“Women’s Rising Influence in Politics, Tinted Green”

Nick Confessore:

Women are bankrolling political campaigns this year more than ever, driven by their rising rank in the workplace, boosts in women’s wealth, and networks set up to gather their donations and bolster their influence.

In an election year when women could be a decisive force, the transformation is occurring at every level of political giving and in both parties, from grass-roots supporters sending in a few hundred dollars to the rarefied ranks of ultrawealthy donors who fund “super PACs.”

Forty-three percent of all reported contributions to federal candidates for this election have come from women, according to an analysis of Federal Election Commission data by Crowdpac, a political crowdfunding website, higher than any election cycle on record. Women have also provided a fifth of all individual contributions to super PACs for this election, compared with just 1 percent in 2010, the year the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision paved the way for new levels of giving to outside groups.

The increase is especially pronounced on the left, with the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton galvanizing female donors. She has counted on women to help propel her toward the Democratic nomination, and could count on them even more in a general election race against Donald J. Trump.

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