More women are running for the Senate in 2018 than any other election cycle as of Wednesday afternoon.
According to the Associated Press, 41 women were now qualified to run for state Senate, which beats the previous all-time high of 40 women who ran in 2016. The record was broken on Wednesday when GOP state Senator of Wisconsin Leah Vukmir filed petitions to run against Senator Tammy Baldwin.
Though records aren’t just breaking in the Senate. Vox reported back in April that 309 women filed candidacy papers to run for the house, and it is most likely to grow in the next coming months. The previous record was set in 2012 with 298 women running, according to the AP.
I was part of a movement in TN during the 2016 election to get more progressive women to run for office, specifically where incumbents were unopposed. None of us won but I truly believe we made a difference. 2018 is proof that we can’t win unless we run. #whysheruns
— Courtenay Rogers (@courtenayrogers) May 23, 2018
Men have dominated the Senate for a really long time. Since the Senate was founded, there has been 1,971 members of the Senate, but only 52 of them have been female. As of right now 23 women serve in the senate. Even though that is more than women seated than at any other point in history, it remains a fact that despite making up more than half the US population, less than 20 percent of women make up Congress.
In #Maryland, we’ve had 62 governors, none of them women. In 2018, there are 0 women in statewide or federal elected office. Let’s change that. #KrishforMaryland #mdpolitics #BlueWave #whysheruns #ItsTime https://t.co/SkYukvqM3F
— Krish Vignarajah (@KrishForMD) May 30, 2018
Research has shown though that on average women get more done as lawmakers than men. The average female lawmaker supports more bills and gets more legislation passed into law than their male counterparts, according to multiple studies completed on congressional sessions.
There’s no single reason as to why there is a rise of female Congressional candidates, but the 2016 election of Donald Trump has inspired many to run. An organization dedicated to electing pro-choice women into office, EMILY’s List, saw an outpour of women wanting to run, telling the Washington Post that they were approached by 900 women in 2015 and 2016. As reported by Time, that number has grown exponentially with 26,000 possible female candidates reaching out to the organization. The initial shock and fear of Trump’s election and Hillary Clinton’s loss turned into action for many women.
Proud to be among the 369 women running for U.S. House! We are fed up with #Republicans trying to take away our reproductive rights & #healthcare, still no equal pay & the pandering to the 1%. We’re ready to make things happen in 2018. #nmpol #whysheruns #timesup https://t.co/8yhtjqViE7
— Deb Haaland (@Deb4CongressNM) January 12, 2018
The pool of women running for office is still dominated by Democrats. According to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, 332 of the 400 women running for House seats are Democrats, and a majority of women vying for Senate seats are Democrats too.
“The march toward gender equity in the Senate is inexorable. It’s a matter of attitude, and sends the message to young women they can do whatever they want or can,” said former Senator Carol Moseley Braun to the AP.
More women potentially in the Senate means more pressure to hopefully act on issues that are important to female voters, especially in today’s political climate.