More than a week after many had hoped Americans would elect their first woman president, any expectations of radical change have evaporated. Instead, the results brought more continuity than change, especially for women competing in down-ballot races: women’s representation in Congress largely held steady, and the number of women elected as governors only saw a slight uptick. In addition, the overall gender gap in support for President-elect Donald Trump did not grow significantly relative to past elections.
But these broader patterns obscure several trends. For one, after a brief uptick in Republican women running for office in 2020 and 2022, the partisan gap in women’s representation deepened once again in 2024, with many fewer Republican women making it through primaries than Democratic women. Second, the overall gender gap increased significantly among certain demographics, particularly Hispanic voters, even as it held steady among other voters. This election is a cautionary tale about treating women as a monolith, as doing so can lead us to miss important areas of change.
Small Upticks in Representation
In terms of women’s political representation, the United States has lagged behind other liberal democracies, including Argentina, France, Mexico, and the United Kingdom. Before this election, American women held only 29 percent of House seats, a quarter of Senate seats, and just under one-third of state legislative seats.
The 2024 election did not change this pattern. After two decades of growth, women’s Senate representation has seen no significant uptick since 2019, and the number of women senators remains stuck at twenty-five. Depending on the outcome of a few outstanding races, women will hold between 124 and 127 seats in the incoming House of Representatives (the current House has 127 women representatives). Diversity among congresswomen was also relatively unaffected: the new House, for instance, will have fewer Black and Native American women, but it did gain one more woman representative of Middle Eastern descent.
Early data also indicates stagnation at the state level, with current counts suggesting that women’s representation in state legislatures will remain around 33 percent. Four out of eleven gubernatorial races featured women major party candidates, but only Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire won her race (against another woman candidate). Her victory brings the number of women governors to a record-setting thirteen—though this record may not last if South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem leaves the role to head the Department of Homeland Security.
The vote did feature a few bright spots and historic firsts. Record numbers of women will serve in the state legislatures of South Dakota, New Mexico, and California, with the latter two achieving parity in at least one chamber. For the first time, two Black women—Angela Alsobrooks in Maryland and Lisa Blunt Rochester in Delaware—will be serving in the Senate, and Delaware will have its first woman senator. Republican Julie Fedorchak will be the first woman to represent North Dakota in the House, and Delaware state Senator Sarah McBride will be the first openly transgender member of Congress.
A Deepening Partisan Divergence
Despite a general pattern of stagnation, the election underscores one area of change: while the Democratic Party has come closer to achieving gender parity, the Republican Party is once again falling behind.
After the 2020 election, Republican women made significant gains in the House: two-thirds of the 27 newly elected woman representatives were Republicans. In 2022, the number of Republican women nominated for state races also increased more rapidly than on the Democratic side, though from a much lower baseline.
But this year, fewer Republican women ran—and won primary races—than in 2022. The share of women nominees in congressional races decreased from 25.7 percent of Republican Senate candidates in 2020 to 17.6 percent in 2024, and from 22.6 percent of Republican House candidates in 2020 to 16.2 percent in 2024.
The total number of Democratic women running for Congress also decreased in 2024, yet the party selected more women as nominees than in 2022. In fact, it practically reached gender parity among its nominees: women made up 46.9 percent of Democratic Senate nominees and 45.9 percent of Democratic House nominees, and they were at or near parity with men in state legislative races. So although Democratic women routinely win primary races at similar or even higher rates than men, far fewer Republican women made it through the primaries this election cycle.
This partisan divergence is reflected in the general election results: Democratic women increased their Senate presence from fifteen to sixteen, while Republicans remain at nine. In the House, at least ninety-three Democratic seats will be filled by women, while Republicans—who grew House their presence—will seat at least three fewer women than before the November vote.
A few factors could explain these discrepancies. The pipeline of Republican women candidates is smaller, due to a mix of cultural norms and a lack of party infrastructure for recruiting, training, and funding. Some evidence also suggests that partisan polarization and rising political extremism are penalizing women candidates during Republican Party primaries, as they are seen as too ideologically moderate and insufficiently masculine to succeed in today’s political climate.
A Growing Gender Gap in Voting
Early data from exit polls suggests that, in contrast to many predictions, women did not turn against Trump in historic numbers. Approximately 45 percent of women voted for him, compared to 55 percent of men. Those numbers inched up from 2020, when 42 percent of women and 53 percent of men voted for Trump. The president-elect increased his support among both women and men, but the overall gap remained largely the same. Moreover, although Trump significantly grew his support among young men relative to the last election, his support among young women also increased by eleven percentage points.
A growing gender divergence did become more apparent among some subgroups of voters. Exit polls suggest that Hispanic men were 17 points more likely to vote for Trump than Hispanic women. In fact, Hispanic men supported Trump at almost the same rate as white men—55 percent versus 60 percent, respectively—yet Hispanic women remained much less likely to support Trump than white women (38 percent versus 53 percent). Black women remained least supportive of Trump, with 91 percent voting for Vice President Kamala Harris, compared to 77 percent of Black men. In general, the gender gap in Trump support was significantly greater for voters of color without a college degree than for White voters without a college degree.
Although news coverage has focused on the factors driving Hispanic and Black voters toward Trump, examining why these factors do not seem to operate in the same way for Hispanic and Black women should be a priority in coming months. This is particularly critical given that among White women, concerns about further rollbacks of reproductive rights were not enough to motivate major changes in partisan voting patterns. Instead, voters in several states opted for Trump and other Republican candidates while also endorsing ballot initiatives aimed at liberalizing restrictive abortion laws.
Beyond 2024
Trump’s first election in 2016 gave rise to a multitude of grassroots efforts to get more women elected. Record numbers of mostly Democratic women took office in 2018, which in turn fueled an uptick in women Republican candidates in 2020. Whether Trump’s second term will elicit the same outpouring of grassroots energy could be a major factor in 2026 midterm elections. Regardless, this election underscores that advances in women’s representation will require concerted and persistent efforts, particularly since achieving gender parity to a large degree depends on systemic changes and attitudes within the Republican Party. This election also highlights the need to avoid simplistic assumptions about what motivates voters. In a shifting political landscape, gender does not operate independently but intersects with partisanship, race, education, and class to shape voting choices and representation.
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