Women Dominate Flipped Seats in 2025

Women were overwhelmingly responsible for seats that flipped from Republican to Democrat in Virginia state legislative elections in 2025, according to an analysis from the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University. This echoes a similar phenomenon in the 2017 state legislative races in Virginia — one year before women candidates led the change in party control of Congress in 2018. 

• This year, women were responsible for 10 of 13 (76.9%) Democratic pick-ups in Virginia’s 2025 House of Delegates elections, expanding the Democratic majority by 13 seats.
• In 2017, women were responsible for 11 of 15 (73.3%) total flipped seats in that cycle, narrowing the Republican majority in the House to two seats.
• One year later, in 2018, women won 21 of the 39 (53.8%) U.S. House seats that flipped from Republican to Democrat. As a result, Democrats took back the House majority from Republicans.
• Women also won 4 of the 7 (57.1%) gubernatorial elections in 2018 that flipped state executive offices from Republican to Democrat.

"The similarities in the national political environments of 2017-2018 and today raise the question of whether Virginia's election will again be a harbinger for Democratic women's energy and electability in 2026," said CAWP Director of Research Kelly Dittmar. "It's too early to know, but some of the early signs are there."

For additional context, see the post Women Candidates Are Key to Building Democratic Power on the CAWP blog. For more analysis on Virginia elections and their potential impact on the next legislative sessions, see Policy and Electoral Implications of Democratic Women Candidates’ Wins in Virginia 2025 Elections from Professor Rosalyn Cooperman of University of Mary Washington in Virginia.