Women win US primaries in record numbers, look to November

ATLANTA — Women are not just running for US office in record numbers this year — they are winning.

More women than ever before have won major party primaries for governor, US Senate and House this year — setting a US record and paving the way for November battles that could significantly increase the number of women in elected office and change the public debate on issues such as health care, immigration, abortion rights, education and gun control. Some of these candidates could also play a pivotal role in whether Democrats are able to take control of the US House.

Most of these female hopefuls are Democrats, some of whom are first-time candidates who say their motivation to run sprang from US President Donald Trump’s election and Republican control of Congress. But other developments factor in, too. The #MeToo movement. Women’s marches. Trump’s nomination of conservative appeals court Judge Brett Kavanaugh to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy.

“Part of the reason I thought this race was possible, even despite great odds, was because of all the women who are so engaged in my community in a new way,” says Democrat Mikie Sherrill, a former Navy helicopter pilot and federal prosecutor who looks to capture a GOP congressional seat in New Jersey.

Sherrill is one of some 200 women who have won their primaries for US House, with 94 of these candidates surviving crowded fields with three or more candidates, according to an analysis of election results. Previously, the most women who had advanced were 167 in 2016, according to records kept by the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.

In the Senate, a record 19 women have won their primaries. And for the first time, 13 women have been nominated for gubernatorial races in a single election year.

— AP