--- title: SOTU: Photo Shows Success of Women in 2018 Election description: Democratic congresswomen wore white to the State of the Union address — a choice that demonstrated gains made by women in the 2018 midterms canonical: https://time.com/5522281/state-of-the-union-women-wearing-white-2018/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-02-06T04:00:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-14T20:28:28.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: This SOTU Photo Shows How Successful Women Were in 2018 og:description: Democratic congresswomen wore white in solidarity og:url: https://time.com/5522281/state-of-the-union-women-wearing-white-2018/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1de56821aaa4bd84/6989449f457a526574d60717/democratic-women-wearing-white-state-of-the-union.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2405 og:image:height: 1353 og:image:alt: U.S. President Trump delivers his second State of the Union address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress in Washington og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This SOTU Photo Shows How Successful Women Were in 2018 twitter:description: Democratic congresswomen wore white in solidarity twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1de56821aaa4bd84/6989449f457a526574d60717/democratic-women-wearing-white-state-of-the-union.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This State of the Union Photo Shows How Successful Women Were in the 2018 Election > Sponsored content. 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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. ## Video: Here's Why the Women of Congress Are Wearing White for the 2019 State of the Union Address [Watch (HLS stream): Here's Why the Women of Congress Are Wearing White for the 2019 State of the Union Address](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Wij02IFw.m3u8) (1:15)  _Published 2019-02-06. Democratic women again used white clothing to make a coordinated fashion statement at the 2019 State of the Union address._  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Updated: Dec 14, 2023 8:28 PM UTCPublished: Feb 6, 2019 4:00 AM UTC  A sweeping view shows dozens of Democratic congresswomen wearing white during President Trump's State of the Union address in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 5, 2019. A sweeping view shows dozens of Democratic congresswomen wearing white during President Trump's State of the Union address in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 5, 2019.Jonathan Ernst—Reuters  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Updated: Dec 14, 2023 8:28 PM UTCPublished: Feb 6, 2019 4:00 AM UTC Democratic congresswomen [wore white](http://time.com/5518859/state-of-the-union-2019-white/) to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday — a sartorial choice meant to show solidarity, while also demonstrating the [gains made by women](http://time.com/5323592/2018-elections-women-history-records/) in the 2018 midterms. A [record 127 women](https://www.cawp.rutgers.edu/women-us-congress-2019) are currently serving in Congress, including 47 women of color. The majority – 106 – of those women are Democrats, and 21 are Republicans. Most of those women are in the U.S. House, after 36 new women were elected in November, joining 66 female incumbents who were re-elected. There are now 102 women serving in the House — the [largest number in U.S. history](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/11/09/us/women-elected-midterm-elections.html). “No one has benefitted more from our thriving economy than women, who have filled 58% of the new jobs created in the last year,” Trump said in the State of the Union on Tuesday. In response, many of the women in white stood and cheered, raising their hands and high-fiving one another in apparent celebration of their own new jobs in Congress. “Don’t sit yet, you’re going to like this,” Trump said, before continuing his address: “All Americans can be proud that we have more women in the workforce than ever before — and exactly one century after the Congress passed the Constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote, we also have more women serving in the Congress than ever before.” There’s [a long history](http://time.com/4562833/hillary-clinton-wear-white-history/) of women using the color white to send a political message. Women who were active in the temperance movement against alcohol in the late 19th century often wore a white ribbon bow. Perhaps most famously, white was the signature color worn by women fighting for the right to vote in the early 20th century. And later, it was the color women wore to march for the [Equal Rights Amendment.](https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/06/30/day-history-national-organization-women-was-founded)  Alexandria Octavio-Cortez (C) poses for a picture with other women ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump's State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, on February 5, 2019\. Women from both political parties wore white outfits at the behest of the Democratic Women's Working Group to honor the legacy of women's suffrage in the United States. MANDEL NGAN—AFP/Getty Images U.S. Rep The [Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage’s](http://nationalwomansparty.org/the-national-womans-party-and-the-meaning-behind-their-purple-white-and-gold-textiles/) described the meaning behind the color: “White, the emblem of purity, symbolizes the quality of our purpose; and gold, the color of light and life, is as the torch that guides our purpose, pure and unswerving.” [Geraldine Ferraro](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lw0MF-I85XE) wore white when she became the first woman vice-presidential nominee of a major party in 1984\. And during her historic run for president in 2016, Hillary Clinton [often sported the color](http://time.com/4431032/dnc-hillary-clinton-white-pantsuit-meaning/), as did [many of her supporters](http://time.com/4561290/hillary-clinton-wear-white-to-vote/) as they cast their vote for her.  Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and other female lawmakers cheer during President Donald Trump's State of the Union address in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives at the U.S. Capitol Building on February 5, 2019 in Washington, DC. A group of female Democratic lawmakers chose to wear white to the speech in solidarity with women and a nod to the suffragette movement. Alex Wong—Getty Images “I wore all-white today to honor the women who paved the path before me, and for all the women yet to come,” New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of the newly elected members of Congress, tweeted on the day she was inaugurated in January. “From suffragettes to Shirley Chisholm, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the mothers of the movement.” She joined many of her colleagues in wearing white again Tuesday night. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5522281/state-of-the-union-women-wearing-white-2018/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5522281/state-of-the-union-women-wearing-white-2018/"},"headline":"This State of the Union Photo Shows How Successful Women Were in the 2018 Election","datePublished":"2019-02-06T04:00:43.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-14T20:28:28.000Z","description":"Democratic congresswomen wore white in solidarity","url":"https://time.com/5522281/state-of-the-union-women-wearing-white-2018/","keywords":["Congress","White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1de56821aaa4bd84/6989449f457a526574d60717/democratic-women-wearing-white-state-of-the-union.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1de56821aaa4bd84/6989449f457a526574d60717/democratic-women-wearing-white-state-of-the-union.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"U.S. President Trump delivers his second State of the Union address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress in Washington","caption":"U.S. President Trump delivers his second State of the Union address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress in Washington","creditText":"Jonathan Ernst—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5522281/state-of-the-union-women-wearing-white-2018/","name":"This State of the Union Photo Shows How Successful Women Were in the 2018 Election"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Here's Why the Women of Congress Are Wearing White for the 2019 State of the Union Address","description":"Democratic women again used white clothing to make a coordinated fashion statement at the 2019 State of the Union address.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Wij02IFw/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2019-02-06T04:09:01.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Wij02IFw.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5522281/state-of-the-union-women-wearing-white-2018/","duration":"PT1M15S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5522281/state-of-the-union-women-wearing-white-2018/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```