GOP Women Surpass Previous High for Filed House Candidates

With candidate filings posted in 25 states, and deadlines passed in an additional two states that have not yet posted candidate lists, 140 Republican women have filed to run for U.S. House seats, a new high since the Center for American Women and Politicsbegan collecting this data in 1990. The previous high for Republican women House candidates was 133, set in 2010. With filing deadlines still open in nearly half of states, including New York and Florida, Republican women have further potential to add to their House candidate pool.

The 2018 election proved to be a difficult one for Republican women. While 120 GOP women filed for House races, and 52 were selected as nominees (nearly matching their high of 53 set in 2004), only 13 Republican women were elected to the House in 2018, reducing their representation in that chamber by 10 members. By comparison, in the 2018 election 356 Democratic women filed to run for House seats, 182 were selected as nominees, and 89 were elected to office. As a result of the 2018 elections, the 116th Congress had 36 new women House members, the largest class of freshman women in history; only one was a Republican.

“We are encouraged by this increase in the number of Republican women getting in the race in 2020, and equally encouraged at the work being done by organizations that support GOP women candidates, both long established groups and those recently-formed,” said CAWP Director Debbie Walsh. “Will these women get the support of donors, party insiders, and, ultimately, Republican voters in their primaries? Are they running in districts where they can win a general election? These are the questions we’ll be asking throughout this election year.”

In 2020, CAWP is following closely Republican women in their attempts to improve their standing relative to the last cycle. In addition to tracking filed candidates, nominees, and officeholders, we’re also paying particular attention to Republican women candidates’ potential for success in 2020, as seen in the recent analysis from CAWP Research Associate Claire Gothreau, The Current State of Republican Women and What Might Happen in 2020

For a full summary of women running for office in 2020, visit CAWP’s Candidate Summary. For a list of all women candidates by state, including filed candidates and likely candidates for states whose filing deadlines have not yet passed, head to CAWP’s 2020 Women Candidates page.