New Records for Women Gubernatorial and U.S. Senate Candidates

Women have set new records for gubernatorial and U.S. Senate candidacies, according to new data from the Center for American Women and Politics, a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University. According to CAWP’s most recent data, 66 women have filed to run for governor around the country, surpassing the previous record of 61, set in 2018, while 69 women have filed to run in Senate races during the 2022 midterm elections, exceeding the previous record of 60, set in 2020. In 4 states, filing deadlines have not yet passed or complete filing data has not yet been reported, so these numbers will likely increase.

Additional candidacy records that have already been achieved in election 2022:

• There are 38 Republican women U.S. Senate candidates, surpassing the previous record of 23, set in 2020.
• There are 36 Republican women gubernatorial candidates, surpassing the previous record of 20, set in 2018.
• There are 249 Republican women candidates for U.S. House, surpassing the previous record of 227, set in 2020.

“Seeing new highs for women candidates is always welcome, but we must temper our enthusiasm with the knowledge that women are just 21.8% of all major-party Senate candidates and, despite their gains this year, only 19% of Republican Senate candidates,” said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics. “We’ve had a thrilling few years for women’s political advancement, but the work continues, and we have a great deal more to do.”

Find more data on women in the 2022 elections, including data visualizations and comparisons to previous election cycles, at our Election Watch 2022 Summary of Women Candidates, and discover context for the numbers in our fact sheet, Women as Percentage of 2022 Major-Party Candidates and Nominees.