Harris' ascension could break a barrier — but fewer women are running for Congress
The number of women running for Congress is down this year after hitting record highs in 2020 and 2022.
PHOENIX — Vice President Kamala Harris is on track to become just the second female major-party presidential nominee. But further down the ballot, the number of women jumping into congressional races is down this year after hitting record highs in 2020 and 2022.
The trend tracks against a surge in female voter registration following the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which returned abortion policy to the states in 2022. And despite the decline, the totals are still higher than they ever were before 2018, when hundreds more women than ever ran for the House of Representatives in the midterm elections during then-President Donald Trump’s administration.
But it’s still a notable decline: The Rutgers University-based Center for American Women and Politics, the pre-eminent organization tracking the topic, counts 466 women running as major-party candidates in the House, down from 583 female candidates in both 2020 and 2022.
One of the first primaries on the docket, when congressional races start back up next week after a summer break, exemplifies the trend. In Arizona’s 1st Congressional District — one of only 22 toss-up House races in the entire country, per the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter — Democratic voters will have a half dozen options competing on the primary ballot for a fall campaign against GOP Rep. David Schweikert. Only one candidate, Marlene Galán-Woods, is a woman.
“This is hard, and it’s not for the faint of heart,” Galán-Woods said about why it might be that fewer women are running this year. “But I like doing the hard thing.”
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