For a complete analysis of gender and intersectional dynamics in the 2020 presidential election, see CAWP's report Tracking Gender in the 2020 Presidential Election, which includes a digital timeline that applies a gender and intersectional lens to key events during the 2020 presidential campaign. It provides clear examples of how presidential politics remain influenced by gender and race, specifically in: how candidates navigate campaigns; how candidates are perceived, evaluated, and treated by voters, media, and opponents; and how voters make electoral decisions.
Read the Report
This section provides information about the women in the 2020 presidential election, including an updated list of women who formally declared major-party candidacies. Also available via Presidential Watch: history of women running for president and vice president; voter attitudes towards a woman president; a selected bibliography about women, gender, and presidential candidacies; and relevant resources from election 2016. While CAWP provides information about women running for the nation’s highest office, we do not support or endorse any candidate.
Major-Party Woman Vice Presidential Candidate in 2020
Kamala Harris
(announced August 11, 2020; to be nominated August 19, 2020)
Senator Kamala Harris will be the third woman vice presidential nominee from a major U.S. party and the first multiracial woman, first South Asian woman, and first Black woman nominee for the vice presidency. Born on October 20, 1964, Harris was selected after running for president in the 2020 Democratic primary; she left the race before the first primary contest. Harris was District Attorney of San Francisco from 2004 to 2011. She was California's Attorney General from 2011 to 2017, serving as the first Black woman to be elected statewide in California. In 2016, Harris was became the first woman of color elected to the Senate from California, as well as the first South Asian woman and only the second Black woman in the U.S. Senate.
Major-Party Women Presidential Candidates in 2020
Elizabeth Warren
(announced December 31, 2018; withdrew March 5, 2020)
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2012 and re-elected in 2016. Before being elected to the Senate, Warren served as Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), was instrumental in the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and served as a law professor for more than 30 years, including nearly 20 years as the Leo Gottlieb Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.
Elizabeth Warren's Campaign Website
Kirsten Gillibrand
(announced January 15, 2019; withdrew August 28, 2019
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) was appointed to the U.S Senate in January 2009 and won re-election in 2010, 2012, and 2018. Before being elected to the Senate, Gillibrand represented New York’s 20th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2007 to 2009. Prior to her congressional career, Gillibrand worked as an attorney in both the private and public sectors, including time spent as a special counsel at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and law clerk for the United States Court of Appeals (Second Circuit).
Kirsten Gillibrand's Campaign Website
Kamala Harris
(announced January 21, 2019; withdrew December 3, 2019)
Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016. Before being elected to the Senate, Harris served as the 32nd Attorney General of California (2011-2017). From 2004 to 2011, she was the District Attorney of the city and county of San Francisco. Harris – who is both South Asian and Black – is the first South Asian woman, second Black woman, and just one of five women of color in history to be elected to the U.S. Senate. Harris was also the first Black person and first woman to serve as Attorney General of California.
Kamala Harris' Campaign Website
Tulsi Gabbard
(announced January 24, 2019; withdrew March 19, 2020)
Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2013. She is the first Hindu member and one of the first female combat veterans to serve in Congress. She previously served on the Honolulu City Council from 2011-2012. She also served in the Hawaii House of Representatives from 2002-2004. When she was first elected to the Hawaii House in 2002, at the age of 21, she was the youngest legislator ever elected in Hawaii's history and the youngest woman ever elected to a U.S. state legislature.
Tulsi Gabbard's Campaign Website
Marianne Williamson
(announced January 28, 2019; withdrew January 10, 2020)
Marianne Williamson is an author, lecturer, entrepreneur and activist. She is the founder of Project Angel Food, a volunteer food delivery program that serves homebound people with AIDS and other life challenging illnesses. She is also the co-founder of The Peace Alliance, a nonprofit grassroots education and advocacy organization supporting peacebuilding projects. In 2014, she unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in California.
Marianne Williamson's Campaign Website
Amy Klobuchar
(announced February 10, 2019; withdrew March 2, 2020)
Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) has served in the U.S. Senate since 2006. She was the first woman to be elected to the Senate from Minnesota. A graduate of Yale University and the University of Chicago Law School, Klobuchar was a corporate lawyer before running for public office. Klobuchar was first elected as Hennepin County Attorney in 1998, making her responsible for all criminal prosecution in Minnesota's most populous county, and she was reelected in 2002.
Amy Klobuchar's Campaign Website