Women continue to build movements and run for office – even as our society makes it tougher than ever to do so.
Progress hasn’t stalled everywhere in terms of representation for women in elected office. Women candidates are making historic gains at state levels, although our federal government now has fewer women overall than it did before. And only one woman will chair a House committee. As we also know, the number of women isn’t all that matters – who those women are, and what they aim to do, is important, too.
Whether or not you know these names – or align with their values – the women listed below are poised to make big political waves in 2025.
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Sarah McBride
U.S. Representative from Delaware – McBride made history last November as the first openly transgender person ever to be elected to U.S. Congress. And she is facing no small amount of backlash for it – most notably from her colleagues, who misgender her publicly, among other microaggressions. But she’s refusing to back down, instead opting to negate the disrespect head-on, while working to make progress on her priority issues: Healthcare access and stronger schools.
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Nancy Mace
U.S. Representative from South Carolina – On the other side of the coin is Mace, who has made headlines in recent months for being among those who attacked McBride for being trans. She is also trading on fear-based xenophobia to get inflammatory immigration legislation passed into law. Her headline-grabbing antics have experts speculating about a run to be the next governor of the Palmetto State.
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Pam Bondi
Current U.S. Attorney General – Prior to assuming control of the U.S. Department of Justice, Bondi was a defense lawyer for President Donald Trump during his first impeachment trial. Last year, she also led the legal arm of the America First Policy Institute. Before that, she was the attorney general of Florida from 2011 to 2019. She was the first woman to ever assume the role – and she used that power to, among other things, oppose gay marriage.
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Gretchen Whitmer
Governor of Michigan – The Democratic governor of the Wolverine State has been increasingly vocal about her disapproval of Trump’s acts, after initially extending a collaborative hand, taking him to task recently over tariffs and education cutbacks. In Michigan, she’s been focused on job creation, infrastructure updates and healthcare access. Term limits prohibit her from running for re-election in 2026 – but there’s speculation of a 2028 presidential run.
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Lisa Blunt Rochester
Junior U.S. Senator from Delaware – Prior to her current role, she served as the U.S. representative for Delaware’s at-large congressional district. She’s both the first woman, and first Black person, to represent Delaware in both chambers of Congress. With that platform, she’s trying to preserve vaccine access and protect credit unions – because, as she said in a recent interview, her work is “not about making history; it’s about making a difference in people’s lives.”
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Tammy Bruce
Spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of State – The radio host and author wasn’t always a Trump mouthpiece. In the 1990s, she served as head of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Organization for Women, and made history as the first openly gay woman to host a mainstream talk radio show in the U.S. But as the years went on, she became increasingly conservative, taking to the airwaves to push back in culture wars such as LGBTQ-inclusive advertising and pronoun questions on information forms.
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Marie Gluesenkamp Perez
U.S. Representative from Washington – Perez garnered national attention for winning in a rural district that firmly supported Trump. The automotive shop owner campaigned, in part, on a message that criticized fellow Democrats for failing to speak effectively to working-class voters. “The fundamental mistake people make is condescension,” she told The New York Times. Her term has been a mixed bag of proposing legislation that protects veterans’ healthcare access, and voting to censure Texas Rep. Al Green for his protest of Trump’s recent congressional address.
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Tishaura Jones
Mayor of St. Louis – The Democratic politician has long served her city – as Democratic Committeewoman of the 8th Ward; as the first Black woman to serve as assistant minority floor leader in the Missouri House of Representatives; and as the first Black woman treasurer of St. Louis. Over the years, she spearheaded the creation of the city’s Office of Financial Empowerment, lobbied for reparations for Black citizens, and spoke out in support of abortion access. She’s been endorsed for re-election (St. Louis’ mayoral election is in April) by progressive Black women’s PAC Higher Heights.
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Christine Donohue
Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court – After an almost-30-year career in personal injury and commercial litigation, Donahue was elected to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. In 2015, she was elected as a justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and has been presiding over the purple state in that capacity ever since. Now, the Democratic judge is facing re-election in April in an especially contentious election – the results of which, experts say, could shape the battleground’s court composition for years to come.
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Abigail Spanberger
Former U.S. Representative from Virginia – She’s currently running for governor of Virginia – and so far, she’s polling well. If she wins, she’ll be the state’s first woman to hold the post. Before that, she was an intelligence officer, then a representative of Virginia’s 7th congressional district. While in the House, she was an early voice in the call for Trump’s impeachment during his first term in office; and a loud critic of his militaristic, opportunistic response to Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020.
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Deb Haaland
Gubernatorial candidate in New Mexico – Haaland, the former Congressperson and Secretary of the Interior, would be the first Native American woman governor in U.S. history, if she’s elected to the office next year. In her past positions of power, she helped minority entrepreneurs launch small businesses, promoted solar energy use and enacted water protection measures, among other efforts. Now, she aims to bring that energy home. “The problems we face now are bigger than ever – and we must be fierce to solve them,” she stated in her campaign launch video.
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
U.S Representative for New York – The progressive legislator from the Big Apple has been a woman to watch for years. Outspoken, eloquent and social-media savvy, Ocasio-Cortez has been driving political conversations (and proposing landmark legislation like the Green New Deal) ever since first winning her post in 2018. So far during the second Trump administration, she’s only gotten louder on the progressive values she holds dear.
