Women Candidates Competing with Men in Fundraising in the Closest 2026 Midterm Matchups

The Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University, recently updated its Women, Money, & Politics Watch 2026 analysis of campaign finance for congressional races. CAWP’s latest data shows that women often lead the fundraising race in the most competitive congressional races in the 2026 midterms. The National View analyzes campaign contributions to women and men congressional candidates by state, with additional insight into women candidates’ race/ethnicity. For each state, the analysis includes the total raised from individuals, proportion of funds from self-financing, and proportion of funds raised from small contributions, displaying campaign finance data available through July 15, 2026.

“We’re seeing that women often lead the money race in both U.S. House and U.S. Senate contests, with women competing in some of the most important races this cycle,” observed Kira Sanbonmatsu, CAWP senior scholar and lead author of Women, Money, & Politics Watch 2026. “However, we’re also seeing differences in fundraising totals by women’s racial/ethnic backgrounds, revealing persistent intersectional challenges. Moreover, men are still significantly more likely to be self-financing their campaigns than women. The self-funding strategy is not available to most Americans, and it’s a much less common strategy for women candidates.”

 Some key findings include:
 

Competitive Congressional Races

We conducted a separate analysis for The Cook Political Report’s most competitive congressional races. 

• In the most competitive congressional races, eight of the top ten candidates in proportion of funds raised from self-financing are men.
• In the most competitive U.S. Senate races, the average total raised by Democratic men candidates is higher than the average raised by Democratic women.
• In the most competitive U.S. House races, the average total raised by Democratic women candidates is higher than the average raised by Democratic men.
• In the most competitive U.S. House and Senate races, the average total raised by Republican women candidates is higher than the average raised by Republican men.
• In the most competitive congressional races that are mixed-gender contests, those featuring at least one woman and one man running, a woman candidate led the money race in the majority of contests. There are 18 mixed-gender primary or general election races among the most competitive 2026 contests.

Proportion of Funds from Self-Financed Contributions 

• Men running for Congress have a higher average proportion of funds from self-financing than women.
• This gender difference in self-financing holds in most subgroup comparisons by chamber, party, and type of candidate (incumbent/challenger/open-seat).

Proportion of Funds from Small Contributions 

• Overall, women running for Congress have a higher average proportion of funds from contributions of $200 or less than men.
• This gender difference in the average proportion of funds raised through small-dollar contributions holds in most subgroup comparisons by chamber, party, and type of candidate (incumbent/challenger/open-seat).
• Of the incumbent women seeking reelection, Representative LaMonica McIver (NJ-10) has the highest proportion of funds from small contributions (about 68%).

Total Raised from Individuals 

We analyzed the total amount raised from individuals including self-financing for all candidates by chamber, party, and incumbent/challenger/open-seat status. In this analysis, we found that: 

• In most subgroups of candidates – combinations of chamber, party, and seat status (incumbent, challenger, open-seat) – a man was the top fundraiser nationwide.
• We also compared women candidates to one another by chamber and party. In this analysis, the following four candidates had the highest total raised among women within their chamber and party group:
  • Democratic women candidates
    • Senate candidate Mary Peltola (AK)
    • Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14)
  • Republican women candidates
    • Senator Susan Collins (ME)
    • Representative Young Kim (CA-40)

 No Black woman congressional candidate led the money race for any candidate subgroup across these two analyses.

Party and Chamber Averages

 We analyzed the average total amount raised from individuals including self-financing for all candidates by chamber, party, and incumbent/challenger/open-seat status. In this analysis, we found that: 

• The average total raised for men was higher than the average raised by women in these subgroups:
  • U.S. Senate challenger candidates in both parties
  • U.S. House open-seat candidates in both parties
  • U.S. Senate open-seat candidates in both parties
  • Republican U.S. House challenger candidates

• The average total raised for women was higher than the average raised by men in these subgroups:
  • U.S. House incumbent candidates in both parties
  • Republican U.S. Senate incumbent candidates
  • Democratic U.S. House challenger candidates

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This release also includes specific analyses for Republican and Democratic women candidates with the context that there are significant disparities in the number of women candidates in each party.

Republican Women Candidate Analysis

Our nationwide campaign finance analysis of Republican women candidates is based on a smaller number of candidates than our analysis of Democratic women candidates due to the much smaller number of Republican women running for Congress in 2026 compared with Democratic women.

While on average Republican women incumbents seeking reelection to the U.S. House are out-raising their Republican men colleagues, it is important to recognize that Republican men vastly outnumber Republican women in Congress.

There are four Republican women seeking reelection to the U.S. Senate; the average amount they have raised is higher than the average amount for the Republican men seeking reelection to the U.S. Senate. 

Gender differences are evident among Republican congressional candidates nationwide in self-financing with men’s proportion of funds from self-financing exceeding women’s. However, in the most competitive races we find that Republican women running for the U.S. House report a slightly higher average proportion of funds from self-financing than Republican men. There are far fewer Republican women than Republican men running in these competitive contests. 

Our nationwide analysis of Republican congressional candidates also reveals that Republican women are more likely than Republican men to raise their funds through small contributions of $200 or less. 

Democratic Women Candidate Analysis

Our nationwide campaign finance analysis of Democratic women candidates is based on a larger number of candidates than Republican women candidates due to the much smaller number of Republican women running for Congress in 2026 compared with Democratic women. 

While women compose a much higher proportion of 2026 Democratic than Republican congressional candidates, gender differences persist in how Democratic candidates are financing their campaigns. 

Democratic men U.S. Senate candidates on average are raising more than Democratic women. They also raise more on average as open-seat candidates in U.S. House races. However, in other U.S. House races, Democratic women are raising more on average than Democratic men. 

Gender differences are evident among Democratic congressional candidates nationwide in self-financing with men’s proportion of funds from self-financing exceeding women’s. 

The gender difference in self-financing is also apparent in our analysis of The Cook Political Report’s most competitive U.S. House races, with Democratic men’s average of funds raised from self-financing higher than the average for Democratic women. 

Our nationwide analysis of congressional candidates reveals that Democratic women are usually more likely than Democratic men to raise their funds through small contributions of $200 or less.

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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. 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.