Nov 7, 2018

4. 2018 midterm elections sets record for women in Congress

Ilhan Omar, newly elected to the House. Photo: Kerem Yucel/AFP/Getty Images

At least 111 women will be in the next Congress after Tuesday's midterm elections.

Why it matters: Women have flocked to run for office in the wake of President Trump's election, and the political gender gap is growing, with women increasingly siding with Democrats. A recent SurveyMonkey poll for Axiosshowed that a number of Democratic women have better favorability than Trump ahead of the 2020 elections.

A list of the milestones:

  • 40 women of color who are headed to the House. (The current number is 38.)
  • The first female senator from Tennessee.
  • The first female governors of South Dakota and Maine. 
  • Michelle Lujan Grisham is the first Democratic Latina elected as a governor.
  • 33 congressional races featured two women facing off against each other, according to the Center for American Women and Politics.

The big picture: More women are registered to vote than men, women vote in higher numbers than men and there's been a gender gap in every midterm election since 2006 and every presidential election since 1980. And, in polls this cycle, Democrats have led among women by 20 percentage points on average.

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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro posted a photo of himself to Facebook congratulating his soccer team, Palmeiras, for winning the state title Saturday, moments after the health ministry confirmed the national COVID-19 death toll had surpassed 100,000.

Why it matters: Brazil is only the second country to confirm more than 100,000 deaths from the coronavirus. On Sunday morning, it became the second country to surpass 3 million cases, per Johns Hopkins. Only the U.S. has reported more. Bolsonaro has yet to address the milestones. He has previously tested positive for COVID-19 three times, but he's downplayed the impact of the virus, which has crippled Brazil's economy.

Editor's note: This article has been updated with the latest coronavirus case numbers and more context.