It’s the “Year of the Woman,” at least when it comes to running for office.
More women filed to run for seats in the U.S. House and Senate in the 2018 midterm elections and more women won primaries than ever before with the potential for more women to serve in the upcoming new Congress in January than ever before.
It's not just the large number of women running for office that's breaking records, but the number of women voters, too.
“Women candidates are coming out of these primaries at rates, particularly Democratic primaries, that we've never seen before,” Politico’s Steve Shepard said.
The midterm election could usher in the first African-American woman to serve as governor, the first Muslim woman in Congress and the first openly bisexual senator.
Come January, more than 100 women could take seats in Congress for the first time.
“No group was more enthusiastic than Democratic women -- more than seven in 10 said they were very enthusiastic about voting,” Shepard said.
More women are running for office from the Democratic party than the Republican.
Polling experts are also predicting a record-setting number of women will show up to vote on Nov. 6.
