There are a record number of female candidates across the aisle in both the House and Senate who are gearing up for election.

<div> <p paraid="774837145" paraeid="{3eaf92de-1c79-4f8e-871a-9b2221fa970f}{186}">By: Tori Agee, Manager, Political Affairs, FMI&nbsp;<br /> <br /> <img src="https://www.fmi.org/images/default-source/blog-images/capitol-hill-in-january.tmb-large-350-.jpg?sfvrsn=462d6d6e_2" data-displaymode="Thumbnail" alt="Capitol Hill in January" title="Capitol Hill in January" style="float: right; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px;" />Tuesday marked&nbsp;the end of the primary season, and while we have learned a lot over the course of the last six months, one thing is certainly clear &ndash; 2020 is the year of the female candidate.&nbsp;There are a record number of female candidates across the aisle in both the House and Senate&nbsp;who&nbsp;are&nbsp;gearing up for election.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> </div> <div> <h5>Senate Breakdown&nbsp;&nbsp;</h5> </div> <div> <p paraid="1003513542" paraeid="{3eaf92de-1c79-4f8e-871a-9b2221fa970f}{210}">In the Senate, 60 women have filed for election, breaking the&nbsp;previous record of 53&nbsp;in 2018.&nbsp;Twenty-eight&nbsp;of them are still in the running (17 democrats and&nbsp;11 republicans)&nbsp;and&nbsp;are&nbsp;on the ballot for the general election.&nbsp;In&nbsp;Iowa, Maine, West Virginia, and&nbsp;Wyoming, both&nbsp;major&nbsp;candidates are women vying for&nbsp;election. In one of the toughest races in the country,&nbsp;this cycle&nbsp;is in&nbsp;Iowa,&nbsp;Republican&nbsp;Senator Joni Ernst is up against&nbsp;Democrat&nbsp;Theresa Greenfield.&nbsp;Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, and Crystal Ball all have&nbsp;rated&nbsp;it&nbsp;as a &ldquo;Toss Up.&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> </div> <div> <p paraid="1977267654" paraeid="{a76fa3a3-e37e-4612-bf7b-bfc41febef53}{35}">Another&nbsp;&ldquo;Toss Up&rdquo;&nbsp;listed&nbsp;by Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, and Crystal Ball&nbsp;can be found in Maine.&nbsp;&nbsp;Senator Susan Collins&nbsp;(R)&nbsp;is running against Speaker of the&nbsp;State House&nbsp;Sara Gideon&nbsp;(D). However,&nbsp;West Virginia and Wyoming&nbsp;elections&nbsp;are not considered to be as close as Iowa and Maine. In&nbsp;the Mountain State,&nbsp;GOP&nbsp;Senator&nbsp;Shelley&nbsp;Moore&nbsp;Capito is up for re-election, she&nbsp;will face&nbsp;blue dog&nbsp;Paula Jean&nbsp;Swearengin. Cook Political Report&nbsp;lists&nbsp;this race&nbsp;as a &ldquo;Solid R&rdquo; seat.&nbsp;&nbsp;Republican&nbsp;Representative Cynthia Lummis&nbsp;is running against&nbsp;Democrat&nbsp;Merav Ben-David&nbsp;in Wyoming's open seat cycle. Cook Political Report also&nbsp;lists this election&nbsp;as a &ldquo;Solid R&rdquo; seat.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> </div> <div> <h5>House Breakdown&nbsp;</h5> </div> <div> <p paraid="672255564" paraeid="{a76fa3a3-e37e-4612-bf7b-bfc41febef53}{147}">Crushing the previous record, a whopping 583 females filed to run for a House seat in 2020&nbsp;(256 democrats and 227 republicans).&nbsp;Post-primaries, there&nbsp;are&nbsp;203 democrats and 94 republicans on the general ballot this November&nbsp;in 44 states.&nbsp;In 2018,&nbsp;there were 182&nbsp;female democrats&nbsp;on the general ballot,&nbsp;while&nbsp;republicans&nbsp;almost doubled their last record&nbsp;of&nbsp;53 women on the general ballot in 2004.&nbsp;Forty-seven&nbsp;districts&nbsp;have&nbsp;two women&nbsp;seeking&nbsp;election&nbsp;on the ballot in seven weeks.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> </div> <div> <p paraid="569061594" paraeid="{a76fa3a3-e37e-4612-bf7b-bfc41febef53}{225}">Several of these districts are considered battlegrounds districts. Of the top&nbsp;10&nbsp;districts likely to flip,&nbsp;four&nbsp;of them have two women on the ballot.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> </div> <div> <p paraid="595871214" paraeid="{a76fa3a3-e37e-4612-bf7b-bfc41febef53}{241}"><em>New Mexico</em>&nbsp;<br /> In New Mexico&rsquo;s Second District, Representative Xochitl Torres Small&nbsp;(D)&nbsp;is running&nbsp;against&nbsp;former NM&nbsp;House&nbsp;Representative&nbsp;Yvette&nbsp;Herrell&nbsp;(R)&nbsp;in&nbsp;a 2018 rematch.&nbsp;Cook Political Report has this race listed as a &ldquo;Toss Up.&rdquo;&nbsp;In 2016, President Trump carried the district by&nbsp;10&nbsp;points. Rep. Torres Small won her first election in 2018, with less than&nbsp;2%&nbsp;of the vote.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> </div> <div> <p paraid="188724676" paraeid="{f6fc8ca8-e282-4c32-87dc-685aca84e7cd}{32}"><em>Oklahoma&nbsp;</em><br /> All eyes are on Oklahoma&rsquo;s Fifth Congressional District as we approach election. Representative Kendra Horn&nbsp;(D)&nbsp;is running against&nbsp;Oklahoma Senator, Stephanie Bice&nbsp;(R).&nbsp;President Trump won this district by 13%&nbsp;and the state of Oklahoma with more than 35% of the vote.&nbsp;New public polling has this race in a dead heat, with Bice&nbsp;polling&nbsp;44.8% and Rep. Horn&nbsp;at&nbsp;44.2%.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> </div> <div> <p paraid="260885949" paraeid="{f6fc8ca8-e282-4c32-87dc-685aca84e7cd}{70}"><em>Texas</em><br /> Texas&rsquo; 24th&nbsp;Congressional District is an open seat&nbsp;this&nbsp;year. Candace&nbsp;Valenzuela&nbsp;(D)&nbsp;is running against Beth Van Duyne&nbsp;(R).&nbsp;The current Member, Rep. Kenny Marchant&nbsp;(R),&nbsp;won his district by&nbsp;only three&nbsp;points in 2018. Valenzuela&nbsp;experienced&nbsp;a rigorous run-off.&nbsp;Cook Political Report has this seat listed as a&nbsp;&ldquo;Toss Up.&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> </div> <div> <p paraid="2015031754" paraeid="{f6fc8ca8-e282-4c32-87dc-685aca84e7cd}{122}"><em>Iowa</em><br /> In Iowa, the Second Congressional District is also an open seat.&nbsp;State Senator Mariannette Miller-Meeks&nbsp;(R)&nbsp;is running against&nbsp;State Senator Rita Hart&nbsp;(D).&nbsp;President Trump carried this district by four points in 2016.&nbsp;&nbsp;However, in a public poll from early August, Miller-Meeks led Hart&nbsp;48%-44%.&nbsp;Cook Political Report has this listed a &ldquo;Toss Up&rdquo;&nbsp;as well.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> </div> <div> <p paraid="625074364" paraeid="{f6fc8ca8-e282-4c32-87dc-685aca84e7cd}{162}">As you can see, there are many women&nbsp;gearing&nbsp;up for election as we approach November 3.&nbsp;It&nbsp;is safe to say that the&nbsp;food industry&nbsp;will be working with many new (and&nbsp;familiar) female&nbsp;leaders&nbsp;come January.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> </div> <a href="https://fmiaction.mmp2.org" class="button">Voting Resources</a>

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