A video of Duane Quam grabbing a microphone from Jamie Mahlberg in a debate, 2018 in a nutshell



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Many analysts predict that 2018 will be a "woman's year" – a year that is hosting a wave of successful candidates across the country. It is true that a record number of women occupy these positions, and many do so because they feel that their voices have been stifled in the political arena. This perception was summed up by a moment in a political debate on Monday when GOP lawmaker Duane Quam seized the microphone of Jamie Mahlberg, his Democratic opponent.

The moment has run out for about 39 minutes in a 50-minute debate. After Mahlberg made a statement about financing education, Quam came up and took the microphone. She seemed to react with shock, saying, "Oh!" A few minutes later, when she refused to take the microphone, he threw it in front of her.

"It was disappointing to receive the disrespectful behavior of my current representative," Mahlberg told Splinter. district. "Bustle asked Quam for advice.

Quam has been sitting in the Minnesota legislature since 2010. In 2016, he was arrested by another Democrat, Linda Walbruch, and beat him about 20 points, according to The New York Times. The district looks conservative; it includes pieces from Dodge and Olmsted counties, the first having voted heavily for President Donald Trump in 2016 and the last that was closely selected for Hillary Clinton, according to the Time.

according to The post-bulletinMahlberg has never been a candidate for power. She told the Minnesota newspaper that she had finally decided to do it after her loved ones had repeated it several times. "When you hear enough times, you think:" Okay, I'll check, "she said.

Quam told bulletin that he was happy to have the opportunity to debate problems with an opponent. "Having a conversation and a speech is good," he said. "And probably because I did not run away from the public discourse on some issues, it may have stimulated some people who have a different point of view."

A record number of women run for election this year, including about 2,400 women in the legislature, according to the NPR. The rise has mostly affected the Democrats, but also affected the Republicans.

There are currently about twice as many male legislators in Minnesota as women, according to The Star Tribune. The House of Representatives of the State has 134 seats, of which 49 are occupied by women, and the ratio is even more unbalanced in the Senate. Womenwinning, an organization that works to elect women in favor of choice in the state, has this year approved 53 nominations to the House. And it's an incomplete picture of the number of women running because the group will not support anti-abortion candidates from both parties.

"We have never seen this level of enthusiasm and commitment before," said Executive Director Lauren Beecham at the tribune.

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