Record Number of Women Will Serve in Congress; New Hampshire Elects Women to All Top Posts
The largest number of women ever will serve in the 113th Congress, according to the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. An all-time high total of 20 women (16D, 4R) will serve in the Senate, and there will be a record 78 women (58D, 20R) in the U.S. House.
The only woman nominated for governor by a major party (Maggie Hassan, D-NH) won her contest. New Hampshire became the first state ever to have an all-female Congressional delegation as well as a woman serving as the state’s chief executive. As of 2013, the Granite State will have a female governor, two female U.S. Senators, and an all-woman (two-seat) U.S. House delegation.
U.S. Senate
A total of 11 women won their Senate
races (10D, 1R), including five
newcomers and six incumbents who won re-
election. Also remaining in the Senate are nine women (6D, 3R) who were
not up for election this year.
In 2012, there were 17 women (12D, 5R) in the Senate. Two
Republican women (Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-TX and
Olympia Snowe, R-ME) did not run for re-election.
In addition, three non-voting delegates from Guam, the Virgin Islands, and Washington, DC were re-elected.
The new women in the U.S. House are: Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ); Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ); Julia Brownley (D-CA); Gloria Negrete McLeod (D-CA); Elizabeth Esty (D-CT); Lois Frankel (D-FL); Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI); Tammy Duckworth (D-IL); Cheri Bustos (D-IL); Jackie Walorski (R-IN); Susan Brooks (R-IN); Ann Wagner (R-MO); Carol Shea-Porter (D- NH); Ann McLane Kuster (D-NH); Dina Titus (D-NV); Michele Lujan Grisham (D-NM); Grace Meng (D-NY); Joyce Beatty (D-OH); Suzan DelBene (D-WA).
The new House members include six women of color, all Democrats: one African-American (Beatty); three Asian/Pacific Islander Americans (Duckworth, Gabbard, Meng); two Latinas (Lujan Grisham, Negrete McLeod.) There will be a record total of 28 women of color in the House (26D, 2R), including 13 African American women (13D), 9 Latinas (7D, 2R), and 6 Asian/Pacific Islander Americans (6D).
Seven incumbent women (3D, 4R) were defeated: Judy Biggert (R-IL); Ann Marie Buerkle (R-NY); Nan Hayworth (R- NY); Kathy Hochul (D-NY); Mary Bono Mack (R-CA); Laura Richardson (D-CA); Betty Sutton (D-OH).
In 2012, there were 73 women in the House (49D, 24R), along with
three women serving as non-voting delegates from
Washington, DC, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam. Seven were not
general election candidates for the House: Mazie
Hirono (D-HI), Shelley Berkley (D-NV) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) ran for
the U.S. Senate; Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) and
Sue Myrick (R-NC) retired; and Sandy Adams (R-FL) and Jean Schmidt
(R-OH) lost their primaries.
Other Firsts and Notable Achievements
Four states have elected women to the U.S. Senate for the first time: Hawaii, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Wisconsin. In addition, Deb Fischer (R-NE) is the first Nebraska woman elected to a full Senate term.
Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) will be the first openly gay person in the U.S. Senate.
Mazie Hirono (D-HI) will be the first Asian/Pacific Islander American woman elected to the U.S. Senate and the first U.S. Senator born in Japan. Hirono is only the second woman of color to serve in the Senate.
Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) will be the first Hindu-American in Congress.
The new women in the U.S. House include two military veterans: Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Gabbard.
South Carolina elected a woman to its State Senate, so there is no longer any state legislative chamber without any women.
Governor
The total number of women governors as of 2013 will be 5 (1D,
4R), a decline from the current six. Governor-elect
Maggie Hassan (D-NH) was the only woman with a major party nomination
for governor; she will join Republican
women holdovers in AZ, NM, OK, and SC.
About CAWP
The Center for American Women and Politics, a unit of the
Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers, The State
University of New Jersey is a university-based research, education and
public service center. Its mission is to promote
greater knowledge and understanding about women’s changing relationship
to politics and government and to enhance
women’s influence and leadership in public life. CAWP is a leading
authority in its field and a respected bridge between
the academic and political worlds.
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