Resources for Covering Women in the 2026 Elections

With the first primary elections of the 2026 midterms just two weeks away, the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University, shares resources for covering women in this year’s elections and understanding their place in American politics.

These resources are available on CAWP’s newly-redesigned website. The most recent iteration of the CAWP website makes our research and data more accessible, refreshes the site’s visual identity, and makes it easier to navigate for all visitors.
 

Election Watch 2026 Resources

• 2026 Summary of Women Candidates: All the numbers on women running for Congress, governor, other statewide elective executive office, and state legislature with accompanying data visualizations. Comparisons of 2026 data to historical records and previous election cycles.
• 2026 Potential and Filed Women Candidates: Full list of announced and potential women candidates for Congress, governor, and other statewide elective executive office. Real-time updates throughout the primary season and will become the official list of all filed candidates once filing deadlines have passed.
• Election Results and Analysis: Results for women candidates in every primary election contest alongside analysis of trends and data in election 2026 from CAWP experts and external scholars.
• Women as Percentage of 2026 Major-Party Candidates and Nominees
• Women, Money, & Politics Watch 2026: Launching in early March, this resource will analyze gender and campaign finance data throughout the 2026 election from both a candidate and donor perspective.
• Rebound Candidates in 2026 Elections: List of candidates who lost a 2024 congressional or statewide election but are running again for the same or different office.
• Woman vs. Woman: Congressional and Gubernatorial Races: Tracks every general election contest for Congress or governor in which both major-party nominees are women. Links to a full list of all such elections going back to 1944, when the first all-woman general election for these offices occurred.
• Historical Facts on Women Candidates: Decades of CAWP data on women candidates and nominees for president, vice president, Congress, statewide elective executive offices including governorships, and state legislatures. This page also includes information on the current records for women candidates and nominees for various levels of office with breakdowns by party.

Additional Resources

• Data on Officeholders: Explore women’s current political representation from local office all the way up to Congress, and see women’s representation in your state with our interactive state-by-state map. Also see CAWP’s Women Elected Officials Database, which contains entries for every woman to serve in statewide executive office, state legislature, Congress, and federal executive office going back to 1893 when the first woman was elected to statewide office.
• Data on Voters: Women vote in larger numbers and higher proportions than their male counterparts. Explore historical information on gender differences in registration and turnout as well as gender gaps in vote choice and party identification.

For questions about these resources, navigating the new website, or booking an interview with a CAWP expert, reach out to CAWP Director of Communications Daniel De Simone.