New data from the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University shows that a record number of women are running for the House of Representatives, shattering the previous records by 14 women.

490 women are running for the House in 2020, in comparison to the 476 who ran in 2018, which was the previous record. In addition, the number of Republican women running in 2020 has shattered records. 195 Republican women filed to run for 2020, up from a previous record of 133 in 2010. So far, 181 of those Republican women are still in the running, as some did lose their primary.

The fact that GOP women are running for office in record numbers is especially important considering the woes of 2018. In 2018, 52 Republican women ran for the House, but only 13 women won their seats, down from 23 in the previous term, making for the lowest number of GOP women in the House in 25 years. What is more exciting is that these record numbers of women will still continue to climb, as candidate filing is still open in more than a dozen states.

Why are women, namely Republican women running in such large numbers? There has been a spearheaded effort by many organizations and members of the Republican party. This includes large recruitment efforts driven by Rep. Elise Stefanik’s EPAC, and the NRCC’s Young Guns program as well as other efforts by national organizations. Stefanik’s EPAC has endorsed and supported 19 women currently running for the House. The NRCC Young Gun” program has 3 tiers of races, with the Young Guns tier running in the “the most competitive congressional seats in the 2020 election cycle.” Four of the 7 Young Guns, the highest tier, are women. There are an additional 34 women identified as “On The Radar” and/or “Contender” tiers in the Young Guns program.

It will be exciting to see if the GOP momentum from May’s special elections carries through to fall 2020. Hopefully there will be even more high heels on the House floor come January 2021!

Want to know the Republican women running for Congress in your state? Check out our GOP Women 2020 series where we highlight the GOP women running in each state after each state’s filing date has passed. 

Jordan O
CABINET

Jordan Orris works in political marketing for some of the nation’s top conservative candidates and nonprofits. She is an alumna of Auburn University and Ole Miss. Originally from Henderson, Nevada, she enjoys SEC Football, reading, and politics.