United States of America

 Already in 2018, women candidates have broken the records for the number of candidates for governor, U.S. House and U.S. Senate. Depending on how the midterms go, they may make history again.

The November elections could see the first black woman to serve as governor, the first Native American woman in Congress and the first openly bisexual senator, among other firsts.

All congressional primary elections other than Louisiana (which holds a jungle primary on November 6th) are now complete, giving us the opportunity to take stock of women's candidacies and put their successes into context. Note that our findings on primary success and nominations do not include Lousiana's congressional candidates, nor any contests that remain too close to call.

Women congressional candidates have run for and won nominations in record numbers this year.

A young, female 20-something is looking to upset how things are done in Washington D.C. by defeating a long-entrenched incumbent. She’s the youngest person running for Congress in 2018. She’s not Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She’s not even a Democrat. Morgan Murtaugh is running as a Republican for Democrat Rep. Susan Davis’s seat in California’s 35th District. Davis has held the seat for 15 years.

PARSIPPANY, N.J. — Mikie Sherrill, Democratic candidate for Congress, had finished a radio interview and was heading toward the stage at the local library where a crowd waited for her to begin an event with the mayor and a native-son-turned-astronaut.

But first, there was a smudge of chocolate to be dealt with.

A flood of women, minorities and first-time candidates is poised to radically alter the composition of Congress next year after winning Democratic primaries in record numbers in 2018.

Ayanna Pressley pulled off an unexpected victory on Tuesday in the Democratic congressional primary in Massachusetts’s Seventh District, beating 10-term incumbent Rep. Michael Capuano with 59 percent of the vote. Barring a last-minute write-in campaign during the general election, Pressley will be unopposed in November and become the first black woman to represent Massachusetts in Congress.