US election 2020: Record number of women to serve in 117th Congress

A record number of women will serve in the 117th United States Congress with at least 131 currently projected to be sworn in this year. According to Rutgers University's Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), which monitors the women representation in American politics, so far 106 female candidates have won their races and on 29 other seats, women are giving neck-to-neck competition to their rivals. Out of the 106 women elected to Congress, 83 are Democrats and 23 Republicans. 

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2018 record surpassed

Women running for House of Representatives this year broke all previous records with 583 female candidates running for the race as compared to 476 in 2018. While in 2018, Democrats contributed most to the number of female candidates for House race, this year Republicans have also contributed their bit to boost the spike. However, representation in the Senate could drop this year with only 25 elected to the chamber stated to win as of Thursday afternoon. The record for women serving in the Senate was set during the current Congress with 26 elected to the upper House. 

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Women also set a new record in terms of State legislative nominees in 2020. While Democrats are the majority of all women state legislative nominees, Republicans also expanded their numbers. 3,444 women were nominated for state legislative seats in races around the country, surpassing the previous record of 3,418, set in 2018. 644 women were nominated for state senate seats, beating the previous record of 638. While for State House seats, 2,780 women were nominated, equalling the record set in 2018. 

Democratic Party this year nominated fewer women candidates for state legislative races than they did in 2018, while Republicans surpassed all their previous records and nominated more female candidates than they did in 2018. 

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As far as the presidential election is concerned, results are still awaited in four states, including Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, and Nevada. Democratic Party candidate Joe Biden is currently leading with 264 electoral votes, while incumbent Trump is trailing behind with just 214 votes. Trump campaign has filed lawsuits in the undecided states to stop the count as they believe officials have "cheated" by counting late-arriving ballots. 

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