Women Breaking Records for the November 2020 General Election

Set for November 3rd, the 2020 General Election promises to be one of the most exciting. Despite concerns surrounding the possible outcome of the presidential election, there is positive news emerging – record numbers of women are running for office. Below is a selection of interesting statistics and developments.

Women in Federal Races

  • This year, 297 (203 Democrats, 94 Republicans) women have won U.S. House nominations. This is up from the 2018 record of 234 (182 Democrats, 52 Republicans). With these numbers, both Democrats and Republicans are set to break their previous records for their party.
  • 19 (12 Democrats, 7 Republicans) women have won major-party nominations for the U.S. Senate. This falls short of the record set in 2018 at 23 women having won major-party nominations for the Senate.
  • Women make up 35.6% of all major-party nominees for the House, and an incredible 47.8% of Democratic nominees are women.
  • There are 51 races being fought between two woman major-party nominees. This beats the 2018 record of 33 all-woman races.

Women of Color

  • 248 (162 Democrats, 86 Republicans) women of color are running for U.S. House in 2020, setting a new record.
  • 18 (13 Democrats, 5 Republicans) women of color are running for U.S. Senate, beating previous records since at least 2004.

States Breaking Records

  • Wyoming’s all-woman race guarantees that the state will send their first woman to the U.S. Senate this year.
  • All six major party nominees for the U.S. House from New Mexico are women.
  • New Hampshire will continue to be one of six states to have an all-woman U.S. Senate delegation as Incumbent Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D) secured the Democratic nomination for re-election this year.
  • Rhode Island is the only state that had no women candidates file to run for the U.S. Congress in 2020.

Women in State-Level Races

  • 46 women have won nominations for statewide elected executive offices, which is far below the 2018 record of 128.
  • 3346 women have won nominations for state legislatures around the country. This is down from the 2018 record of 3418.

Despite these exciting developments, women are still underrepresented as a proportion of all nominees, and the disparities between parties are notable. That said, women have broken records by incredible margins at almost every level of office, from statewide office to state legislatures to the U.S. Senate. These impressive achievements are to be celebrated.

For more amazing statistics and other updates on women in politics, go to http://www.cawp.rutgers.edu/potential-candidate-summary-2020

Data gathered from publications by the Center for American Women and Politics in the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J.

Resources:

Vote by Mail Rules by State

Herstorical Reading:

Women Breaking Records in the November 2018 Midterm Elections