Record Number of Women Candidates Were Victorious in the 2020 Election

November 12, 2020

*This blog originally appeared on 131andcounting.com

The 2020 election proved historic as Kamala Harris was the first female, Black and South Asian to be elected Vice President of the United States.  In addition, as of November 10, a record-breaking 141 women will be sworn into the 117th Congress, besting the then record-breaking 131 women sworn into the 116th Congress.  This number could increase as well as election results are finalized.  Broken down by chamber:

  • At least 117 women (89 Democrats and 28 Republicans) will serve in the House, plus four non-voting delegates.
  • At least 24 women (16 Democrats and 8 Republicans) will serve in the Senate.

The upcoming Congress will more equitably represent women, women of color, and the LGBTQIA.  At least 52 women of color (including non-voting delegates) will serve in the 117th Congress. For the first time, the House will have three Native American women. Reps. Sharice Davids (D-KS) and Deb Haaland (D-NM) were both re-elected, and they will be joined by Yvette Herrell, a Republican who won in New Mexico's Second Congressional District.

An unprecedented 35 Republican women, including 2 Republican non-voting delegates, will serve in the 117th Congress.  House Republican women defied expectations and reached a historic level of representation in the House - almost doubling the number of female Republicans in the chamber.  The surge of non-incumbent GOP female winners also tops the previous record of nine, set in 2010, according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.

A Few Historic Firsts:

  • New Mexico elected the largest all women of color Congressional delegation -- Deb Haaland (D), Yvette Herrell (R), and Teresa Leger Fernandez (D).
  • Cori Bush (D) is Missouri's first Black congresswoman.
  • Marilyn Strickland (D) is the first Korean American woman elected to Congress and the first Black member of Congress from Washington State.
  • Wyoming is sending their first woman to the Senate. By electing Cynthia Lummis (R), Wyoming brings the number of states that have never had a woman senator down to 17.

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