With one week left before the 2018 elections, all eyes are on the female nominees after a set of primaries broke a number of glass ceilings — notably, a record number of women running as congressional candidates, a record amount of money donated to congressional candidates by women, and a record number of women as major party nominees in both the House and the Senate. There was a significant increase in the percentage of congressional campaign contributions coming from female donors, and the trends benefiting Democratic candidates, notably Democratic women, have continued through the pre-general election deadline.
The 2018 election cycle largely shows increased participation by female donors to the benefit of Democratic candidates, both men and women. As with candidates, there has been a major surge in congressional contributions from women, again, to the benefit of Democratic candidates.
Democratic women have received the largest amount of money from female donors this cycle at $159 million — a significantly historic high when we are looking at general election numbers. It is nearly 2.5 times larger than the amount of money female Democratic congressional candidates raised from female donors in 2016. This is the first time we have witnessed women congressional candidates outraise men — both Republican and Democratic.
Democratic men received a record-breaking $148 million from female donors. Continuing the trends from the second and third quarter, the surge in donations from women favors Democratic congressional candidates, who’ve raised $308 million from female donors. However, Democratic women have now raised the most money from female donors to congressional candidates documented in an election cycle. Prior to this cycle, men outraised women with female donors.
This major leap in the number of women running and the increased amount of money fundraised by women has not followed suit for the Republican women who are primary winners this cycle. The number of candidates who are women and the amount of money fundraised by women has not significantly increased for Republican women. The trends here are equally about party as they are gender.
- FairVote's election analysis of key House races including projections of who will win based on the partisanship of districts alone
- Gender Watch a project that track women candidates supported by The Center for American Women and Politics & The Barbara Lee Family Foundation
- Election results forecasts from Five Thirty Eight
- Ballotpedia's complete guide to the candidates & the issues on the ballot
- Up-to-date election results from Politico
Fittingly, it was on this day in 1872 that Susan B Anthony cast her vote for president and was promptly arrested and fined...
We still have a long way to go but I am happy that we have come this far - together,
Cynthia