We know there were some hard losses last night. But overall, the picture looks good for Democrats—and especially good for women.
Democrats have officially gained 27 seats, taken control of the House and are on track to possibly pick up seven more. And one other thing is clear now:
The power and enthusiasm of women carried Democrats to victory.
That’s what the numbers say. Right now, more than 50 percent of the newly elected House members are women. That’s unprecedented.
And if current results hold, women are poised to increase our numbers in Congress to 23 percent. That might not sound like a lot, but let’s put it in context: Since 2008, the percentage of women in Congress has gone up only from 18 to 20 percent.
Last night, in one election, we gained an additional 3 percent!
Many of these races featured the women of our final Top 10 slates: Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (FL-26), Elissa Slotkin (MI-8), Lizzie Fletcher (TX-7), Abigail Spanberger (VA-7), and Jacky Rosen (NV-Sen).
We did well at the state level too—something we were proud to see not only for Democrats’ sake, but because this year was the first year WomenCount invested in governor’s races.
Putting aside the heartbreaking nail-biter that is Stacey Abrams’ Georgia gubernatorial race, we saw Kate Brown (OR) and Gina Raimondo (RI) re-elected, and four new women governors: Janet Mills (ME), Gretchen Whitmer (MI), Michelle Lujan Grisham (NM) and the other toss-up race featured on our Top 10 slate: Laura Kelly (KS)!
And not all the lean-D races are called yet. Once they are, we could gain three more women in the House.
Bottom line: This was a momentous year for women, success we will build on in 2020. Stay tuned for more information about how we’ll do that.