic men. republican women and men about the same. a republican woman running in all districts, i suspect these results would be different because experimental research has suggested that women -- public and women face because ofchallenges stereotypes that wo