2014: Not a Landmark Year for Women, Despite Some Notable Firsts
This release was last updated on December 16, 2014
A total of 104 women will serve in the 114th Congress, according to the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Twenty women (14D, 6R) will serve in the Senate, and there will be a new record 84 women (62D, 22R) in the U.S. House. Before the election, there were 99 women in Congress: 20 women in the Senate and 79 in the House.
As a result of a special election, Alma Adams (D-NC) became the 100th woman in the current Congress when she took office on November 12; she was simultaneously elected to a full term beginning in January 2015.
The number of women governors will remain at 5 (2D, 3R), and the number of women lieutenant governors will remain at 11, including two holdovers. In other statewide offices, 59 women will serve, including 31 women who won Tuesday and 28 holdovers. Fifty-six women currently serve in these offices.
“Because we continue to see more Democratic than Republican women running, years like this one when Republicans do well don’t yield major gains for women,” noted CAWP director Debbie Walsh. “While Republicans won big across the country, women remain seriously underrepresented among GOP officeholders.”
U.S. Senate
A total of 4 women won their Senate races (1D, 3R), including 2 (2R) newcomers and 2 (1D, 1R) incumbents who won re-election. Also remaining in the Senate are 16 women (13D, 3R) who were not up for election this year.
- The 2 newcomers (2R) won open seats; they are Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV).
- Two incumbents (1D, 1R) won re-election: Susan Collins (R-ME) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH).
- Two incumbents (2D) were defeated: Kay Hagan (D-NC) and Mary Landrieu (D-LA).
In 2014, there were 20 women (16D, 4R) in the Senate. The only woman of color in the Senate is Sen. Mazie Hirono
(D-HI), who was not up for election this year.
Notable firsts
- The 114th Congress will have six GOP women senators, the largest number to date.
- Senator-Elect Joni Ernst will be the first woman ever in Iowa’s congressional delegation – House or Senate – and first woman veteran to serve in the U.S. Senate.
U.S. House of Representatives
A total of 12 new women (7D, 5R) have been elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, joining 72 incumbents who won re-election to bring the total to 84 (62D, 22R). Before this election, the record number of women serving in the House was 79, which occurred between 2011 and 2014. The addition of Alma Adams as a result of a November 2014 special election brings the total number of women in the House to 80 and the total number of women in Congress to 100 for the period between November 12, 2014 and January 2015.
When the 114th Congress convenes, it will include:
- 72 (55D, 17R) re-elected incumbents
- 2 (1D, 1R) women who defeated incumbent members of Congress
- 10 (6D, 4R) women who won open House seats.
In addition, two non-voting Democratic delegates from Guam and Washington, DC were re-elected, and two new delegates were elected from the U.S. Virgin Islands (D) and American Samoa (R).
The new women in the U.S. House are: Martha McSally (R-AZ); Norma Torres (D-CA); Mimi Walters (R-CA); Gwen Graham (D-FL); Debbie Dingell (D-MI); Brenda Lawrence (D-MI); Alma Adams (D-NC); Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ); Kathleen Rice (D-NY); Elise Stefanik (R-NY); Mia Love (R-UT); Barbara Comstock (R-VA). The new delegates are Stacey Plaskett (D-VI) and Amata Radewagen (R-AS).
The new House members include 5 women of color (4D, 1R): Adams, Lawrence, Love, Torres, and Watson Coleman. Plaskett is also Black, and Radewagen is an Asian/Pacific Islander.
There will be a record total of 32 women of color in the House (29D, 3R), including 18 African American women (17D, 1R), 9 Latinas (7D, 2R), and 5 Asian/Pacific Islander Americans (5D).
One incumbent woman was defeated: Carol Shea Porter (D-NH).
In 2014, there were 79 women in the House (60D, 19R), along with three women serving as non-voting delegates from Washington, DC, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam. Six were not general election candidates for the House: Colleen Hanabusa (D-HI) ran for U.S. Senate and lost her primary; Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) ran for the U.S. Senate and won; Allyson Schwartz (D-PA) ran for Governor and lost her primary; Gloria Negrete McLeod (D-CA) ran for county supervisor; Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) and Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) retired. One delegate, Donna Christensen
(D-VI) ran for governor.
Notable firsts
- Mia Love (R-UT) is the first African American Republican woman in Congress.
- Love and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) are the first African American women in Congress from their states.
- Elise Stefanik (R-NY), age 30, will be the youngest woman to serve in Congress, taking over that title from former Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman, who was 31 when she took office in 1973.
Governor
The total number of women governors as of 2015 will be 5 (2D, 3R), the same number as in 2014. Governor-elect Gina Raimondo (D-RI) who won an open seat, was one of 9 women (6D, 3R) nominated; she will join 4 incumbent women (1D, 3R) who were re-elected: Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Susana Martinez (R-NM), Mary Fallin (R-OK), and Nikki Haley (R-SC). Two of the women governors, Martinez and Haley, are women of color; they were the first women of color elected. In addition, Donna Christensen lost her race for governor in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Other Statewide Elected Executive Offices
In statewide elected executive offices other than governor, 9 women (3D, 6R) have won lieutenant governor seats; along with 2 holdovers, there will be 11 women lieutenant governors in 2015.
Thirty-one women (13D, 18R) have won other statewide elected executive offices. An additional 28 holdovers (15D, 13R) will serve in 2015. Four women of color were among the winners in these offices; one holdover is a woman of color.
Notable firsts in statewide elected executive offices
- Gina Raimondo is the first woman elected governor of Rhode Island.
- Evelyn Sanguinetti (R-IL) will be the first Latina lieutenant governor in any state and the only new woman of color in a state’s number two post.
- Nellie Gorbea, Rhode Island’s new secretary of state, is the first Latina elected statewide in that state and the first Latina elected to a statewide executive post in New England.
- Maura Healy, attorney general-elect in Massachusetts, is the first LGBT woman elected to that post in any state.
