Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

What the results of the midterms mean for women’s representation, by the numbers

Maura Healey

Maura Healey was elected governor of Massachusetts, becoming one of a record 12 women to lead a state at the same time.

Erin Clark/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Originally published by The 19th.

On the heels of two record election cycles for women candidates, 2022 cements a new normal for levels of representation. The number of women in Congress has stabilized, and next year a record-breaking number of women will serve as governor — including the first out lesbian governor in the country’s history.

While women’s representation didn’t make big gains, it’s also not backsliding, said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP). “This is much more status quo. We aren’t going to have the [representation gains of] 2018 and 2020 elections every cycle, although we’d like to.”

While a record 12 women are set to serve as governors, no records were broken for representation in Congress this year — still, at least 24 percent of U.S. House members and senators will be women. According to data from CAWP, of the 259 women nominees for seats in the U.S. House, at least 108 have won their races. Of 20 women nominees for Senate seats, four have won so far.


Women's representation in Congress

As of November 10 at 2:15 p.m. Central time, 21 House races and two Senate races with women nominees remain uncalled. However, The 19th has included several uncalled races into representation tallies — as one of the Senate races and two of the House races are between women. There have been no issues with vote counting, but in some states the only requirement on timing is that mail-in ballots have to be postmarked by Election Day, and as such wouldn’t have been picked up until that night or the next morning, so those ballots are still arriving and being tallied.

There’s still uncertainty about the number of women who will serve in the House, as 19 races with women nominees remain to be called. However, at least 110 women — a quarter of the House — are expected to serve.

Women gained seats in the House

The past two election cycles showed that women are good candidates to back, said Kelly Dittmar, CAWP’s director of research. “Women are in these crucial races and crucial positions to determine the balance of power,” she said. “I think at least thus far in the results we're seeing on the Democratic side, women are key to keeping power.”

Part of the reason representation has stabilized is an increase in woman versus woman races — as was the case for Democratic incumbent Elaine Luria, who lost her race for Virginia’s 2nd District to Republican Jen Kiggans.

Currently,  a minimum of 24 women senators are slated to serve next year, including one from Alaska, where two women are left in the running and votes are still being counted. Nineteen of those women senators were not up for election in 2022. The number could be as high as 25 if Democratic incumbent Catherine Cortez Masto, the first Latina senator, wins reelection in Nevada against Adam Laxalt.

The majority of elected women senators are White — 21 out of 23. The other two women senators, Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, are Asian American. While both chambers are roughly a quarter women, the women in the House are much more racially diverse. More frequent elections, as well as more seats, means more opportunities for more women to run in that Chamber.

Women in the Senate

The number of women senators has slowly grown since the 1970s but has plateaued in recent years. The current record for number of women serving simultaneously was set in 2020, when 26 women had seats due to special appointments. However, the record was short-lived because Martha McSally lost her Arizona seat to Democrat Mark Kelly in the election that year.

Black women continue to not be represented in the Senate. There have been no Black women in the Senate since Kamala Harris resigned to become vice president in 2021, and Senate bids by Val Demings in Florida and Cheri Beasley in North Carolina were unsuccessful. Only two Black women have ever served in the Senate.

“If one [Black] woman leaves, there’s no one else there,” Walsh said. “These gains are fragile, and we need to do more work on that front. Keeping a spotlight on it is really important.”

Eighteen years ago, the record for women governors serving simultaneously was set at nine. Next year 12 women governors will serve across the country. Arkansas, Massachusetts and New York elected their first woman governor. (Massachusetts and New York have had women governors appointed.)

Maura Healey’s gubernatorial win in Massachusetts made her the first out lesbian elected to the seat. If Tina Kotek wins in Oregon — as of writing, she is leading — she will also be one of the first LGBTQ+ women governors.

Notable is that there were two races with all women candidates: in Arizona and Oregon. Both are undecided as of publish time. Dittmar and Walsh both agree these types of contests are a sign of progress.

“It's also a really good reminder that women get to be as diverse in their viewpoints and perspectives, priorities, etcetera, as their male counterparts,” said Dittmar. In these all-women contests, gender isn’t neutralized but rather deployed in different ways, she explained. “We get to see that being a woman candidate, being a woman doesn't mean the same thing for everybody.”

Still, this record means that women make up only 24 percent of state executive leadership. And all of those women except one are White: New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat who won reelection this week, is Latina. No state has yet elected a Black women governor, as Democrat Stacy Abrams lost her second Georgia gubernatorial bid to incumbent Brian Kemp.

Reflecting on representation so far, Dittmar was frank. “Progress is not inevitable.”

“We worried a lot in ’18 that folks would declare it the year of the woman and then they would declare the job done,” she said. “I don’t think that’s why this year is necessarily a stasis, but I think we have to be wary and cautious about that.”

Read More

IssueVoter Bill of the Month (July 2025): The Global Stakes of America’s $9 Billion Budget Cut

As Congress considers slashing nearly a decade's worth of international assistance, the ripple effects could extend far beyond Washington's balance sheets

Bill Track 50

IssueVoter Bill of the Month (July 2025): The Global Stakes of America’s $9 Billion Budget Cut

The Rescissions Act of 2025 was finally passed on July 18 and its implications will reverberate across continents. This $9 billion budget cut represents far more than fiscal housekeeping—it signals a fundamental retreat from America's role as the world's primary humanitarian superpower.

The bill represents a significant fiscal policy initiative that seeks to permanently cancel previously allocated but unspent federal budget authority - known as 'rescissions'. Introduced in the House on June 6, 2025, by Representative Steve Scalise and five Republican co-sponsors, this legislation implements budget rescissions proposed by President Trump on June 3, 2025, under the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974. The cuts essentially codify actions taken by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) over recent months - which has been criticized for appropriating congressional authority over budgetary matters by halting spending previously approved by Congress.

Keep ReadingShow less
Image of a U.S. map noting the locations of 1000 NPR Member Station signals broadcasting across the United States

There are over 1000 NPR Member Station signals broadcasting across the United States

There’s nothing “meh” about dismantling public media

This morning we woke to our local NPR affiliate, WAMU, reporting a story about how the public media network it belongs to is on the brink of losing funding, per a party-line vote in the U.S. Senate last night.

The public media portion of the claw-back is 1.1 billion – the amount Congress previously approved to fund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributes funds to NPR, PBS and over 1500 local radio and TV stations that serve communities around the U.S. The deadline for the House to seal the deal is tomorrow – July 18.

Keep ReadingShow less
Two people holding hands, comforting each other.

The National Domestic Violence Hotline fields up to 3,000 calls and messages a day from all over the country.

Getty Images, Tempura

Trump Funding Cuts Endanger Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Survivors

The Trump administration’s funding cuts and new rules for grants are threatening critical programs from food and housing to medical research, parks, and much more. Among them are programs proven to prevent and reduce violence as well as initiatives that assist survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and other acts of violence.

Although the administration claims to care about violence—citing concerns about “rapists,” for example, in justifying policies that target immigrants and transgender individuals—its actions in fact increase the risk of violence and jeopardize survivors’ safety and ability to move forward. The administration’s harsh approach aligns with Project 2025’s failure to support critical social services, which can be a lifeline for victims of sexual violence or domestic abuse.

Keep ReadingShow less
Did Putin Play Trump?

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during the New Ideas For New Times Forum at the Russia National Center, July 3, 2025, in Moscow, Russia.

(Photo by Contributor/Getty Images)

Did Putin Play Trump?

President Donald Trump issued a warning to Russia this week. He demanded that Russian leader Vladimir Putin end the Ukraine war in 50 days, or else. But does anyone care?

“Putin played Trump” has resurfaced with renewed intensity as political analysts, former aides, and media commentators dissect the evolving dynamic between the two leaders. What was once a murmur has become a chorus, with even conservative voices acknowledging that Trump may have misjudged the Russian president’s intentions.

Keep ReadingShow less