Women’s Congressional Candidacies Fall in Election 2024

After successive election cycles where multiple new candidate records were attained by women, candidacies in both chambers of Congress and across every race and ethnicity combination have dropped in election 2024, according to new data from the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University. Just a single new candidate record has been achieved this year: the number of Latina/Hispanic women running for U.S. Senate, four, is higher than the previous record of three set in 2022.

CAWP will share details about our 2024 candidate data, alongside additional information about women in election 2024, at a virtual press briefing on Tuesday, July 23rd at 1pm ET. This briefing will also provide data on gender and campaign finance, comparisons to previous election cycles, and trends we’re watching as we reach the midway point in the 2024 primaries.

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The numbers reported here reflect total major-party candidates, inclusive of women who have already won or lost primaries, as well as those with primaries still to come. They do not include candidates for non-voting positions in the U.S. House. These numbers can change because of late-filing candidates, withdrawals, or other reasons; visit our 2024 Summary of Women Candidates page for the most up-to-date numbers.
 

• U.S. House: 466 (301D, 165R) women are major-party candidates for House. The record is 583, set in 2020; 583 women also filed as major-party House candidates in 2022.
  • The record for Democratic women House candidates is 356, first set in 2018; 322 Democratic women ran for House in 2022.
  • The record for Republican women House candidates is 261, set in 2022.
• U.S. Senate: 52 (30D, 22R) women are major-party candidates for Senate. The record is 70, set in 2022.
  • The record for Democratic women Senate candidates is 37, set in 2020; 32 Democratic women ran for Senate in 2022.
  • The record for Republican women Senate candidates is 38, set in 2022.
• Governor: 17 (10D, 7R) women are major-party candidates for governor across 11 states. The number of states with gubernatorial races varies by cycle. While the record of 69 was set in 2022 when there were 36 gubernatorial races, 17 is the highest number of women candidates running when there were 11 gubernatorial contests. In 2020, the last time there were 11 gubernatorial races, 11 (4D, 7R) women ran for governor.
  • The record for Democratic women gubernatorial candidates is 41, set in 2018. (There were 36 gubernatorial races in 2018.)
  • The record for Republican women gubernatorial candidates is 37, set in 2022. (There were 36 gubernatorial races in 2022.)

Women’s congressional candidacies have also dropped at virtually every combination of chamber and race/ethnicity. Because multiracial women are included in counts for each group with which they identify, adding the numbers below will not yield the total number of women of color running for various offices in this year’s contests. Because CAWP uses a candidate self-ID system to verify race and ethnicity, these numbers may change as we receive additional verifications. See our Data on 2024 Women Candidates by Race and Ethnicity page for the most up-to-date numbers.
 

• Asian American/Pacific Islander women have not set new records as candidates for U.S. House or U.S. Senate in 2024.
  • U.S. House: 29 (17D, 12R). The record is 40, set in 2020.
  • U.S. Senate: 3 (1D, 2R). This matches the previous record of 3, first set in 2006.
  • Governor: 1 (1R).
• Black women have not set new records as candidates for U.S. House or U.S. Senate in 2024.
  • U.S. House: 89 (73D, 16R). The record is 134, set in 2022.
  • U.S. Senate: 12 (11D, 1R). The record is 22, set in 2022.
  • Governor: 5 (4D, 1R).
• Latina/Hispanic women have set a new record as candidates for the U.S. Senate but not for the U.S. House in 2024.
  • U.S. House: 57 (34D, 23R). The record is 85, set in 2022.
  • U.S. Senate: 4 (4D). This is a new record; the previous record was 3,first set in 2020.
  • Governor: 1 (1R).
• Middle Eastern/North African women candidates for the U.S. House are lower in 2024 than in 2020. Our data collection on MENA women begins in 2018, limiting our ability to make historical comparisons.
  • U.S. House: 12 (9D, 3R). 16 Middle Eastern/North African women ran for House in 2020.
  • U.S. Senate: 0. One Middle Eastern/North African woman ran for Senate in 2022.
  • Governor: 0.
• Native American/Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian women candidates remain low in 2024, but historical comparisons are difficult due to CAWP’s expansion of coding in this category. CAWP added Alaska Native as a category of self-identification in our data collection starting in 2019 and Native Hawaiian as a category for self-identification in our data collecting starting in 2021, limiting our ability to report historical information about these specific groups of women. The only directly comparable year is 2022. 
  • U.S. House: 9 (6D, 3R). In 2022, 17 Native American/Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian women were major-party candidates for the U.S. House.
    • Note: We are aware that Yvette Herrell is identified elsewhere as being of Native American heritage and as a member of the Cherokee Nation. She has provided her self-identification with us as white alone and, as such, is not counted here.
  • U.S. Senate: 2 (1D, 1R). In 2022, 3 Native American/Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian women were major-party candidates for the U.S. Senate.
  • Governor: 1 (1R).
• White women have not set new records as candidates for U.S. House or U.S. Senate in 2024.
  • U.S. House: 287 (173D, 114R). The record is 350, set in 2020.
  • U.S. Senate: 28 (12D, 16R). The record is 42, set in 2020.
  • Governor: 11 (6D, 5R).
• In addition to these women candidates, 1 (1D) woman candidate for the U.S. House has self-identified as multiracial alone and is not included in race-specific counts above.

To see this data compared to previous election cycles and in data visualizations, visit the 2024 Summary of Women Candidates and Data on 2024 Women Candidates by Race and Ethnicity pages on the CAWP website. These pages will update as new information becomes available. For additional detail about 2024 candidacies, including comparisons to the numbers of men running for office, see “Where Things Stand for Women in 2024 Congressional Elections” on the CAWP blog. Learn more on how we collect race and ethnicity data from our Methodological Statement on Race and Ethnicity. Find all the information about women in the 2024 elections at CAWP’s Election Watch.