Most Black women since 2004 running for office this year

More than 120 Black or multi-racial Black women filed to run for Congress in 2020, the highest number seen in more than a decade, the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) confirmed.

CAWP, a unit at the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers that tracks women’s political participation in the country, confirmed to The Hill on Monday that at least 129 Black or multi-racial Black women, 98 Democrats and 31 Republicans, have filed to run for Congress this year.

{mosads}Out of those who filed, the group said 77 women, 60 Democrats and 17 Republicans, are currently running in their state primaries or have won them and are gearing up for general election.

The number of those who filed this year is large leap from the roughly 90 Black or multi-racial Black women who filed in 2018 and the highest ever recorded by CAWP, which has been tracking race data on women candidates since 2004.

According to Reuters, which was first to break the story, the number is record-breaking and comes as a number of Black women are running to flip red districts this year.

Pam Keith, an attorney and Democrat in Florida running to unseat Rep. Brian Mast (R), told the news agency that “people are becoming more comfortable with seeing different kinds of people in Congress.”

“You don’t know what it looks like to have powerful Black women in Congress until you see powerful Black women in Congress,” she continued.

The report also comes as CAWP has also reported a record number of women have filed to run for the Senate and House in 2020 in recent months.