The future that lays ahead of us

Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), part of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University, has compiled something I had been looking for a LIST OF WOMEN CANDIDATES - ELECTION 2008 (Congressional and Statewide Office). This will be updated as we get closer to election day. But for now it is a great starting place to find women candidates you might want to support or help draw attention to.

Since there are still relatively few women running for office nationwide that you might not have ones to support, or you would want to support, in your area so why not support a progressive woman elsewhere if you can.

I'm going to refer to it a lot in coming months and occasionally single out candidates and races I find interesting.

Here's a very interesting fact sheet that they put together, SUMMARY OF POTENTIAL WOMEN CANDIDATES 2008 (direct link to PDF).

For the US Senate:

U. S. Senate Races in 2008
In 2008, 33 states have Senate races. In at least five states (CO, ID, NE, NM, VA) there will be open seats because incumbent senators are not seeking reelection. No women have announced that they are retiring.

To date, 8 (4D, 4R) women are considered candidates in seven states.

3 (1D, 2R) are incumbents: Susan Collins (R-ME); Elizabeth Dole (R-NC); and Mary Landrieu (D-LA).
5 (3D, 2R) are challengers:Vivian Davis Figures (D-AL); Kay Hagan (D-NC); Christine O’Donnell (R-DE); Evelyn Rogers (R-OK)and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH).

Lost Primary: 4 (2D, 2R)

A record 16 (11D, 5R) women currently serve in the U. S. Senate. The candidate records to beat are the 1992 Senate race in which 29 (22D, 7R) women filed, and 2006 when 12 (8D, 4R) women won their primaries.

The raw numbers are tiny but percentage wise even adding a couple of more women to the US Senate would be huge, which I find somewhat sad and terribly indicative of the difficulty in women getting into the US Senate.

For the US House of Representatives:

U.S. House Races in 2008
Of the 435 House and 5 Delegate seats, there are currently 36 (8D, 28R) House members or delegates who have already announced their intention to leave Congress. Four women will not be returning to the U.S. House of Representatives: Heather Wilson (R-NM) is running for the U.S. Senate; Deborah Pryce (R-OH); Darlene Hooley (D-OR);and Barbara Cubin (R-WY) are retiring.

A total of 162 (115D, 47R) women are considered candidates for House seats, and three incumbent women are considered candidates for delegate to Congress from the District of Columbia, Guam and the Virgin Islands.

68 (51D, 17R) incumbents are expected to run for re-election.

18 (13D, 5R) women are running in 15 districts with open seats.

76 (51D, 25R) are running as challengers.

A record 222 (140D, 82R) women filed for the U.S. House in 1992. Of the 222 who filed, 106 (70D, 36R) won their parties’ primaries. In 2004 a record 141 (88D, 53R) women won their primaries.

Certainly better numbers in comparison to the US Senate but still a relatively low percentage and about a 25% decline from 2004.


The more wonky among you can see lots and lots of very interesting PDFs of data about women candidates for office and election results on the Facts and Findings page.

Want to see the info just for your state check out the State by State Historical Summaries.