Bill Mahoney is reporting for Politico NY the number of women running for the state Legislature has hit an all-time high, higher than the record set just two years ago. A total of 119 women will be on the November ballot with the support of a major party for 213 legislative seats, a notable increase from 105 in 2018. The GOP has made some progress toward gender balance: 31 of the 151 Republican candidates are women, up from 26 in the last election. Of the 141 Democrats running for the Assembly’s 150 seats, 65 of them, or 46 percent, are women. “Pro-choice women are given an example every day, certainly at the federal level, about how they’re being failed by this government and this administration,” said Brette McSweeney, president of Eleanor’s Legacy, an organization that recruits, trains and funds women candidates. “In order to make change, they need to be a part of this change,” she said. And recent high-profile victories have helped, McSweeney said. “They’re seeing they can run and win.” Democrat Brittany Vogel, a 28-year-old manager at a Kinderhook supermarket who is challenging Republican Assemblymember Jake Ashby, said the changing style of campaigning has also helped open the door for candidates who may have been unlikely contenders just a few years ago. Vogel said, “...[W]ith social media I think that’s a game changer for candidates like me, these grassroots candidates who come from the working class actually trying to make their way through into these seats of power." Read the full story at politico [dot] com.