2024 Women Senate Hopefuls That Could Increase Women's Presence In Congress
Adrienne Bresnahan
There is a record number of women running for the United States Senate in the 2024 election. This is beating the previous record from 2016 of 40 women running.
On October 3, 1922, the first woman Senator was appointed to office. Rebecca Felton of Georgia became the Senator at 87 years old to fill a vacant seat. She served for 24 hours and only gave one speech for the Senate Chamber but this was considered monumental for women wanting positions of power.
The Senate has only seated 60 women since Rebecca Fulton, with only 25 women in office now. This could change with the upcoming election with currently 29 women declaring their run as possible Freshman Senators.
Women running to be Freshman U.S. Senators for the United States include:
Angela Alsobrooks: Angela Alsobrooks is a Democrat from Maryland. She is Prince George's County's First Full-time Domestic Violence Prosecutor. She is a Former State's Attorney in Prince George’s County and currently is the County Executive.
Her priorities include safe and legal abortion access for women, agriculture, protecting the environment, LGBTQIA+ rights, and more.
Lisa Blunt Rochester: Lisa Blunt Rochester is a Democrat from Delaware. She interned for Congressman Carper and then as a caseworker for his office. She moved up to serving on the cabinets of Delaware Governors Carper and Minner.
After her husband passed away, she put her energy into running for office. She is the first woman and person of color to serve in Congress for Delaware, where she currently serves in the House of Representatives.
She has spoken out for clean water, combatting the climate crisis, mental health, and more.
Dana Bobbitt: Dana Bobbitt is an Independent from California. She has declared her candidacy for the primary scheduled on March 5, 2024, in California.
Katrina Christiansen: Katrina Christiansen is a Democrat from North Dakota. She worked as a plant engineer at an ethanol plant as well as worked for a large agricultural processor as a researcher and innovator where she earned two patents.
She vows to campaign and work for the people of North Dakota and that will be her priority as Senator. She wants to be an advocate for farmers, ranchers, laborers, teachers, essential workers, and the land.
Denice Gary-Pandol: Denice Gary-Pandol is a Republican from California. She has taught Political Science and other government courses at the University of California, Irvine; the Whizin Center of Continuing Education at the American Jewish University; and numerous community colleges, as well as Summit Bible College.
She has served as Commissioner and Committee Chair of Community and Media Outreach for the County of Kern’s Human Relations Commission.
Her priorities include national security in terms of the border, protecting the fossil fuel industry, and ending California’s water crisis.
Grace Granda: Grace Granda is an Independent from Florida. She declared her candidacy to run for the general election on November 5, 2024.
Kristin Hedger: Kristin Hedger is an Independent from North Dakota. She declared her candidacy to run for the general election on November 5, 2024.
Gwendolyn Hickman: Gwendolyn Hickman is a Republican from Virginia. She has over 30 years of experience as an attorney with a record in criminal, immigration, and personal injury law.
She wants to invest in a vision for Virginia that has economic growth. She wants to focus on national security and protecting the Second Amendment but her top priority is education.
Gloria Johnson: Gloria Johnson is a Democrat from Tennessee. She grew up with a dad who was an FBI Special Agent investigating the KKK. She remembers sleeping in the hallway to avoid the shots fired by the KKK instead of her bedroom. She was a special education teacher for 27 years. In 2012, she won a seat in the Tennessee House.
She emphasizes protecting kids over guns since her former high school had witnessed a school shooting, where she was a teacher at the time. She trusts people to make their own decisions about their health when it comes to abortion access.
Christina Khalil: Christina Khalil is a member of the Green Party in New Jersey. She grew up in foster care and got her B.A. in psychology and her Master’s in Social Work from Ramapo College. She has volunteered for the Bergen County LGBTQ+ Alliance.
She worked the front lines at a medical detox facility at the height of the pandemic while still attending school.
Her priorities are improving immigration policy, investing in clean and reusable energy and resources, universal healthcare, and more.
Stacey Klein: Stacey Klein is a Republican from Wisconsin. She was on the GET School District board as a member of the Strategic Planning Committee and Covid Advisory Committee.
Her priorities include having the federal government be better at using taxpayer money, more comprehensive access to medical care and support for veterans, and bettering the education system.
Kari Lake: Kari Lake is a Republican from Arizona. She ran for Governor of Arizona in 2022 with former President Trump’s endorsement. She worked in the news industry for 27 years prior to this.
Her issues are her ten-point plan to secure the border and make America energy-dominant, and she believes that the issue of abortion is for the states to decide and is not in support of a federal ban.
Roxanne Lawler: Roxanna Lawler is a Republican from California. She declared her candidacy for the primary scheduled for May 5, 2024.
Barbara Lee: Barbara Lee is a Democrat from California. She fought to be her high school’s first black cheerleader. She was the first Black woman to hold a senior position on Capitol Hill as chief of staff for Congressman Ron Dellums.
She was also the first black woman elected to the State Assembly and Senate from Northern California.
She wants to find real solutions for homelessness in America, protect human rights and democracy, combat the climate crisis, and find a solution to ending poverty.
Leslie Love: Leslie Love is a Democrat from Michigan. She is a former lawmaker of the Michigan House of Representatives. She served Michigan’s 10th House District from 2015 until 2020 when she had to retire due to term limits in the state.
She currently is the Assistant Deputy Director for the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) Metro-Region.
She plans to defend democracy, improve health and wellness, improve education, preserve natural resources in America, and protect the vulnerable populations of America.
Kimberly Lowe: Kimberly Lowe is a Republican from Virginia. She is a single mom who has spent time building relationships with people at the national, state, and local levels.
Her concerns and issues include inflation, a lack of good-paying jobs, Constitutional rights, national security, the border crisis, veterans, and election integrity.
Shirley Maia-Cusick: Shirley Maia-Cusick is a Republican from New Jersey. She grew up in Brazil, going to primary school and earning her degree at schools in Brazil.
She immigrated in the early 90s after falling in love with America and believes that in America hard work can take you to the top.
She wishes to reclaim the American dream, improve education, empower parents to not rely on the government, repair the immigration system, address the crime problem, and focus on American interests.
Renee Martinez: Renee Martinez is an Independent from California. She declared her candidacy for the primary scheduled on March 5, 2024.
Dr. Valerie Lin McCray: Dr. Valerie Lin McCray is a Democrat from Indiana. She earned her doctorate from the University of Michigan in 2000. She has worked as a clinical psychologist with Reset Psychological Services as well as the lead psychologist with Correctional Medical Services.
She wants to focus on making mental health a priority. She wants Congress to accomplish H.J. Res. 13.
Her concerns include affordable housing, student loan debt, women’s rights, and making ethical technical advancements.
Patricia Morgan: Patricia Morgan is a Republican from Rhode Island. She was a teacher and she also spent time as a financial advisor. She is the former Chairman of the West Warwick Republican Town Committee, former President of the RI Chapter of the National Federation of Republican Women, and ultimately as the Chairman of the Republican Party of Rhode Island.
Katie Porter: Katie Porter is a Democrat from Washington. She won the seat in 2018 and won it in 2020 and 2022. In 2018, she flipped a seat that had always been held by Republicans till that point.
Before she was in Congress, she was a law professor at UC Irvine. She is currently the Representative for California’s 47th district.
Elissa Slotkin: Elissa Slotkin is a Democrat from Michigan. After 9/11 she was recruited by the CIA to be a Middle East analyst and served three tours in Iraq with the United States military.
She worked for President Bush and President Obama as part of the national security staff.
She decided to run for Congress because her mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and she saw firsthand the issues of the healthcare system in America and wanted to fight this.
Pamela Pugh: Pamela Pugh is a Democrat from Michigan. She worked for the Saginaw County Health Department for fourteen years. During her time, through collaborations with others, she got millions to fund environmental health and health equity issues.
Lexi Reese: Lexi Reese is a Democrat from California. She has worked in film, making a documentary about young girls having to sell themselves in order to get money for their family. She worked at a nonprofit that helped people start their own businesses.
She went to Harvard Business School and focused her studies on how to end economic inequality.
She wants to focus on training and education, supporting small businesses, and upgrading job quality.
Jessica Resendez: Jessica Resendez is a Democrat from California. She has been associated with the Sacramento Democratic Socialists of America, National Women's Political Caucus, and League of Women Voters.
Heli Rodriguez-Prilliman: Heli Rodriguez-Prilliman is a Democrat from Texas. She has experience and is successful as an investor, entrepreneur, writer, educator, and experience designer in tech.
She has priorities in universal child care and health care, focusing on small businesses and entrepreneurship, taking money out of politics, and addressing issues in big tech and AI.
Diane Sare: Diana Sare is an Independent from New York. She ran in 2022 against Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer with 66,000 signatures. She worked for Lyndon LaRouche’s Presidential Campaign.
She is against nuclear war in all situations and she is in support of stopping inflation, gaining back the middle class, improving education, and upholding the Constitution.
Nikki Snyder: Nikki Snyder is a Republican from Michigan. She is a nurse who works with mothers and babies and an educator who taught other nurses how to care for moms.
She is a conservative member of the State Board of Education.
She wants to restore parental control in education, secure the border, increase American energy independence, reduce spending, and promote government accountability.
Sherri Taylor: Sherri Taylor is a Democrat from Texas. She declared her candidacy for the primary election scheduled for March 5, 2024.