Republican Women Set New Record for U.S. House Nominees
Saturday, June 27, 2020
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A record 54 Republican women have secured nominations in races for U.S. House seats in the 2020 election, according to data collected by the Center for American Women and Politics, a division of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University. The previous record of 53 was set in 2004. Thus far, 114 Democratic women have won nominations for House seats in 2020, still short of their record of 182 set during the 2018 midterms. Multiple women of both parties are competing in races from the June 23rd primary that remain too close to call, and primary races are yet to be held in 24 states, so these numbers are expected to rise.
In other election news for women candidates, congressional and statewide primaries were held on Tuesday in three states: Kentucky, New York, and Virginia. Runoff congressional elections were also held in North Carolina and Mississippi. Full results for women candidates in these contests from CAWP are available on our Election Analysis page, and, as many races remain too close to call due to the reliance on mail-in voting, these results will be updated as races are called. Complete context about women in the 2020 elections, including candidate lists, summaries, results from previous primaries, and historical comparisons, are available via CAWP's Election Watch.
Among the most notable results for women thus far:
- Two of three of Virginia's women representatives to the U.S. House - Representatives Elaine Luria (D) and Abigail Spanberger (D) - will run in competitive contests in November to defend the seats they first won in 2018. The third incumbent - Representative Jennifer Wexton (D) - will be challenged by another woman - Aliscia Andrews (R) - in a general election contest currently favoring Wexton.
- While at least one woman will be a U.S. House nominee in Kentucky this year, no women are favored to win in November. Kentucky has not had a woman serve in the U.S. House since 2007.
- Lynda Bennett (R), who was endorsed by President Trump and former Representative Mark Meadows, was defeated in the Republican primary runoff in North Carolina's 11th congressional district. This would have been a likely pick-up for Republican women.
- 12 (6D, 6R) women have already secured major-party nominations in New York's U.S. House races, including 5 (4D, 1R) of the 7 (6D, 1R) incumbent women representatives running for re-election this year (Representative Nita Lowey is not running for re-election). There will be at least one all-woman contest in New York's congressional elections this fall, a rematch from 2018 between Representative Elise Stefanik (R) and Tedra Cobb (D) in New York's 21st congressional district. Former Representative Claudia Tenney (R) will also run to reclaim her seat in New York's 22nd congressional district.
For more information, see the full analysis of how women fared in yesterday's contests on our Election Analysis page. Complete context about women in the 2020 elections can be found on CAWP's Election Watch.