More Women Can Run. Can More Women Give – and Give More?
Women donors are better represented as unique contributors to campaigns than they are in the total amount of funds contributed. Because women earn less than men and hold less wealth, campaign finance disparities have a structural basis that may be hard to change.
In our latest update of the Center for American Women and Politics’ 2026 Women, Money, & Politics Watch Donor Demographics page using data from OpenSecrets, we find that while women make up a majority of unique contributors – 56 percent – to congressional candidates, their donations only make up 41 percent of all funds contributed. Meanwhile, men make up 44 percent of unique contributors, but account for 59 percent of all funds contributed.
Women’s giving patterns find a parallel in women candidates’ fundraising patterns. Our candidate analysis shows that women candidates raise more of their funds than men candidates from small-dollar donations.
Based on these trends we’ve been following at CAWP, a few questions come to mind as Election Day approaches.
Could More Women Give? And Could They Give More?
One of the reasons for the gender gap in the total amount of money given to congressional candidates stems from the average contribution amount. Because women donors are more likely to be small-dollar donors than men donors, when all donations are aggregated, women’s donations comprise a smaller proportion of all funds compared with men’s donations.
For example, in a comprehensive analysis of the average amount contributed to 2026 congressional candidates, we found that the average donation amount was lower for women campaign contributors than men. This analysis, which included campaign filings of small-dollar donations to ActBlue and WinRed, revealed that women gave an average contribution of $48 to Democratic candidates while the average contribution by men was $87. Women gave an average contribution of $39 to Republican candidates, whereas men gave $106.
How Much Are Women Being Asked to Give?
Women are overrepresented as small-dollar donors compared with large-dollar donors. Giving in smaller denominations may be the preferred way that women donate, as well as the most feasible. The precise mechanism is unclear, because the data do not reveal the amount of the ask. Are women giving what’s asked of them? And are women and men being asked to give the same amount?
This uncertainty about why women dominate small-dollar giving may provide an opening for candidates to raise their expectations for women’s giving—particularly since women are a large group, spanning all income levels.
Who Is Being Asked to Give?
CAWP’s research on women donors reveals wide disparities in whether and how much women contribute by racial/ethnic background. National surveys also reveal gender gaps in political giving by historically underrepresented groups.
In part, inequalities in political giving may reflect the status quo in that candidates look to last cycle’s donors to fuel this cycle’s campaigns. But it’s possible to cast a broader net in the quest for contributors. In light of women’s charitable giving rates and their civic and political engagement, women donors are arguably an underappreciated source of potential political donations.
The political giving landscape also varies by party. Women have contributed 46 percent of all money given to Democratic congressional candidates, but only 30 percent of all money given to Republican congressional candidates. Women–as donors as well as candidates and elected officials–are better represented in the Democratic party. Republican candidates may not be reaching their fundraising potential with their women supporters.
Candidates would be well-served to tap more diverse and new pools of women donors. After all, women are highly engaged in the midterm elections.
Kira Sanbonmatsu is a professor of political science at Rutgers University and senior scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics at the Eagleton Institute of Politics.
