Men Are Outgiving Women in 2026 Congressional Races by a Wide Margin, Rutgers Study Finds
A new analysis from the Center for American Women and Politics shows men have contributed 62% of all money given to congressional candidates this cycle, though women represent roughly half of all donors.
An undated photograph of a Union County ballot drop box in Rahway, New Jersey. (The Central Jerseyan)
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Chris Howell | May 29, 2026
Men have contributed far more money to congressional candidates in the 2026 midterm elections than women, even as women participate at nearly equal rates as individual donors, according to new research from the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.
CAWP’s analysis of donations through April 15, 2026, found that men provided 62% of all money contributed to major-party congressional candidates, compared with 38% from women. As a share of unique donors, however, women were nearly on par with men.
“We’re seeing a large gender disparity in campaign contributions in the 2026 midterms, with men’s contributions far exceeding women’s,” said lead author and CAWP Senior Scholar Kira Sanbonmatsu. “The fact that women are about half of donors shows that women are very engaged in this election.”
The disparity was more pronounced on one side of the aisle. Women contributed 43% of all money given to Democratic congressional candidates, compared with just 29% of money to Republican candidates.
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Women from historically underrepresented racial and ethnic groups were especially underrepresented as donors relative to their share of the population. Black women and Latinas each contributed just 1% of all money given to congressional candidates, while Asian American women contributed about 1.5%.
The data showed modest but measurable gender affinity patterns — women gave a slightly higher share of their donations to women candidates than to men in both parties. Women provided 45% of money contributed to Democratic women candidates versus 42% to Democratic men, and 31% to Republican women versus 28% to Republican men.
Candidates of color attracted more racially diverse donor pools. Among Democratic women incumbents in U.S. House races, Black candidates drew 9% of their contributions from Black donors, compared with 3% for white incumbents in the same category.
The donor demographics report is the second in CAWP’s Women, Money, & Politics Watch 2026 series. The first, released earlier this month, found a related pattern on the candidate side: men running for Congress self-finance at higher rates than women across virtually every category — chamber, party, and race type. That report also found that in the most competitive U.S. House races, Democratic women candidates are on average raising more than Democratic men, suggesting the gender money gap is uneven and depends heavily on the type of race. Together, the two reports point toward a consistent theme: women engage with campaign finance differently than men, whether as candidates or donors, and those differences carry real consequences for who has resources heading into November.
CAWP is a unit of Rutgers University’s Eagleton Institute of Politics and is nationally recognized as a leading source of research on women’s political participation.
Editor’s note: The Central Jerseyan is free to read and supported by advertising. If you value this kind of local reporting and want to help sustain it, you can become a citizen supporter on Patreon. Your contribution helps fund continued coverage of local government, schools, and community issues.