Feinstein predicts 2018 will be ‘Year of the Woman’

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said on Saturday that 2018 could be another “Year of the Woman,” predicting that female candidates could sweep elections across the country. 

“I predict based on what I see out there that we are going to have another Year of the Woman,” Feinstein told party officials at the California Democratic Party Executive Board meeting, according to the Los Angeles Times.

“What it means is that we have an opportunity to really turn this next year into a year of change affecting women,” she added.

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Feinstein was first elected to the Senate in 1992, when a number of female candidates won bids for public offices.

Her comments on Saturday came as a growing number of prominent men in politics, business and beyond face allegations of sexual misconduct. Those allegations have reignited a nationwide conversation about sexual impropriety and gender discrimination in the workplace.

In recent weeks, several female lawmakers have come forward with accounts of their experiences with sexual harassment and assault, sparking a push to crack down on such behavior in Congress — an environment long known as a sort of boys club.

This week, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) was swept up in the allegations when a Los Angeles radio host accused him of forcibly kissing and groping her in 2006, while the two were on a USO tour together. 

Franken has since apologized for his behavior, though he has faced mounting calls from fellow lawmakers for an ethics investigation. 

Numerous women have also come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore. One accuser said that Moore initiated a sexual encounter with her when she was 14 and he was 32.

Moore has denied most of the allegations, and has said that he intends to stay in the Alabama Senate race, despite calls by dozens of GOP lawmakers and officials to step aside.