--- title: Another Year of the Woman? Not Exactly description: Although 100 women will now be in Congress, that's only one more than the number in the last session. canonical: https://time.com/3558815/female-candidates-elections-midterms/ author: Jay Newton-Small article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-05T17:25:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:07:09.442Z article:section: Politics og:title: Another Year of the Woman? Not Exactly og:description: Although 100 women will now be in Congress, that's only one more than the number in the last session. og:url: https://time.com/3558815/female-candidates-elections-midterms/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta2c7a2ffbec41325/69876449f887dc2c46e87e57/mia-love.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Mia Love og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Another Year of the Woman? Not Exactly twitter:description: Although 100 women will now be in Congress, that's only one more than the number in the last session. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta2c7a2ffbec41325/69876449f887dc2c46e87e57/mia-love.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Another Year of the Woman? Not Exactly > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Jay Newton-Small](https://time.com/author/jay-newton-small/)  ## Jay Newton-Small Nov 5, 2014 5:25 PM UTC  Republican Mia Love celebrates with her supporters after winning the race for Utah's 4th Congressional District during a GOP election night watch party in Salt Lake City on Nov. 4, 2014. Republican Mia Love celebrates with her supporters after winning the race for Utah's 4th Congressional District during a GOP election night watch party in Salt Lake City on Nov. 4, 2014. Rick Bowmer—AP  by [Jay Newton-Small](https://time.com/author/jay-newton-small/)  ## Jay Newton-Small Nov 5, 2014 5:25 PM UTC You may have seen [post-election stories ](//www.slate.com/blogs/xx%5Ffactor/2014/11/05/there%5Fare%5F100%5Fwomen%5Fin%5Fcongress%5Ffor%5Fthe%5Ffirst%5Ftime%5Fever.html)trumpeting the fact that there are now 100 women in Congress. While that may sound like a lot, it doesn’t actually represent much progress. In fact, the 2014 midterm elections, where kind of a dud for electing women. At first glance, this election seems like a winner for female candidates, says Jennifer Lawless, head of American University’s Institute on Women and Politics. Senator-elect Joni Ernst became the first woman elected to Congress from Iowa. Gina Raimondo was elected the first female governor of Rhode Island. Utah’s Mia Love became the first Republican African-American woman elected to Congress. And 30-year-old Republican Elise Stefanik became the youngest Republican woman ever elected to Congress with her upstate New York win. “These victories undoubtedly represent important milestones for women’s representation,” Lawless says. “But upon closer inspection, the 2014 midterm elections hardly amounted to a ‘Year of the Woman.’” First of all, 100 is a net add of just one seat in the 113th Congress with the special election of Democrat Alma Adams in North Carolina on Tuesday night. The 113th started with 99 women nearly two years ago: 20 in the Senate and 79 in the House. For the 114th session starting in January, the very best estimated outcome is a net increase of five seats, assuming all four women in too-close-to-call elections win those races. Still outstanding in the Senate is Louisiana’s Mary Landrieu’s Dec. 6 run off. If she wins the total number of women in the Senate will go up by one to 21\. If she losses the 114th Senate will not have net gained any women from the 113th. On the House side, there are currently 80 women, including Adams. That number will go up to at least 81 in the next session and could rise to as much as 84 if Republican Martha McSally wins her challenge in Arizona and if incumbent Democrats Louise Slaughter of New York and California’s Julia Brownley, both of whom are leading their challengers by less than 600 votes, retain their seats. Even if all four women win these contested races, the total female representation in Congress would still fall short of 20%—only 19.6% if they reach 105, according to Kelly Ditmar, a scholar at Rutgers University’s Center for American Women and Politics. “These are really incremental gains,” Dittmar says. “While we’re excited to welcome new women to Congress, the numbers aren’t increasing in any significant pace forward. The trend is almost stagnating.” ### Photos: Meet America's 10 Newest Senators  Joni Ernst A Lieutenant Colonel of the Iowa Army National Guard, Ernst has served on the Iowa State Senate since 2004. Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images  David Perdue A businessman from Macon, Ga., Perdue makes his political debut in the seat of retiring Sen. Saxby Chambliss. David Goldman—AP  Tom CottonA U.S. Army Veteran and lawyer, Cotton has served as Representative for Arkansas's 4th district since 2012 and now moves on to the Senate. Justin Sullivan—Getty Images  Cory Gardner Gardner formerly served in the Colorado House of Representatives and U.S. House of Representatives. He beat incumbent Sen. Mark Udall. David Zalubowski—AP  Thom Tillis Tillis is the Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives and has served there 2006. Davis Turner—Getty Images  Mike Rounds From Huron, S.D., Rounds served as South Dakota governor from 2003 to 2011. Michael Conroy—AP  Shelley Moore Capito The daughter of former West Virginia Gov. Arch Alfred Moore, Jr., Capito has served as a U.S. Representative for West Virginia's 2nd District since 2001. Tyler Evert—AP  Steve DainesA businessman with Procter & Gamble for 13 years, Daines became a member of the House of Representatives in 2013. Michael Albans—AP  James LankfordLankford has served as Representative for Oklahoma's 5th District since 2011. Sue Ogrocki—AP  Ben Sasse The President of Midland University in Fremont, Neb., since 2010, Sasse won the Senate seat vacated by Sen. Mike Johanns. Nati Harnik—AP ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3558815/female-candidates-elections-midterms/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3558815/female-candidates-elections-midterms/"},"headline":"Another Year of the Woman? 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