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Arizona, U.S. Senate
Democrat Kyrsten Sinema,
currently in the U.S. House,
will face either GOP House
member Martha McSally or
former state legislator Kelli
Ward for the seat vacated by
Senator Jef Flake.
PHOTOS:AP PHOTO(1);BLOOMBERG (1);GETTY IMAGES (3); DATA:THE CENTER FOR RESPONSIVE POLITICS;BLOOMBERG ANALYSIS OF FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION DATA
The Year of theWoman
Elections
A record number of women are running for Congress in 2018. As of the end of
April, the count was 527, with more than a dozen states still taking candidates.
That’s a 67 percent jump from 2016. Says Stephanie Schriock, president of
pro-choice PAC Emily’s List: “I think we’re really on the verge of a sea change.”
If all women incumbents win,
15 percent of women challengers
unseat men, and competitive races
break women’s way—a highly unlikely
prospect—women would hold about
30 percent of seats in Congress, up
from 20 percent now.
Texas 16th and 29th
Democrats Veronica
Escobar and Sylvia Garcia
won primaries in heavily
Democratic districts around
El Paso and Houston. They’d
be the first Latinas elected
from Texas.
California 49th
Two of the top candidates
for Representative Darrell
Issa’s seat are Republican
women: former Encinitas
Mayor Kristin Gaspar and
Diane Harkey, a former state
assemblywoman.
Women are competing in 278 of 435 House districts, more than twice as many as in 2000.
While more
women than ever
are running, they
still make up only
23.1 percent of the
candidate pool,
because men are
running in record
numbers, too.
As recently as the
Tea Party wave of
2010, the number
of Democratic
and Republican
women candidates
was almost equal.
This year, far more
Democratic women
are running.
TheUpshot
Races toWatch
2018
278 races
2016
204
2010
197
Tea Party emerges
Bush v. Gore
Trump elected
2000
136
2000
2018
2000
2018
400
200
0
500
250
0
Women in a major party on
a primary or general ballot
Democrats Republicans
Women on a primary or general election ballot
Number of candidates
Share of candidates
13.4%
23.1%