The 2026 midterm elections have already broken records for women candidates, and the latest round of primary elections is beginning to show what that could mean for women’s representation. On August 18, voters in Alaska, Florida, and Wyoming advanced women candidates in several races that could make history this fall.
According to the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), 590 women have filed to run for the US House in 2026, surpassing the previous record of 583 set in 2020 and reached again in 2022. Democratic women are driving much of that increase, with 402 women running for the House in 2026, up from 301 in 2024. Women have also set a new record for gubernatorial candidacies, with 85 women running across 36 states.
The increase has not been evenly distributed across party lines. While Democratic women have set new records for House and gubernatorial candidacies in 2026, Republican women have not. The record for Republican women running for the US House remains 261, set in 2022; this year, 188 Republican women filed for House seats. Republican women also remain below their previous records for Senate and gubernatorial candidacies.
The August 18 primaries offered several notable examples of women advancing toward historic general election races.
In Florida, state Rep. Angie Nixon won the Democratic nomination for US Senate. Nixon will face Republican incumbent Ashley Moody in November, creating an all-women Senate general election. If elected, Nixon would become the first Democratic woman and first Black person to represent Florida in the Senate.
In Alaska, former Rep. Mary Peltola advanced to the general election for Senate where she will challenge Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan. If elected, Peltola would become the first Alaska Native woman to serve in the Senate and first Democratic woman to represent Alaska in the chamber.
Women also advanced in the House races across the country. In Wyoming, former State Senator Lisa Kinney won the Democratic nomination for the state’s first at-large House seat. If elected, she would become the first Democratic woman to represent Wyoming in Congress. In Florida, women made up 19 of the 52 major-party House nominees including 12 Democratic women and seven Republican women.
The growing number of women candidates is an important sign of women’s increasing political participation, but the record number of candidates does not guarantee record representation. Women of color, in particular, continue to face significant barriers to political representation. The surge in women candidates must ultimately be measured not only by how many women run for office, but by how many win and gain a place in the institutions where policy decisions are made.
With primaries continuing through September, more women will emerge as nominees and more historic races will take shape. The November elections will ultimately determine whether the surge in women’s candidacies translates into meaningful gains in women’s representation in Congress and across state governments. It’s clear that women are not waiting for a seat at the table, they’re running for it.