July 23, 2024

The past few days have brought enormous change to the 2024 presidential campaign. As of last night, according to a survey by the Associated Press, Vice President Kamala Harris secured the requisite number of delegates needed to win the presidential nomination in the first round of voting. This will make her the first Black woman and first Asian American person to win a major-party nomination for president of the United States. She is only the second woman to ever be nominated by a major party.   

“Once she is formally nominated, the nation will watch a multiracial woman compete in a presidential general election for the first time in history,” said CAWP Director Debbie Walsh. “Our research and programming have long been oriented towards changing the perception of power. This transformative moment will forever alter how Americans view leadership in politics.”

CAWP has compiled resources on our website around women as candidates for federal executive office throughout history, and their role as candidates and officeholders for other executive political positions. Explore CAWP’s Presidential Watch 2024 for more information.

Newark City Council President LaMonica McIver won the special primary election in New Jersey to succeed the late Donald Payne in the U.S. House of Representatives. McIver is strongly favored to win the special general election on September 18th, which will complete Payne's term through January 2025. Following her special primary victory, McIver was also chosen by a Democratic convention of county committee members from Essex, Hudson, and Union counties to be the Democratic nominee in the regular election in November. Should she win the seat, New Jersey will have more women concurrently serving in its congressional delegation than ever before.

Our Election Watch data reporting resumes next week with the Arizona primary on July 30th and continues with primaries in 13 states throughout August. Stay tuned as we countdown to November 5th! For the latest updates on all elections, click here.

After several election cycles with record-breaking numbers of female candidates, the 2024 election has seen a decline in candidacies across both chambers of Congress, in both parties. and among all racial and ethnic groups, according to our latest data. In fact, only one new candidate record was set: four Latina/Hispanic women are running for the U.S. Senate, compared to three in 2022. 

For the most up-to-date figures, visit the 2024 Summary of Women Candidates and Data on 2024 Women Candidates by Race and Ethnicity pages on the CAWP website. These pages will update as new information becomes available. For additional detail about 2024 candidacies, including comparisons to the numbers of men running for office, see “Where Things Stand for Women in 2024 Congressional Elections” on the CAWP blog. Learn more on how we collect race and ethnicity data from our Methodological Statement on Race and Ethnicity.

Last week, we launched the Florida and Massachusetts state elections data visualizations of CAWP's Women, Money, & Politics Watch 2024. The Washington state executive and state legislative data visualizations were also updated. 

The State View: A Deep Dive into 10 States page now has state candidate fundraising data for all 10 focus states: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Washington. This updated resource also features fundraising recipient information for congressional races in these key states.

Check out Women, Money, & Politics Watch 2024 for interactive data visualizations and detailed insights.