Democratic women could make history in midterm governor and House races

Four years ago, eight Democratic women won governorships in a single election, a milestone that reshaped the map.

This November, Democrats aim to elect even more — including in red states — and to push the number of Democratic women in the U.S. House past 100. Candidates and organizations on the left told ABC News both milestones are plausible, but they rest on winning the most competitive races.

Key gubernatorial races

Twenty-six women are major-party nominees overall, one more than the 2022 record of 25. There are 19 Democratic women gubernatorial nominees, a record that’s up from 16 in 2022. Republicans have seven women nominees in governor’s races, down from nine in 2022.

Kelly Dittmar of Rutgers’ Center for American Women and Politics said Democrats have “a more robust support infrastructure” than Republicans specifically targeting women in politics, including trainings, recruitment programs, PACs and funding, which she says strengthens the pipeline to elected office.

Sarah Chamberlain, a GOP strategist and CEO of the Republican Main Street Partnership, argues that “finding Republican women who want to run” is the challenge rather the party’s support infrastructure.  

“The numbers are not as high as the Democratic women, and they’ve really never been, but absolutely, there is an entire Republican Party … open to welcoming women, and it’s just that the candidates this year tended to be more men,” Chamberlain said.

In Ohio, Republican nominee Vivek Ramaswamy has faced bipartisan backlash for his attack ad against Democratic nominee Amy Acton. The ad features Acton’s estranged mother, whom Acton says stood by the man criminally charged with sexually abusing her as a child before his death in 2004.

Acton would be Ohio’s first woman governor and has railed against Ramaswamy for doubling down on the ad in recent speeches, including at her rally alongside former President Barack Obama.

She told ABC News: “I’m a scrappy kid from Youngstown. I’ve seen a thing or two, and I’m up for this fight. But kindness shouldn’t be seen as weakness.”

Michigan Democrat Jocelyn Benson said in an interview that her miscarriage has shaped her healthcare message when speaking to voters. She noted that federal funding cuts have closed three Planned Parenthood clinics in the state, including the only one in the Upper Peninsula.

“Behind every clinic closure is a woman who has to drive two extra hours for care or go without it,” Benson said.

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill, the state’s first Democratic woman governor, said party strategists drew the wrong lesson after 2024. Too many insiders concluded that Democrats needed to be crass and create a “male bro culture” to look tough, she said, but that approach has been unsuccessful while “steely-eyed women” have been successful. Voters, she says, value authenticity.

Several nominees could break barriers. Gina Hinojosa would be the first Latina governor of Texas. In New Mexico, former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland would be the first Native American woman to serve as a governor. Keisha Lance Bottoms would be Georgia’s first woman governor and the first Black woman to govern any state.

“We didn’t believe as a country that the nation would elect a Black president … and it happened. So it’s possible, it just hasn’t happened yet. And for me, it’s much more personal … We can trace our family to a plantation in Crawfordville, Georgia,” Bottoms told ABC’s Linsey Davis.

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey chairs the Democratic Governors Association’s Women Governors Fund. Since 2018, the DGA has invested over $120 million to elect and re-elect the current class of Democratic women governors.

The DGA has put $1 million into Texas, but the group and its chair, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, have faced pressure from some prominent Latino Democrats to invest $10 million in Hinojosa’s race.

Appearing with Bottoms at a rally in Georgia on Monday, Beshear announced the DGA was investing $5 million more into her race, which followed an announcement earlier this month of a $10 million investment in Bottoms’ race against billionaire businessman Rick Jackson.

Healey told ABC News, “Gina is a great candidate, and I believe she can win. And it is to her credit that she has made this a winnable race.”

The push for 100 Democratic women in the House

Ninety-five Democratic women currently serve as voting members in the House, and 198 Democratic women are on the general election ballot. Elect Democratic Women, a political action committee that supports Democratic women candidates, hope to elect at least 100 women to the House — which would be the most ever.

As for Republican women, there are 30 voting members currently serving in the House, down from 34 in the 118th Congress. There are 73 GOP women on the general election ballot. Dittmar maintains that a new record for Republican women is unlikely, and a drop from current levels is possible given the political headwinds facing Republicans this year.

Chamberlain acknowledged Republicans’ uphill climb, saying, “If the polling is right, some [Republican] women and a whole lot of men are going to lose their seats.”

Rep. Lois Frankel, who chairs Elect Democratic Women, said it supports women candidates both emotionally and financially. She argued that women’s presence in government matters.

“Women were excluded from medical research until Pat Schroeder and Nancy Pelosi got on Appropriations [Committee] and fought for them,” Frankel said.

Denise Powell, the Democratic candidate in Nebraska’s 2nd District, would be the first woman to hold the seat. She said the group’s support carried her through a six-way primary.

Powell, whose children are 16 and 12, talks often on the trail about motherhood. She argues too few mothers of young kids serve in Congress, “and I think that explains why there are so many policies that do nothing to support working parents.”