Women In The US Senate

Nearly One Out Of Four Members Of The 116th Congress Will Be Women, All Time High

The role of women in American politics has grown dramatically in recent years, and in 2019-2020, the 116th Congress will have its highest number of women in history, 102 in the House of Representatives, and 25 in the US Senate.

89 of the House women are Democrats, while 13 are Republicans, and in the Senate, 17 women are Democrats, and 8 are Republicans.

So 106 women in Congress are Democrats, as compared to 21 Republicans, nearly five times the rate among Democrats as compared to Republicans.

Every state except four have had Congresswomen, the only exceptions being Alaska, Iowa, North Dakota and Vermont, but with the first three having elected Senators, so only Vermont has never had a woman represent the state in Congress.

Nearly 38 percent of Democrats in the House of Representatives are women, while only 6.5 percent of Republicans are women.

About the same percentage, 38 percent, of Democrats in the Senate are women, while about 14 percent of Republicans are women. 

35 Democratic women were elected to the House of Representatives in November 2018, to just 1 Republican woman, an amazing statistic.

2 Democratic women were elected to the Senate in November 2018, to just 1 Republican,  plus 1 Republican appointed to fill a seat to 2020.

So clearly,  the Democrats are the party of women by vast margins, as compared to Republicans.

The longest serving Congresswoman ever, Marcy Kaptur, Democrat of Ohio, has served 36 years and will start her 19th term in January.

Nancy Pelosi, the past and future Speaker of the House, is starting her 17th term in Congress, having served 32 years.

And this all began with Republican Jeannette Rankin of Montana, elected to serve in 1917-1918, and sponsoring the woman suffrage 19th Amendment.

2018–The Year Of The Women Taking Over American Government

Hillary Clinton may have lost the Electoral College to Donald Trump on the way to a massive popular vote margin of 2.85 million popular votes in 2016.

Now, two years later, it is clear that women have reacted against Donald Trump, and the Republican Party faces doom unless they repudiate his misogyny rapidly.

The gender gap in voting between men and women is dramatic, has widened, and will affect society in the short run and the long run.

There will be more women in the 116th Congress, with at least 122 women, and about 80 percent of them being Democrats.

States that never had a woman Senator will have them, including Tennessee, Arizona, and Nevada.

There are going to be more women of color, including more African American women, Latino women, Asian American women, Native American women, Muslim women, Hindu women, as well as gay women and younger women in Congress.

There will be nine or ten women governors, up from six, including in Michigan, Kansas, South Dakota, and if a miracle occurs in Georgia, Stacey Abrams, a race not yet decided.

And we are about to see the likelihood of four women Senators announcing for President in the coming months on the Democratic side—Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kamala Harris of California, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York.

The 116th Congress Will Have The Most Minorities And Women In American History

The 116th Congress (2019-2020) will set a record for the most minorities and women in Congress in American history.

Right now, in the 115th Congress, racial and ethnic minorities represent more than 45 percent of House Democrats, and women make up one third of the Democrats in the chamber.

Republicans on the other hand, have very few of either group right now, and not likely to have much more representation in the next Congress.

83 House members who are minorities right now are Democrats, while only 12 are Republicans.

There are 84 Women in the House, and about two thirds are Democrats.

The Senate has 9 members who are minorities, three African American, two Asian American, and four Hispanic American. Three of the nine (Tim Scott, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio) are Republicans, while the other six (Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, Tammy Duckworth, Mazie Hirono, Bob Menendez, Catherine Cortez Masto) are Democrats.

There are 23 women in the Senate, with 6 being Republicans and 17 being Democrats.

America will have a much more representative Congress, not just a typical white male dominance as was the case in most of American history.

The Year Of The Woman 2018 Likely To Surpass The Earlier Year, 1992!

In 1992, we saw a major increase in women officeholders, a reaction against the Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas controversy of 1991, with the number of women in Congress and in state legislatures dramatically rising.

It now seems likely that 2018 will see a massive rise of women into both houses of Congress, the governorships, and state legislature, with Donald Trump”s misogyny, along with the Republican attack on women’s health, sexual harassment, and treatment in society motivating greater participation in running for office as Democrats, and the expected much increased plan of women to vote across the country.

107 women presently serve in the US Congress (78 Democrats, 29 Republicans), with 84 in the House of Representatives and 23 in the US Senate.

Over 1,900 women serve in state legislatures, and six women serve as state governors, four Republicans and two Democrats.

Over 1,200 Democratic women are in state legislatures, with about 700 Republican women serving.

Overall, about 20-25 percent in elected positions across the nation are women.

So many women, particularly Democrats, are winning nominations for legislative and congressional seats and for governor, so we should see an all time high in November, once the election results are in.

As many as 77 women, two thirds of them Democrats, are running for Governor in the 36 states that have gubernatorial elections in 2018. There could be more than 9 women governors, which is the all time record.

32 Democratic women and 22 Republican women are running for the US Senate in 2018, and we should see more than the all time high of 24.

Women have voted in greater numbers than men in recent years, and that should be continued, with the motivation of Donald Trump, and now with the likelihood of a move in the Supreme Court to outlaw abortion, a divisive issue which will draw women to the polls in growing numbers.