Women's Congressional Representation Unlikely to Expand in Illinois and Ohio

Primary elections for congressional races were held yesterday in Illinois and Ohio, and the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University, has analyzed results for women candidates in March 19th contests. Full results for women in these races are available on this post on our Election Analysis page; there are no undecided races featuring women candidates, so these are the final results for women in 2024 Illinois and Ohio primaries, barring unforeseen circumstances.

Among the most notable results for women:

• All women U.S. House incumbents from Illinois and Ohio will run for re-election in November. While most are favored to win, two women incumbents from Ohio – Representatives Marcy Kaptur (D) and Emilia Sykes (D) – are seeking re-election in contests currently rated as toss ups by Cook Political Report. Kaptur is currently the longest-serving woman in Congress; she has served since 1983. 
• Illinois is unlikely to expand women’s representation in its congressional delegation, as both women nominees running as challengers are competing in districts that strongly favor their incumbent opponent.
• All women U.S. House nominees from Ohio are Democrats. No Republican woman has represented Ohio in Congress since 2013. 
• No woman has ever served in the U.S. Senate from Ohio, and that will not change this year, as no women filed as major-party candidates in the 2024 Senate race in Ohio.

For full results for women candidates in yesterday's primary contests, see the Election Analysis post for March 19th primaries on the CAWP website. For full context on women in the 2024 elections, visit CAWP's Election Watch.