More women are running for office this year than during the record-breaking 2018 midterms


We might have declared "the Year of the Women" a little prematurely. While the 2018 midterm elections saw a historic number of women run for Congress, 2020 has already broken that record, Andrea González-Ramírez reports for Gen.
In 2018, 529 women filed to run for the House or the Senate, according to Vox, with 117 ultimately elected or appointed. This year, some 538 female congressional candidates have already filed their paperwork.
Among them are 490 women vying for House seats, according to data from Rutgers University's Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), up from 476 in 2018. "And with candidate filing deadlines still weeks away in 14 states," Gen writes, "we can expect even more women to step forward." So far, 48 women have filed to run for Senate in 2020, just behind 2018's record of 53.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Additionally, Gen notes that 195 of the women running for the House this year are on the Republican ticket, "far more than the previous high of 133 in the 2010 midterms." You can read more about the nine women to watch this cycle over at Gen.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
-
Doom: The Dark Ages – an 'exhilarating' prequel
The Week Recommends Legendary shooter adds new combat options from timed parries to melee attacks and a 'particularly satisfying' shield charge
-
7 US cities to explore on a microtrip
The Week Recommends Not enough vacation days? No problem.
-
Sudoku medium: May 14, 2025
The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
-
Hamas frees US hostage in deal sidelining Israel
speed read Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old soldier, was the final living US citizen held by the militant group
-
White Afrikaners land in US as Trump-declared refugees
speed read An exception was made to Trump's near-total ban on admitting refugees for the white South Africans
-
Qatar luxury jet gift clouds Trump trip to Mideast
speed read Qatar is said to be presenting Trump with a $400 million plane, which would be among the biggest foreign gifts ever received by the US government
-
Trump taps Fox News' Pirro for DC attorney post
speed read The president has named Fox News host Jeanine Pirro to be the top federal prosecutor for Washington, replacing acting US Attorney Ed Martin
-
Trump, UK's Starmer outline first post-tariff deal
speed read President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Kier Starmer struck a 'historic' agreement to eliminate some of the former's imposed tariffs
-
Fed leaves rates unchanged as Powell warns on tariffs
speed read The Federal Reserve says the risks of higher inflation and unemployment are increasing under Trump's tariffs
-
Denmark to grill US envoy on Greenland spying report
speed read The Trump administration ramped up spying on Greenland, says reporting by The Wall Street Journal
-
Supreme Court allows transgender troop ban
speed read The US Supreme Court will let the Trump administration begin executing its ban on transgender military service members