Women Make History in the 2018 Congressional Primaries

The 2018 primaries for federal office drew to a close this week, with women candidates setting records and breaking barriers throughout the country. The Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), a division of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University, has tracked these successes throughout the primary season.

"We are certainly on track to see a record number of women in the 116th Congress," says CAWP Director Debbie Walsh, "but achieving gender parity in Congress will take more than one election cycle."

Here's a summary of women's congressional primary successes, with primary results from Louisiana to be determined on November 6th.

U.S. House

• 235 women (183D, 52R) have won House nominations, up from the record of 167 (120D, 47R) set in 2016.
• Democrats have nominated 183 women for the House this year, surpassing their previous record of 120, set in 2016.
• Republicans, with 52 nominations of women, fell short of their 2004 record of 53 by a single nomination.
• Women make up 28.7% of all major-party nominees, 42.9% of Democratic nominees, and 13.3% of Republican nominees.
• 34% of all women nominees for the U.S. House are women of color, including 35.5% of Democratic and 28.8% of Republican women nominees.

States to Watch:

• Pennsylvania, the largest state in the country that does not currently have a woman in its congressional delegation, will shed that dubious distinction this year, as both major-party nominees for the state's 5th congressional district, Pearl Kim (R) and Mary Gay Scanlon (D), are women. If Kim wins in November, she will also become the first woman of color to represent the state in Congress.
• In South Carolina, another one of 11 states with no women currently in Congress, Katie Arrington (R) - who defeated incumbent Mark Sanford in the primary - is currently favored to win in the 1st congressional district.
• South Dakota will lose its woman in Congress this year. Current Representative Kristi Noem (R) is the state's Republican nominee for governor. 

Milestones:

• Deb Haaland (D) of New Mexico is likely to become the first Native American woman in the U.S. Congress. Sharice Davids (D), in a more challenging race in Kansas' 3rd congressional district, could join her.
• Michigan's Rashida Tlaib (D) and Minnesota's Ilhan Omar (D) are set to become the first Muslim-American women in Congress. Omar, who is Somali-American, would also become the first woman of color to represent her state in Congress.
• Two more Black women, Jahana Hayes (D-CT) and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), are also likely to be the first women of color in their states' congressional delegations.
• In Texas, two of four Latina nominees - Veronica Escobar (D) and Sylvia Garcia (D) - are favored to win in November; they will be the first Latinas to represent Texas in Congress. 

U.S. Senate

• 22 women (15D, 7R) won Senate primaries this year, beating 2012's record of 18 (12D, 6R). Incumbent Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) will compete for the MS Senate special election nomination on November 6th.
• Democrats nominated 15 women in Senate races this year, outpacing their previous record of 12, first set in 2012.
• Republicans nominated 7 women for Senate this year, topping their 2012 record of 6.
• Women make up 32.4% of all major-party nominees, 42.9% of Democratic nominees, and 21.9% of Republican nominees.
• Incumbent Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI) is the only woman of color nominee for the U.S. Senate this year.

Milestones:

• Arizona will get its first woman senator this year, as both major-party nominees are women. The contest between Martha McSally (R) and Kyrsten Sinema (D) is just one of 32 all-women congressional races this year - a new high. The previous record was set in 2002, at 19.
• Marsha Blackburn is the first woman to be nominated by the Republican party of Tennessee in a Senate race, and, if she wins in November, she will become the state's first woman senator.
• If elected in November, current Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R) will become the first woman elected to Congress from Mississippi.

CAWP will provide more information and greater detail, along with visualizations of our data, at this summary page of the 2018 primary. Our full election information, as well as candidate lists and historical information, is available through our Election Watch page.