Results from Tuesday night’s primaries in four states offered yet another strong showing by women candidates this cycle, particularly on the Democratic side. CRP took this opportunity to examine the data on women candidates over time, with special attention to the results by party and gender for candidates in primary races.

This linked spreadsheet highlights the relative success of male versus female candidates for House races over the past quarter-century.

The data includes candidates who filed with the Federal Election Commission and which CRP identified as active in the election cycle. “Nominees” are candidates who won primaries and “elected” candidates are those who won in the general election.

Looking at the Democrats over time, there has been a steady increase in the number of women nominated and elected. In addition, Democratic women have been more likely to win primaries and general elections than Democratic men.

Of all the Democratic women who ran for the House in 2016, for instance, 59 percent won primaries and 30 percent won the general while male Democrats won 44 percent of primaries and 20 percent in the general election.

Both these trends have turned up sharply in the current cycle. Women are winning Democratic primaries at a much higher rate than in previous cycles — an acceleration of historical trends.

This shift is more dramatic for non-incumbent candidates. Democratic women running as challengers or open-seat candidates in House races have been more than twice as likely to win primaries compared to men.



In contrast, Republican women have historically been less successful than Republican men in general elections. In fact, when running as non-incumbents, they have had a lower rate of election than Republican men. The current cycle has shown no change in these trends.

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This is in keeping with the historical trend of increasing numbers of Democratic women in the House versus relatively static numbers of Republican women.

The trends are similar for Democratic versus Republican nominees. There are still primaries to be run, but there is already a record number of women winning major party House primaries, specifically on the Democratic side.

The current election cycle has seen a dramatic increase in the number of women running for office. At the same time, this is simply an acceleration of a trend going back over a generation. Women have also won a record 13 Democratic Senate primaries this year.

For more information on women in politics, check out the excellent data resources from the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.



For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center: Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit the Center for Responsive Politics.For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center: [email protected]





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