Inspired women are aiming to fill the U.S. Capitol.
A record-number of women are running for positions in the U.S. House of Representatives this year, according to estimates from the Associated Press Thursday. Most of these women are Democrats inspired to run after President Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election — a win that not only defeated Hillary Clinton, the first female presidential nominee of a major party, but also influenced hundreds of thousands of women to march on the streets of Washington, D.C. the day after Trump’s inauguration in January 2017 — and again this year. Republican women, too, make up a portion of this record-breaking number of new female politicians, the AP reported.
This growing number of women running for office, detailed on a broader scale outside of just the House earlier this year in a TIME cover story, comes as the filing deadline for candidates running in states around the country draws near. As of Thursday, 309 women have filed papers to run for seats in the House, which, along with the rest of Congress, is predominately filled with men.
Male candidates still outnumber female ones in House races this year, the AP reported, and women will still have to win the seats to make a substantial impact in the House.
In the time since Trump was elected, women have snatched several wins in elections on the local, state and national level around the country. Danica Roe became the first openly transgender person to be elected to the Virginia General Assembly when she won the general election on Nov. 7, 2017, and Vi Lyles became Charlotte’s first-ever African-American, female mayor.
Female candidates are also setting records in a number of other political realms. As the AP noted, 40 women are running for gubernatorial races around the country — up from a record 34 candidates in 1994. In Texas, too, a record-number of women are running for office — including in races for congressional seats or local seats.
And the number of women running for office will just keep growing amid a Republican-controlled congressional and executive branch, Stephanie Shriock — the president of Emily’s List, a political action committee aimed at electing pro-choice, Democratic women — said in an interview with Fortune a year ago.
“[T]hese thousands of women are fighting to ensure their voices are heard at decision-making tables in communities across the country,” she told Fortune, adding, “This is only the beginning.”
