A record number of Republican women ran for Congress. Here are the winners
The number of Republican women running for Congress this year reached a record, creating a path for additional representation on the House floor.
At least four non-incumbent GOP women candidates won congressional terms, according to election results analysis from McClatchy News. The winners include Yvette Herrell in New Mexico; Cynthia Lummis in Wyoming; Nancy Mace in South Carolina; and Maria Elvira Salazar in Florida, according to Associated Press projections.
While Lummis won handily in the traditionally red state of Wyoming, candidate Salazar pulled an upset in the Miami area. In coastal South Carolina, Mace’s win flipped a seat in a district the GOP lost two years ago.
The wins came in a year when 94 Republican women — including 11 who already held office — were vying for congressional seats nationwide. That’s a record high and nearly twice as many as the 52 women who ran on the GOP ticket in 2018, PBS News Hour and USA Today reported.
The newly elected Republican women are expected to join a Congress that after the midterms reached new records for non-white and female members. Some of those are Democrats who were just reelected, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.
New Mexico on Tuesday became the first state to elect only non-white women to the House of Representatives, The Hill and other news outlets reported.
This story was originally published November 4, 2020 at 1:44 PM with the headline "A record number of Republican women ran for Congress. Here are the winners."
