--- title: Meet the Democratic Women Who Helped Flip the House description: Here are some of the Democratic women who helped flip the House of Representatives in the 2018 midterms in a record-breaking year for women. canonical: https://time.com/5449481/if-she-wins-documentary-first-time-congresswomen/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-11-08T23:53:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T08:05:46.425Z article:section: Politics og:title: 'If She Wins': Watch the Short Documentary on 2018's First-Time Congresswomen Who Flipped Their Districts og:description: Ahead of the 2018 elections, TIME embarked on a 10-day road trip to cover the historic wave of women congressional candidates og:url: https://time.com/5449481/if-she-wins-documentary-first-time-congresswomen/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8ce8c2341972cce0/69893ea3e76ad275cc63373b/lauren-rally-cropped-2.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1749 og:image:height: 984 og:image:alt: Lauren Underwood og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'If She Wins': Watch the Short Documentary on 2018's First-Time Congresswomen Who Flipped Their Districts twitter:description: Ahead of the 2018 elections, TIME embarked on a 10-day road trip to cover the historic wave of women congressional candidates twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8ce8c2341972cce0/69893ea3e76ad275cc63373b/lauren-rally-cropped-2.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'If She Wins': Watch the Short Documentary on 2018's First-Time Congresswomen Who Flipped Their Districts > Sponsored content. 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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=a2a500df-a43d-4e7d-8b04-6a5a907400ac&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: If She Wins: The First-Time Congressional Candidates Who Turned Their Districts Blue [Watch (HLS stream): If She Wins: The First-Time Congressional Candidates Who Turned Their Districts Blue](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/aEVM39NM.m3u8) (7:50)  _Published 2018-11-07. A record 25 Democratic women who are heading to Congress for the first time after Tuesday night, helping Democrats take the House of Representatives even as the party lost key Senate and governors’ races._ by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/) and [Diane Tsai](https://time.com/author/diane-tsai/) Nov 8, 2018 11:53 PM UTC A record 25 Democratic women who are heading to Congress for the first time after Tuesday night, helping Democrats take the House of Representatives even as the party lost key Senate and governors’ races. by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/) and [Diane Tsai](https://time.com/author/diane-tsai/) Nov 8, 2018 11:53 PM UTC Ahead of the 2018 elections, we embarked on a 10-day road trip to cover the [historic wave](http://time.com/5107499/record-number-of-women-are-running-for-office/) of women congressional candidates, overwhelmingly Democrats, running for office for the first time. We drove nearly 1,000 miles — from Overland Park, Kansas to Birmingham, Michigan — meeting women who had transformed from citizen to candidate over the past two years. They were among hundreds of women who underwent [personal transformations](http://time.com/5446556/congress-women-pink-wave/) that amounted to a political shift in Congress this year. At least 34 Democratic women were elected to Congress for the first time Tuesday night, according to Emily’s List, which works to elect Democratic women. With some votes still being counted, at least 22 first-time women candidates flipped seats that had been in Republican control, helping Democrats take back the House of Representatives for the first time in more than a decade. The last time so many new women were elected to Congress was in 1992, dubbed the “Year of the Woman,” when 24 new women were elected to the House. This year, a record total of at least 102 women (including incumbents) will serve in the House of Representatives. In our short documentary “If She Wins,” we met five Democratic women running a competitive race to flip a Republican-held seat. Featured candidates include [Sharice Davids](http://time.com/5446593/sharice-davids-deb-haaland-first-native-american-woman-congress/) of Kansas, [Abby Finkenauer](http://time.com/5442518/abby-finkenauer-congress-elections/) and [Cindy Axne](http://time.com/5438593/cindy-axne-iowa-democrats/) of Iowa, [Lauren Underwood](http://time.com/5442702/lauren-underwood-health-care-illinois-14/) of Illinois and [Haley Stevens](http://time.com/5445757/democratic-women-michigan/) of Michigan. ## Transcript [00:00] When Obama was elected, everybody said this says [00:02] something about America. Yes. When Trump was [00:03] elected, everybody said this says something about [00:06] America. What do you think your election says about [00:09] America? We the people. Your campaign [ INAUDIBLE ]. [00:12] We the people. This started out as an idea. I was mad [00:15] and thought I needed to do something. That story's not [00:18] possible in every country. People [00:23] here. Democrats won the midterms with the help of [00:26] women voters, women organizers, and women [00:28] candidates. In the ten days before the election, we [00:31] drove across the Midwest to meet some of the first [00:33] time women candidates trying to flip Republican seats. [00:35] [ MUSIC ] We're in [00:47] Kansas' third district, wait, where am I, yeah, here. [00:50] [ MUSIC ] Kansas' third district [00:54] is a swing district. It tends to go for republicans [00:59] when republicans have a wave, and. And Democrats. [01:01] When Democrats have a wave, that's because its a [01:04] district in a red state with a lot of conservatives, but it's [01:08] also a suburb of a big city. So the suburban voters who [01:11] are gonna decide the midterms are the types of [01:14] people who live in this district. Our first stop [01:19] is Sharice Davids. She is a really interesting candidate. [01:23] I've had to fight my whole life because of who I am, [01:28] who I love. She is a ****, Native American, former [01:33] MMA fighter, who's also an attorney. She's running for [01:36] Kevin Yoder's seat in Congress. There are a lot of [01:39] different aspects of who I And what my experience has [01:43] been that a lot of people connect with for one reason [01:45] or another. The number of people who wanna see [01:47] more women running for office, the number of people [01:50] who wanna see more first generation college students [01:52] running for office. It took me four years to get an [01:54] associate's degree, cuz I was working the whole time [01:57] that I was in school. We don't have enough people in [02:00] Congress who Know what it's like to go to community [02:02] college. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [02:05] So we're going to visit the campaigns of Cindy Axey in [02:10] Iowa's third district and Abby Finkenauer in Iowa's first [02:13] district. If they both win it could be a sign that [02:17] Iowa isn't as deep red as the 2016 election would [02:20] suggest. [ INAUDIBLE ] [ APPLAUSE ] And [02:29] just because I only have seven more days to say this [02:32] and it's awfully fun with you guys, I'm Cindy Axne and [02:34] I'm running for the US Congress of [ INAUDIBLE ]. [02:36] [ APPLAUSE ] [ APPLAUSE ] What's [02:40] the single most important issue facing Iowans that [02:42] you're going to fix? Healthcare. Making sure everyone [02:45] has access to affordable qualifty healthcare and that [02:48] means coverage of preexisting conditions. Trump won [02:52] this district by about four points in 2016 and David [02:55] Young has voted with Trump about 99 % of the time. [02:59] And so the question is, Will this southwestern Iowa [03:03] district that favored Trump, is it possible that they [03:05] might vote for a Democrat this [03:12] time? [ MUSIC ] One of the big problems facing rural [03:16] America is a brain Dream situation. People [03:21] will raise their families in these districts and then their [03:24] kids grow up and there are not enough educational [03:27] opportunities and not enough job opportunities for [03:29] young people and so then they end up moving away. [03:34] So when you have somebody like Abby Finkenauer who [03:36] is running in Iowa's first district on a platform of better [03:40] rural jobs Educational opportunities, that's the kind of [03:44] person who could really revitalize a district like this. [03:45] I've decided to run for Congress because this is [03:45] personal. [ APPLAUSE ] You see I grew up a daughter [03:45] of a union, [ INAUDIBLE ] [ MUSIC ] [04:04] If she wins her way she'll be one of the youngest [04:07] women in Congress. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [04:12] Lauren Underwood is not supposed to win in this [04:14] district. Until really recently she was down in the polls [04:17] by a lot. And it's only in the last couple weeks That [04:21] this race has been marked a toss up so if she wins [04:26] it will be a huge upset. [ APPLAUSE ] There's [04:30] been tremendous enthusiasm about early voting in the [04:33] 14th district. We're at presidental level interest to walk [04:37] in and early vote. Vote by mail has never been more [04:39] More popular than it is this year. You can see an [04:42] average primary here in the Illinois 14th District 8, 000 [04:46] people pulled democratic ballots but this year [04:50] 51, 200. [ APPLAUSE ] [04:57] 51. 200 people. It's called Democratic balance. What [05:02] does it feel like? It is unbelievable. This is not a world [05:06] in which I'm comfortable, in that the vice- president is [05:09] coming to my Community to help me [05:13] win this election, like what? She's [05:19] a registered nurse, and she's worked for the [05:21] Department of Health and Human Services under the [05:23] Obama administration and helped to implement the [05:26] ACA, so she knows the law. This is a seat that would [05:29] be absolutely safe for Republicans if they hadn't tried [05:33] to repeal the ACA. How has it changed the way you [05:36] think about this country and what's possible in this [05:38] country? Yeah, America's the best country ever where a [05:41] story like mine is possible. A regular, middle class [05:46] woman working full time is able to, with [05:51] a friend, figure out how to get on the ballot, get on the [05:53] ballot Walk around, knock on doors, get signatures. [05:56] Talk to the party and they're okay. Go for it. I think [06:00] that's such a gift to know and in [06:04] your early 30s. We literally can do anything. [ MUSIC ] [06:13] So we're here in Birmingham, Michigan in Michigan's [06:16] 11th district It's 8: 00 on election night, and the mood [06:19] is tense. That Haley Stevens running against Lena [06:23] Epstein. Lena Epstein was the Michigan Chair of the [06:23] Trump campaign. Haley Stevens was the Chief of Staff [06:27] on Obama's Jobs task force, which brought a lot of [06:30] jobs back to this area. [ MUSIC ] [ APPLAUSE ] Here's [06:34] where we are by [06:43] the end of the night. Sharice Davids won, Cindy Axne [06:47] won, Abby Finkenauer won, Lauren Underwood won, [06:50] and Haley Stevens won. Every single woman that we [06:54] talked to on this road trip ended up winning their [06:56] campaign. Truman's words remind. America [07:01] was not built on fear. America was built [07:05] on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable [07:10] determination to do the job at hand. A record [07:14] number of women are the House of Representatives [07:16] and at least 26 First- time Congresswomen [07:20] are entering the House this year. That is pretty historic. 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