Why Fewer Women (and Men) Are Running for Congress This Year
Originally published by Simone Pathe for CNN
Vice President Kamala Harris is making history as just the second woman to lead a major-party presidential ticket – and, notably, the first Black woman and first South Asian. But lower down the ballot, fewer women are running for office this year.
After several election cycles that saw a record number of female candidates make bids for Congress, the decline across both parties and chambers is striking – especially among Republicans.
The number of Republican women running for the House this cycle dropped about 36% from 2022, while the number running for Senate dropped by about 45%, according to data from the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers. For Democrats, the decline in total number of female candidates from two years ago was smaller – a 7% drop for the House and a 9% drop for the Senate.
But the numbers among women may not tell the whole story. That’s because the number of men running for office has declined, too, which strategists on both sides of the aisle chalk up to this being a presidential election year with a particularly narrow House battlefield compared with the 2022 midterms.
But even as a percentage of total candidates, the number of women running for the House this year is down from 2022, when a record number of them won election to the 118th Congress.
As a percentage of total candidates within their party, Republican women have had a more significant drop in 2024, making up 18% of total House GOP candidates compared with 21% during the 2022 midterms. (The percentage for Democratic women has stayed relatively constant since 2020.) In the Senate, women make up a higher percentage of Democratic candidates than they did two years ago, but it’s the opposite for Republican women.
“The fact that you have a steeper decline in those numbers tells me there’s something going on with Republicans,” said Kelly Dittmar, director of research at CAWP.
What exactly is going on, however, is harder to pinpoint.
A different kind of map
In 2022, historical expectations over the party out of power picking up seats in the first midterm after a presidential election contributed to high candidate interest among Republicans.
“Last cycle, people were talking about a red wave, and so you had a lot more people coming out to run,” said a House Republican strategist.
And that interest contributed to electoral success for GOP female candidates, even if the so-called red wave didn’t materialize. A record number of Republican women serve in the 118th Congress, although they’re still a small minority.