Women, and women of color, running for seats in Congress are setting a record

A record number of women, including a record number of women of color, could be elected to Congress on Tuesday, in what would represent a further step towards a US government that represents the makeup of the nation.

An unprecedented 318 women are running as Democrat or Republican candidates for the 535 seats available across the House of Representatives and the Senate, up from a previous record of 257 set in 2018.

Of those candidates 117 are women of color, building on the midterm elections of two years ago which saw high profile women such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, in New York, and Ilhan Omar, in Minnesota, elected.

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In Missouri, Cori Bush, a nurse who cut her teeth politically during anti-police brutality protests in Ferguson in 2014, is likely to be elected to the House of Representatives for the state’s first district. The election of Bush, a progressive, would be a boost for the left of the Democratic party.

Bush would be the first black woman to represent Missouri in Congress. The first district includes St Louis and Ferguson, where she rose to prominence as a fearless activist after the police shooting of Michael Brown.

Teresa Leger Fernandez is expected to clinch a victory in New Mexico. If elected she would join Deb Haaland, a Native American woman who was elected in 2018, in the House.

Like Haaland, Leger Fernandez is a progressive Democrat, and she was endorsed by Elizabeth Warren and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez during her campaign. The makeup of Leger Fernandez’s third district is notably diverse: 40% Latino and 20% Native American.

Texas, which Democrats are targeting as a potential win for Joe Biden, could see Candace Valenzuela triumph in the state’s 24th congressional district.

Valenzuela would become the first Black Latina in Congress, if she wins a district that has voted Republican since 2005. In October Valenzuela told the Guardian it was “time that the folks in power reflect the communities they serve”.

“As we see more women and women of color running for and winning seats in office, we’re seeing the focus of our elected officials shift towards working families and the challenges they face,” she said.

Joyce Elliot, an Arkansas state senator, could be another first if she wins in the state’s second congressional district to become Arkansas’ first ever Black member of Congress.

Only 48 of the 535 members of the House and Senate are women of color, according to the Center for American Women and Politics. There are 127 women in Congress overall.

The majority of female candidates this year are Democrats, although there has been an increase in the number of female Republican candidates from 2018.

Two years ago Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley became high profile additions to Congress, and both are expected to be re-elected on Tuesday.