A record number of women are running for seats in the House of Representatives in November's US election, the Center for American Women and Politics said Friday.
A total of 243 women have secured party nominations for House seats, according to the center, a division of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University.
With primary nominating contests still to come in 13 states, the number is expected to rise, the center said.
It said the previous record for the number of female House candidates was in the 2018 midterm elections, when there were 234.
Of the women who have won party nominations so far for the November 3 election, 74 are Republicans and 169 are Democrats, the center said.
The previous record for female Republican candidates was 53 in 2004 while 182 Democratic women ran for the House in 2018.
A record number of women and minority candidates were elected to Congress in 2018.
Nearly a quarter of the 435 seats in the House are held by women — 88 Democrats and 13 Republicans.
There are currently 26 women in the 100-seat Senate — 17 Democrats and nine Republicans.
Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the House, is the first woman ever to hold the post.
Pelosi served as speaker from 2007 to 2011 and regained the post after the 2018 midterm election, when Democrats won a majority of seats in the House.
