October 15, 2024

The 2024 election presents numerous potential milestones and firsts for women. Our team’s latest report, Election 2024: Potential Milestones and Firsts, highlights key races that could lead to historic moments in this year's election. Some of the most likely milestones, based on current race ratings, include:

U.S. Senate

• Angela Alsobrooks (D) could become the first Black woman to represent Maryland in the U.S. Senate.
• Lisa Blunt Rochester (D) could become the first woman and the first Black woman to represent Delaware in the U.S. Senate.
• If both Alsobrooks and Blunt Rochester win election, they would become just the fourth and fifth Black women to serve in the Senate in history and will mark the first time more than one Black woman has served in the Senate at the same time.

U.S. House

• Julie Fedorchak (R) could become the first woman to represent North Dakota in the U.S. House. North Dakota is one of two states, alongside Mississippi, that have never sent a woman to the House.
• Sarah McBride (D) of Delaware could become the first openly transgender person to serve in the U.S. Congress.
• Nellie Pou (D) could become the first Latina to represent New Jersey in the U.S. Congress.

Statewide Elective Executive

• The New Hampshire gubernatorial race between Kelly Ayotte (R) and Joyce Craig (D) will almost certainly lead to a new record for women governors serving concurrently in 2025.
• Elizabeth Steiner (D) could become the first woman to serve as treasurer of Oregon.
• Tina Cannon (R) and Catherine Voutaz (D) are running in an all-woman contest to become the first woman auditor of Utah.
• Jaime Herrera Beutler (R) could be the first Latina to serve as public lands commissioner in Washington.

 Learn more.

As CAWP has previously reported, men are giving the majority of funds contributed to congressional candidates, but Women, Money, & Politics Watch 2024’s new analysis brings in additional data from party-wide digital fundraising platforms ActBlue (for Democrats) and WinRed (for Republicans). In addition to gender disparities in campaign finance, there are also partisan disparities among women in political fundraising; women contribute a smaller share of funding to Republican candidates than 

Democratic candidates, and Republican women candidates for U.S. House raise money at significantly lower average dollar amounts than their Democratic counterparts. CAWP Senior Scholar Kira Sanbonmatsu highlights the potential impact of these disparities, noting, “The gender gap in donations has political consequences.”

Explore more findings and data from this report on the Women, Money, & Politics Watch 2024 page.

Black women play critical roles in Election 2024 as candidates, practitioners, activists, and voters. As we anticipate and interpret political events and outcomes in the remaining weeks of this year’s campaigns, it is important to take stock of what we already know about Black women’s political behavior, experiences, and impact on U.S. politics. 

Dr. Nadia E. Brown, professor of government and director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program at Georgetown University, identified the need to highlight scholarship on Black women’s politics to inform both the dialogue around and understanding of Black women in the 2024 elections. As part of CAWP’s Expert Insights series, Dr. Brown invited scholars working in this area to share their research findings, and curated the post “Black Women’s Politics Research Spotlight.”

Kelly Dittmar, CAWP's director of research, recently contributed a new article to Forbes, exploring the lasting impact of the 2016 election on women’s political engagement and candidacies. In the piece, titled “Women Poised to Win Congressional Seats in 2024 Show Lasting Effects of Previous Election,” Dittmar highlights how women who first entered state legislatures post-2016 are now among the top candidates for the U.S. House in 2024. This analysis emphasizes the importance of cultivating a pipeline for women in politics, showcasing their swift rise from state to federal office.

You can read the full article on Forbes.

CAWP is honored to partner with the National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Women (NOBEL Women), the only network of Black women elected state legislators in the country, to co-host the 2025 Lois M. DeBerry Leadership Institute. Established in 2002, the Institute is a training program designed to help Black women develop the expertise and networks they need to become public leaders. The 2025 Institute will convene in January 2025 with a 3-day conference in New Brunswick, NJ. The deadline to apply is November 8th. More details and the application are available here.

On Saturday, Oct. 19, Politics is a Mother, Raising Hell is Part Of The Job premieres at the Montclair Film Festival. This documentary, directed by Francine Weinberg Graff, celebrates the career of her mother, former New Jersey Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, who has dedicated her life to advancing women's political participation and fighting for equality. Would you like to attend? Learn more about the documentary screening and Q&A session here. 

CAWP is hiring a Program and Events Coordinator to manage logistics for public programming, educational initiatives, and special projects. This full-time position supports key CAWP programs, including NEW Leadership® New Jersey and Teach a Girl to Lead®. For more details, visit Rutgers University’s job portal to apply.