April 5, 2018

309 Women Are Now Running for Congress. That’s a Record.

And that number keeps growing.

Protesters at the Women's March in Washington, DC, on January 21, 2017Michael Nigro/ZUMA

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A record-setting number of women are running for seats in the US House of Representatives, a new analysis by the Associated Press finds. The 309 women who so far are seeking House seats this year breaks the previous record of 298, set during the 2012 election cycle. The number is expected to grow even higher, as candidate filing deadlines have not yet passed in more than half of states.

According to the AP, which used data compiled by the Center for Women and American Politics, most of the women candidates are Democrats—one of many ways in which women’s participation in Democratic politics has surged in the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s election and the #MeToo movement. Democratic women candidates in 2018 thus far outnumber their Republican counterparts more than 3-to-1, the highest ratio for any congressional election year dating back to 1992.

The increase in women candidates, however, probably won’t lead to gender equality in Congress’ lower chamber. Just 19 percent of House seats are currently occupied by women, and some high-profile contenders—such as Marie Newman, a Bernie Sanders-backed candidate who challenged Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.), a conservative incumbent Democrat—have already lost their primary battles. Men still vastly outnumber the women seeking office.

Record numbers of women are running for other political offices, as well. The AP notes that 40 women have declared their candidacies in gubernatorial races, which beats a previous record of 34 set in 1999.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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