With weeks left until the first caucus event of the year, (almost) all election-watching eyes are turned towards the presidential race. But there are also many states holding elections, both for congressional representation and state-level positions that are especially critical to women and women's health this year.

This year brings the opportunity to potentially elect four women of color to the U.S. Senate (Tammy Duckworth in Illinois, Kamala Harris in California, Donna Edwards in Maryland and Catherine Cortez Mastro in Nevada)—and will also see three states plus the District of Columbia feature a minimum wage increase on the ballot, a critical women's issue as two-thirds of all minimum wage workers are women and 60 percent of households have a woman as their primary or co-breadwinner.

And many states also feature critical races when it comes to reproductive rights.

"There's no question that women should have their eyes on these races," Rachel Thomas of Emily's List tells Glamour. "Over the past few years, Republicans in Congress have launched an all-out assault on women's access to health care, starting with attempts to pass national abortion bans to trying at every turn to defund Planned Parenthood. The good news is that we have an opportunity to turn that around by electing more women to the Senate in key states like New Hampshire, Illinois, Nevada, and Pennsylvania; and fixing the insane fact that we've never had a Latina in the Senate."

Adds Dawn Lageuns, executive vice President of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, to Glamour, "Planned Parenthood Action Fund has endorsed Hillary Clinton for President, but we can't forget that this extreme anti-women's health agenda will play in Congressional elections as well. Members of the House and Senate who have taken 20 unpopular votes to restrict women's health—and 8 to defund Planned Parenthood—are going to face tough re-election fights this year. The American people reject the out-of-touch, anti-abortion, anti-woman playbook of candidates like Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte, and voters will make that clear when they have their say in November."

Below, five states to watch and know about in 2016 and why.

New Hampshire: Not just a critical primary state in the presidential election, the Granite State is also home to a critical Senate race, with Governor Maggie Hassan, a Democrat, facing off against incumbent Senator Kelly Ayotte, a Republican. While Ayotte speaks of herself as a moderate, especially when it comes to women's issues, her voting record shows otherwise.