Rebecca Kinney has been a senior field tester for FirstEnergy Corp., in northern Pennsylvania, for 29 years. The majority of that time, Kinney has been the only female on the job.

In January, Kinney did something out of character even for her: She entered the race for the 111th state House district, which covers Wayne and Susquehanna counties in the northeastern tip of the state.

A first-time candidate, Kinney, 59, is running unopposed as a Democrat in an historically Republican district. She is among the growing slate of progressive women - statewide and across the country - who in the wake of the 2016 election have entered a political race.

With Democrats looking to score big wins in the November midterms, the roster of progressive candidates, particularly women, stands at what pundits say are unprecedented levels. Since 2016, approximately 34,000 women have contacted the non-profit organization Emily's List, an advocacy group that supports progressive female candidates.

"Women are done taking it from leaders and politicians who aren't looking out for their best interest and the best interest of families," said Alexandra De Luca, an Emily's List spokeswoman.

"We are seeing women in Pennsylvania coming out and taking action and deciding it's not enough to call Congress or go to a march. They understand that the best way to help families and the community is to run for office."

Of the nearly 100 candidates who have entered Congressional races in Pennsylvania, 23 are women. On the Democratic side, 98 women are registered to run for the state House and 13 have filed to run for the state Senate. On the Republican side, 47 women are running in legislative races; one in a congressional race. Women are also vying for their party's nomination in the primary in the race for governor and lieutenant governor.

Nationally, approximately 390 women are running for a U.S. House seat; 49 for U.S. Senate.

Nina Ahmad (top left), Laura Ellsworth (top right), Chrissy Houlahan (bottom left) and Jess King are just four among the unprecedented number of women running in the 2018 election cycle.

For many of these candidates an overriding fact underscores their motivation: All 18 members of Pennsylvania's U.S. House delegation and both U.S. Senators are male. In the state Legislature, women account for only nine of the 50 members of the Senate and 40 of the 200 seats in the House.

The gender card, they say, is an inherent part of their candidacy.

"I don't know how you separate them," said Jess King, who has been endorsed by Democracy for America for her primary bid to become the Democratic nominee in the 11th Congressional District, which covers Lancaster County and parts of York County.

"Part of the incentive is the fact that in a congressional delegation of 18 we have one person of color and no women. When I thought about that as a woman and as a mother of two daughters whom I'm daily encouraging that there are no limits ... I want to be part of shattering that in Pennsylvania."

The uptick in female candidates heading into the midterms is often compared to that of the 2016 general election, which saw 167 women on the general election ballot as candidates for the U.S. House and 16 for the Senate. (Both numbers pale in comparison to the current numbers of women running.)

Dan Fee, a Democratic consultant from Philadelphia, argues that a better comparison is the high water mark of the 1992 election, which came in the wake of the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill hearings.

Dubbed "Year of the Woman," that election ushered in two dozen new women to the U.S. House and four to the U.S. Senate. Then like now, women were galvanized by a slew of social and cultural forces.

READ MORE: Here are some of the fresh faces running in 2018 Pa. primary

"This year feels like that to me," Fee said. "There is a national conversation going on . . . It feels the same. It's not localized and it's not narrow. It's a very broad conversation."

Another difference: The quality of the candidates, something Fee said was reflected in the fundraising.

"The enthusiasm that I'm hearing from the women donor community is, I think, unprecedented. Pennsylvania has such a rotten record of supporting female candidates ... that I think it's a little pent-up energy here."

State Rep. Madeleine Dean, a Montgomery County Democrat vying for the newly redrawn 4th Congressional District in suburban Philadelphia, said it feels like a historical moment.

Dean launched her political career after watching former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona survive a 2011 assassination attempt. Dean won her 2012 legislative bid, and then in 2016 Hillary Clinton's failed presidential bid proved another pivotal moment for her.

"That was a defining moment for lot of people," Dean said. "I think a lot of women you see running now feel that person, as qualified as she was, ran unsuccessfully and that the person who was so poorly qualified was successful. That certainly was a catalyst for me."

Indeed, a confluence of social factors has energized women to run, among them the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements but most notably the progressive resistance movement that emerged in the wake of the election of President Donald Trump.

Pennsylvania saw no fewer than 350 resistance groups - local chapters of "Indivisible" and "Pantsuit Nation" - form loose coalitions. At first, these groups organized rallies and marches, but more recently, they have translated marching into action, banding together under the banner of Pennsylvania Together to support candidates to run for office, especially in districts that had no progressives slated to run.

Across central Pennsylvania, for instance, the majority of women running for state House and Senate seats were recruited from the activist community.

"It's pretty amazing," said Alissa Packer of Camp Hill, a Pennsylvania Together leader. "I don't think many of the women in state races have been candidates before and many didn't even think about it until few weeks ago.

Part of it is just seeing a good number of men in power abusing power or being charged with sexual misconduct or not working to improve life from our perspective. You run for office because a job needs to get done. The women running are running to get a job done and make positive change."

The remapping of the state's congressional districts has transformed Republican strongholds into more competitive districts. The U.S. Supreme Court last week refused to take up a challenge filed by Republican lawmakers.

The newly minted and more competitive political landscape has progressive-leaning female candidates feeling confident they can win in the May primary and the November midterms.

In 2017, progressives clinched a slate of wins across municipal elections, demonstrating results heading into November. Most notably, the upset win in March by political novice Conor Lamb in a special election for Southwestern Pennsylvania's 18th congressional district offered an early sign that Democrats can win areas once considered GOP strongholds.

"We are in an unprecedented political moment," King said. "Even in heavily Republican districts a lot is up in the air. What I've learned is that people are interested in my values. They are interested in common sense approaches for dealing with challenges in front of us."

The upcoming primary has another different feel to it: the old modus operandi may not cut it.

"I think there is a strong feeling overall that bossism politics isn't going to work in 2018," Fee said. "That bossism, for lack of a better term, that party hierarchy, that 'we know best' is not going to work this year. The people who do this for a living do have experience. They do have insight and skill ... that makes sense ... but does that work this year? I don't know."

Pennsylvania's congressional delegation - 18 House members and two U.S. Senators - is an all-male fraternity. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Shavonnia Corbin-Johnson, a first-time candidate in the Democratic primary field in the race for the 10th Congressional District, said her candidacy is resonating with minorities and particularly young people - something, she said, that amounts to a win no matter the outcome in May.

"That's one of my goals ... getting people engaged in the political process," said Corbin-Johnson, who is 26.

Corbin-Johnson says the anti-Trump resistance movement has had everything to do with her candidacy.

"I think it's safe to say the women's movement was my gateway into the political world," Corbin-Johnson said. "I think the women's movement opened the eyes of people around the U.S. to the fact that we do have a lack of female representation."

Many of these candidacies are finding fuel in President Trump's historically low approval numbers.

"It's a David and Goliath situation," said Nina Ahmad, a candidate in the Democratic primary for the lieutenant governor's race. "If David doesn't stand up to Goliath, we are going to keep being in this place," Ahmad said. "We need to have a real shift in this country. What I came to this country for is slipping away. . . . We need to get that sense of unity back to fight for things . . . especially for vulnerable and marginalized."

Ahmad, a former Philadelphia deputy mayor, had launched a bid to challenge longtime Rep. Bob Brady, a fellow Democrat from the 1st Congressional District. But after that district was eliminated under the newly drawn congressional map, Ahmad took the social and political capital she had amassed and jumped into the lieutenant governor's race.

The primary contest features nine candidates, including incumbent Democratic Lt. Gov. Mike Stack among the five Democrats and on the other side, four Republicans. Aryanna Berringer of Westmoreland County and Lancaster County Commissioner Craig Lehman have withdrawn as candidates.

For these women candidates, history is the uphill battle, said Chris Borick, professor of political science and director of the Institute of Public Opinion at Muhlenberg College in Allentown.

"Pennsylvania has a woeful record in electing women to political offices. We are simply abysmal in terms of the track record," he said.

In a ranking of women in the state legislatures by the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, Pennsylvania placed 39.

But if outcomes of early primaries, such as that of Texas, and even in the 18th congressional district here in Pennsylvania, are an indication, the midterms are poised to be swayed by sectors of an electorate that haven't been engaged in some time.

"We aren't going to see a sea change or parity, but when you have zero women in your Congressional delegation there is nothing but upward potential," Borick said.

The midterm election could also see an unprecedented number of young female voters inspired to vote by the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements.

"That's a game changer," Borick said. "If you did bring in a higher level of young women voters into electorate and their voting patterns mirror others there ... you would see some major impacts on results."

Voter turnout in the 2016 election kept pace with recent trends: The majority of voters were older, wealthier and more educated; 70 percent of those over 70 voted. By contrast, only 43 percent of those under 25 voted, according to the Pew Research Center.

No doubt, the so-called pink wave is grounded in the progressive left. Of the 22 women running in congressional contests, only one - Pearl Kim, who is running in the 5th Congressional District - is Republican.

The themes out of the women's tide, however, resonate among Republican candidacies.

GOP Gubernatorial candidate Laura Ellsworth says she is not framing her candidacy by the gender card, but she does distinguish herself from her two male opponents.

"Women are good at getting things done," said Ellsworth, a lawyer from Pittsburgh. "I think many organizations will say that if you want to get things done, give it to a woman, give to a busy woman and it will get done. In many of our lives that is something we have had to do. We take on ourselves roles to be mothers, business leaders, civic leaders and church leaders. We take on all of those roles at the same time and as a result we have to be exceptionally good."

Sullivan County Commissioner Donna Iannone remains stoked at the momentum fueling female candidacies.

A Democrat who is running in the primary for the state 110th legislative district, Iannone says she isn't daunted by the 2 to 1 Republican to Democrat registration in her district. The winner of Democratic primary will face GOP incumbent Rep. Tina Pickett in November.

Iannone is confident that as a woman, she is well equipped to work across party lines.

"We are able to work in more bipartisan manner to get things done. That's just my personal opinion," said Iannone, who needed 200 signatures to get on the ballot and got 600. "I think we can work together to solve problems rather than drawing a line in the sand."

Kinney, the utility worker vying for the 111th state House district, said she has been overwhelmed at the level of support from her party. She is hopeful that she can reach across the political aisle and, in particular, appeal to Republican women.

"There are issues that are important to women that are not party driven," Kinney said, speaking from her home in Susquehanna County. "Everybody wants to be paid what they're worth. They want to be paid the same as a man for doing the same work."