Can Women Compete in Political Fundraising?

The Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University, released the culminating report in our Women, Money, & Politics Watch 2024 report series tracking gender and fundraising during last year’s elections. Final Analysis: 2024 Women, Money, & Politics Watch analyzes campaign finance data for all 2024 congressional and state elections by candidate gender, women’s race and ethnicity, and party, revealing key differences in political fundraising between women and men as candidates and donors. The report also identifies obstacles and opportunities for women candidates in this critical domain of political strategy.

“As election costs rise alongside party competition, resources are increasingly integral to running successful campaigns. The 2024 election showed that women are formidable fundraisers,” said CAWP Senior Scholar and lead author Kira Sanbonmatsu. “At the same time, women and men raise money differently, in both congressional and state elections. We found that women’s voices aren’t heard to the same extent as men’s in terms of the money contributed to candidates.”

 Key findings in Final Analysis: 2024 Women, Money & Politics Watch include:

Self Financing 

• Men running for Congress usually had a higher average proportion of funds from self-financing than women.
• In open-seat state legislative races featuring a woman v. man, Republican men had a higher average proportion of funds from self-financing than Republican women.

Small Contributions

• Women running for the U.S. House usually had a higher average proportion of funds from small contributions than men.
• In our analysis of Cook Political Report’s most competitive congressional races featuring a woman v. man, the proportion of funds from small contributions was higher for women than men in 10 of 16 contests.
• In open-seat state legislative races featuring a woman v. man, women usually had a higher average proportion of funds from small contributions than men.

Money Raised from Individuals

• The average total raised by U.S. House women incumbent candidates was higher than the average for men. But the average raised by U.S. Senate incumbent men was higher than the average for women.
• The average amount raised by women seeking reelection to Congress varied by the candidate’s race/ethnic background.
• Women outraised men in 13 of the 16 woman v. man congressional races rated as the most competitive by The Cook Political Report. Men outraised women in three of the 16 races.
• In both parties, the average total raised by men state legislative incumbents usually exceeded the average total raised by women state legislative incumbents.
• In open-seat state legislative races, the average total raised by Republican men usually exceeded the average total raised by Republican women, while totals were similar for women and men running as Democrats.

Average Donation Amount

• The average donation to men congressional candidates was usually higher than the average donation to women congressional candidates. However, the average donation to U.S. Senate Democratic women candidates was higher than the average donation to Democratic men.

Additionally, CAWP updated The National View: Congressional Elections, which analyzes campaign contributions for women and men congressional candidates by state, and The State View: A Deep Dive into 10 States, which includes final data for congressional and state elections in select states. Women, Money, & Politics Watch 2024 uses interactive data visualizations powered by Graphicacy that are downloadable and shareable. Visit the project landing page and learn about donor gaps in election 2024 from our prior analysis.

This project is part of the CAWP Women, Money, and Politics series, undertaken in collaboration with OpenSecrets; previous reports can be found here. This research is made possible thanks to the generosity and commitment of Pivotal, a Melinda French Gates company. Find all CAWP data and analysis about women in election 2024 here.