Election Night Resources from The Center for American Women and Politics

Newswise — Election Day is less than one week away. The Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University, shares election night resources for covering women candidates in the 2020 elections. CAWP will report real time results throughout election night and will issue a release the day after Election Day with preliminary results for women candidates. We anticipate delays in reporting this year and will issue regular updates via media advisories as results are determined.

Election 2020 Results Tracker

CAWP’s Election 2020 Results Tracker will update through election night (and beyond) as results for women candidates are called by the Associated Press. On this page, you will find interactive data visualizations that track:

• Election results as compared to current numbers and historical records.
• The number of women who will serve in the 117th Congress overall, as well as in the U.S. House and Senate, with data broken down by party.
• A link to a full list of all the women who will serve in the 117th Congress, sortable by party, chamber, state, and candidate race/ethnicity.
• The number of women of color who will serve in the 117th Congress, House, and Senate, with data broken down by party.
• The number of non-incumbent women winners of U.S. House seats, with data broken down by party.
• Lists of all non-incumbent women winners of U.S. House and Senate seats sortable by party, state, candidate race/ethnicity, and whether or not they flipped the partisanship of the seat.
• The number of women who will serve in statewide elected executive office in 2021, with data broken down by party.
• The number of women of color who will serve in statewide elected executive office in 2021, with data broken down by party.
• List of all winners of statewide elected executive office, sortable by office, party, state, candidate race/ethnicity, and whether or not they flipped the partisanship of the seat.

CAWP on Twitter

Follow CAWP on Twitter for results from races featuring women candidates, notifications about new records for women officeholders, and information about notable firsts for women winners. For analysis about gender, elections, and campaigning, check out the hashtag #GenderLens2020.

Records and Potential Notable Firsts

Find a full list of potential firsts for women officeholders in election 2020 here. A number of current records for women candidates are available on our election night tracker. Some key examples include:

• Women in the U.S. Congress: 127 [set in 2019]
• Women in the U.S. House: 102 [set in 2019]
• Women in the U.S. Senate: 26 [set in 2019]
• Freshman women House members: 36 [set in 2019]
• Freshman women Democratic House members: 35 [set in 2019]
• Freshman women Republican House members: 9 [set in 2011]
• Women of color in the House: 44 [set in 2019]

Women and the Vice Presidency

Senator Kamala Harris may become the first woman elected to the vice presidency of the United States. She is the third woman and the first woman of color to be nominated by a major party for this position. Learn about the history of women and federal elected executive offices, including the previous major-party nominees for vice president (Geraldine Ferraro, Sarah Palin), as well as previous women of color who have run for the vice presidency (including Winona LaDuke and Charlotta Spears Bass), here.

CAWP Experts

To reach one of our scholars or experts on election night, contact Daniel De Simone via phone or text at 760.703.0948.

• Debbie Walsh, Director. Walsh has worked at the Center since 1981, through the elections of 1984 and 2008 that featured the only previous women major-party vice presidential nominees. She became CAWP’s director in 2001, and, in this role, she oversees the Center’s multi-faceted research, analysis, and leadership programming.
• Jean Sinzdak, Associate Director. Sinzdak manages the Center’s campaign-training program, Ready to Run®, as well as its national network of partner programs. She is also the project director for CAWP’s national education and awareness campaign to make women’s public leadership visible to young people, Teach a Girl to Lead®.
• Kelly Dittmar, Director of Research and CAWP Scholar. Dittmar is the author of two books about women candidates and officeholders, and she manages CAWP’s research and analyses on gender in elections and officeholding. Her previous research has also analyzed gender and the American presidency.
• Susan J. Carroll, Senior Scholar. Carroll has written numerous books, journal articles, and book chapters about women candidates, voters, elected officials, and political appointees. She pays particular attention during elections to data regarding women voters, providing insights into gender differences in turnout and vote choice.
• Kira Sanbonmatsu, Senior Scholar. Sanbonmatsu’s most recent research work focuses on women and campaign finance. She has written extensively about gender, race/ethnicity, parties, public opinion, and state politics.

Women Candidates in 2020

Finally, to find the most up-to-date information about women candidates in 2020 as you prepare your election night coverage, visit CAWP’s Election Watch, with information including:

• Our data summary of women candidates.
• A list of women candidates for Congress and statewide elected executive office.
• Women as a percentage of all major-party candidates and nominees.
• A list of woman vs. woman races for congressional and gubernatorial offices.
• Past candidate information, including the full CAWP historical database of congressional and statewide elected executive candidates, as well as year-by-year summaries for comparison.
• Election analysis, including our recent symposium on the gender gap.
• CAWP’s 2020 Presidential Gender Gap Poll Tracker.
• CAWP’s Women Elected Officials Database, to compare women’s representation in 2021 to current and historical levels.

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About CAWP 

The Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is nationally recognized as the leading source of scholarly research and current data about women’s political participation in the United States. Its mission is to promote greater knowledge and understanding about the role of women in American politics, enhance women's influence in public life, and expand the diversity of women in politics and government. CAWP’s education and outreach programs translate research findings into action, addressing women’s under-representation in political leadership with effective, intersectional, and imaginative programs serving a variety of audiences. As the world has watched Americans considering female candidates for the nation's highest offices, CAWP’s five decades of analyzing and interpreting women’s participation in American politics have provided a foundation and context for the discussion.