Women Are the Majority of Donors to Congressional Campaigns, Though Men Continue to Give a Larger Share of Total Funds

Men continue to give vastly more money in political contributions than women in the midterm elections, according to a new analysis from the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University. CAWP continues its Women, Money, & Politics Watch 2026 project today with an updated analysis of donor demographics in political fundraising. While the total dollar amount given by men is significantly outpacing the amount given by women, women make up a majority of all unique donors to congressional candidates.

 “As we close in on Election Day, we continue to see a large gender disparity in campaign contributions in the 2026 midterms,” said lead author and CAWP Senior Scholar Kira Sanbonmatsu. “Women are a majority of donors to congressional candidates. But they remain underrepresented in terms of the total amount of money contributed. Campaign contributions are a form of political participation and political voice, and women’s voices are less likely to be heard in this election season.”

 Donor Gaps: Demographics Analysis is a nationwide analysis of donors to 2026 congressional races in which CAWP experts examine the participation of women donors with additional detail about donor race/ethnicity, educational attainment, marital status, and age. We also investigate how these donor characteristics correspond to candidates’ gender and party identities. Analyzing donations made during calendar year 2026 to all major party congressional candidates in the running as of July 15, 2026, CAWP researchers find that: 
 

• The total amount contributed by men to 2026 congressional candidates vastly exceeds the amount contributed by women. Men have provided 59% of all money contributed to congressional candidates with 41% provided by women, up from 37% in 2024.
• However, women fare better as a proportion of unique donors to congressional candidates than as a proportion of total money contributed. Women are about 56% of unique donors to congressional candidates, up from 52% in 2024.
• Women are providing a higher share of the total amount contributed to Democratic than Republican congressional candidates. Women have contributed 46% of all money given to Democratic congressional candidates, whereas women have only contributed 30% of all money given to Republican congressional candidates.
• Women from historically underrepresented racial/ethnic groups are especially underrepresented as donors to congressional candidates:
  • Black women have donated just 1% of all money contributed to 2026 congressional candidates.
  • Latinas have donated just 1% of all money contributed to 2026 congressional candidates.
  • Asian American women have donated just 1% of all money contributed to 2026 congressional candidates.
• Few gender affinity effects between candidate gender and donor gender are evident in overall giving patterns. This means that women donors are not giving disproportionately to women candidates (after taking political party into account).  
• Women candidates from historically underrepresented racial/ethnic groups are more likely than white women candidates to attract racially diverse donors.
  • For example, 2% of the money raised by Democratic women U.S. House incumbents who are white came from Black donors compared with 10% of the funds contributed to Democratic women U.S. House incumbent candidates who are Black.

 
***

Women, Money, & Politics Watch 2026 uses interactive data visualizations powered by Graphicacy that are downloadable and shareable; follow the story as it develops on the project landing page. CAWP recently updated The National View that tracks campaign finance in all congressional races. Stay tuned for updates as new campaign finance data become available and find all CAWP data about women in election 2026 at Election Watch. Campaign finance data for the project come from OpenSecrets and voter demographic data are from Catalist.

This research is made possible thanks to the generosity and commitment of Pivotal. Critical funding support for Women, Money, & Politics Watch 2026 was provided by Michelle Mercer and Bruce Golden.