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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.

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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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