--- title: Record Number of Women Run for Governor, Congress description: Women candidates have already broken the record for total House and Governor nominations in 2018, and the primaries aren't even over yet. canonical: https://time.com/5361122/women-congress-2018-elections-record/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-08-08T18:38:46.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T07:41:48.415Z article:section: Politics og:title: A Record Number of Women Are Running for Governor and Congress og:description: Signs of a "pink wave" coming in November? og:url: https://time.com/5361122/women-congress-2018-elections-record/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd62d1ebc569e0492/69893754656a3f1a88bd52a5/gettyimages-974429728.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: New UAW President Addresses Annual UAW Convention og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Record Number of Women Are Running for Governor and Congress twitter:description: Signs of a "pink wave" coming in November? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd62d1ebc569e0492/69893754656a3f1a88bd52a5/gettyimages-974429728.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 video:duration: 01:10 video:published: 2018-08-08 section: politics topics: congressional election, Democratic nomination, House seat succession, Michigan politics, state legislature, Conyers resignation, health-related departure genre: news tones: factual, neutral, concise emotions: interest (low) sentiment: neutral audience: political news readers, Michigan voters, general news audience people: Rashida Tlaib, John Conyers organizations: Democratic Party, U.S. House of Representatives, Michigan House of Representatives content_suitability: health controversy [00:28-00:32] transcript_source: publisher captions transcript_reviewed: not applicable ---  # A Record Number of Women Are Running for Governor and Congress > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. Senior correspondent Philip Elliott brings sharp context to the issues driving the capital, connecting the decisions made in Washington to the institutions, industries and people they affect. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### 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. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=1a8dd6d6-7f84-4d8e-bb10-5ff4f7a7eb3c&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Rashida Tlaib Is Set to Become the First Muslim Woman Elected to Congress [Watch (HLS stream): Rashida Tlaib Is Set to Become the First Muslim Woman Elected to Congress](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/WukPN3Yi.m3u8) (1:10)  _Published 2018-08-08. Former Michigan state Rep. Rashida Tlaib has won the Democratic nomination to run unopposed for the House seat long held by former Rep. John Conyers, setting her up to become the first Muslim woman elected to Congress_ Description, summary, key points, chapters, key quotes, questions and transcript, where present, were produced automatically from the video or its captions and were not reviewed. ## Summary The video reports that Rashida Tlaib, a former Michigan state representative, has won the Democratic nomination to run unopposed for the House seat previously held by John Conyers. It notes that Conyers stepped down in December citing health reasons. It states that Tlaib is set to win in November and begin a two-year term in January. It also gives her background of serving in the Michigan House from 2009 to 2014. ## Key points - Tlaib is set to win the House seat in November's election. (00:04) - A winning candidate would begin serving a full two-year term in January. (00:12) - Tlaib, 42, served in the Michigan House from 2009 until 2014. (00:20) - The 89-year-old Conyers stepped down in December citing health reasons. (00:28) ## Chapters - [00:00 to 01:10] Tlaib's path to the House seat. The video covers Tlaib's expected win in November, her prior state House service, and Conyers's departure from the seat. ## Key quotes - [00:28] interviewer: "89 year old Conyers stepped down in December citing health reasons." ## Questions this video answers - Who is set to win the House seat in November's election? [00:00] - When would the winning candidate begin serving a term? [00:12] - What prior political experience does Tlaib have? [00:20] - Why did John Conyers step down from the seat? [00:28] ## Content suitability - health controversy [00:28-00:32]: Brief mention of Conyers stepping down citing health reasons; not a controversy in itself.  by [Charlotte Alter / Detroit](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter / Detroit Senior Correspondent Aug 8, 2018 6:38 PM UTC Former Michigan state Rep. Rashida Tlaib has won the Democratic nomination to run unopposed for the House seat long held by former Rep. John Conyers, setting her up to become the first Muslim woman elected to Congress  by [Charlotte Alter / Detroit](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter / Detroit Senior Correspondent Aug 8, 2018 6:38 PM UTC When Haley Stevens walked up to the well-kept house in Canton on the Monday before the Michigan primary, the dogs started to bark. “Oh, golly, it’s dog alley!” she said, then approached the man getting out of his car to ask for his vote. He went to get his wife, and Patty Domin came out to say she would be definitely voting for Stevens, a former manufacturing executive who was the Chief of Staff for President Barack Obama’s Auto Task Force. “First of all, she came to my house,” says Domin. “And if there’s a man and a woman on the ballot, I want the woman.” Haley Stevens won the Democratic primary in Michigan’s 11th district Tuesday, on a day that officially broke the record for the number of women nominated by a major party for Congress and for Governor. Michigan state rep [Rashida Tlaib](https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/08/politics/rashida-tlaib-michigan-13-congressional-district-election/index.html) won the nomination in Michigan’s 13th, making her all but certain to be the first Muslim woman in Congress. Former Acting Secretary of Defense [Elissa Slotkin](https://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2018/04/joe%5Fbiden%5Fendorses%5Fdemocrat%5Fel.html) won the nomination in Michigan’s 8th. Lawyer and mixed martial arts fighter [Sharice Davids](https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/election/article216160795.html) won the nomination in Kansas’s 3rd congressional district, setting her up to be among the first Native American women in Congress and the first openly LGBTQ person to represent Kansas at either the federal or state level. And Gretchen Whitmer and Laura Kelly won Democratic gubernatorial nominations in Michigan and Kansas. Before Tuesday, the most Democratic women ever nominated to Congress was 120, in 2016 — after Tuesday, there are 143 and counting (with 42 Republican nominees, that brings the total to a record-breaking total of 185, with a few races still being decided.) Before Tuesday, only 10 women of any party had been nominated for Governor. After Tuesday, there are 11: eight Democrats and three Republicans. Many of these nominees are first timers, part of a growing “[pink wave](http://time.com/5107499/record-number-of-women-are-running-for-office/)” of women candidates who were mobilized to run for office after Donald Trump’s election. **Read More:** [_President Trump Is Spurring Native American Women to Run for Office_](http://time.com/5311541/donald-trump-native-american-candidates/) Experts say the record-breaking number of women winning nominations can be attributed to the rise of the number of women running for office in the first place. “More women running in primaries begets more women nominees which hopefully begets more women office holders in November,” says Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. But it’s also a testament to the strength of organizations like Emily’s List, which funds women candidates who support reproductive rights. Emily’s List candidates won in 30 out of the 33 races in which it made an endorsement on Tuesday, including a handful of incumbents (ballots are still being counted in two Washington House races.) According to a [tweet](https://twitter.com/Redistrict/status/1027225371056455680) from the Cook Report’s Dave Wasserman, in Democratic House primaries featuring one man, one woman, and no incumbent, women have won 69% of the time. “These are all awesome women running,” says Christina Reynolds, a spokeswoman for Emily’s List, “because mediocre women don’t stand up and run for office the way sometimes mediocre men do.” And the women candidates are getting voters excited. Several voters Stevens spoke to on Monday seemed to be excited about the number of women on the ballot this year. Marybeth Levin, a 49-year old who works for a merchandizing company, said she voted for a full slate of women candidates, from Gretchen Whitmer for Governor to Haley Stevens for Congress to two women running for State Representative and State Senate. “I want to vote for someone who is going to be a public servant,” she says. “All the blue women are coming to fix the stuff the men broke.” ## Transcript [00:00] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] Tlaib is set [00:04] to win the seat in [00:08] November's election and begin serving [00:12] a full two- year term in [00:16] January. Tlaib, 42, served in [00:20] the Michigan House from 2009 [00:24] until 2014. 89 year old [00:28] Conyers stepped down in December [00:32] citing health reasons. 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