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A new wave of Republican women running in competitive congressional races is aiming to chip away at Democrats’ long-held advantage with female voters — and flip key seats that could determine control of the House this November.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, one of these candidates, Laurie Buckhout, a former cattle rancher, U.S. Army veteran and mother, knocked the Democratic Party for trying to "pigeonhole" female voters into a single category.
"The Democrats try way too hard to pigeonhole us women in a certain role while they still can't define what a woman is," she quipped.
She believes that despite the rhetoric, Democrats are "really out of touch when it comes to women voters."
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Left to right: Republican congressional candidates Laurie Buckhout of North Carolina, Tiffany Burress of New Jersey, Jessica Steinmann of Texas, and Barb Regnitz of Indiana (Courtesy of the campaigns for Laurie Buckhout, Tiffany Burress, Jessica Steinmann and Barb Regnitz)
"They try to own that gender and try to stuff them in a box," she went on. "’This is how you're going to vote. Don't tell your husband. This is how you are going to think.’ Republicans don't do that."
This midterm election, Buckhout is running to unseat Democratic Rep. Don Davis in North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District. The district stretches across the northeastern corner of the state from the border with Virginia to the Atlantic coast. After narrowly losing to Davis in the 2024 election, Buckhout’s campaign has already garnered significant momentum this time around. She defeated a field of four other Republican candidates in the March 3 primary and, just this week, was further bolstered by an endorsement from President Donald Trump.
As the dominant party in an off-year midterm cycle, many expect that Republicans will take a beating at the ballot box this November. Buckhout, however, thinks it will be a very different story in North Carolina. With the GOP barely grasping onto a razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives, every seat matters.
"I can tell you the people of North Carolina, especially eastern North Carolina, they want to live their lives with a minimum of government interference, they don't want big government leaning in, telling them how to live their life, what to do, taking their money out of their pockets for more and more taxes for programs that they don't need and they didn't vote for," she said. "So, I can tell you that we feel very good about this being a Republican election, taking this, adding another seat to the House."
Buckhout is not the only female Republican candidate who stands a good shot at flipping a blue district red this year.
In one of the GOP’s top targeted districts, Carrie Buck, a former school principal and self-described minivan mom, is angling to unseat Rep. Dina Titus in Nevada's 1st Congressional District in Las Vegas. As of the latest Federal Election Commission filings, Buck has significantly outraised Titus, further signaling the incumbent’s vulnerability.
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Left: Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev. Right: Nevada state Sen. Carrie Buck, who is running for Congress. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images; Campaign for Carrie Buck)
Buck told Fox News Digital that after serving in Congress since 2013, Titus has "had her chance, and Nevada families are still waiting for results."
"I spent 30 years in classrooms — teaching, running schools, and working to fix problems. During that same time, Dina Titus was in public office, unable and unwilling to address the challenges Nevadans face: rising inflation, soaring crime rates, an open border, and failing schools," she said.
On the East Coast, Tiffany Burress, a New Jersey attorney who is a newcomer to the political scene, is running to unseat Democratic Rep. Nellie Pou, who is considered vulnerable.
If the GOP could pick up the seat, it would be a huge boon in retaining the majority.
"Voters are ready for something different, and that’s how I know we’re going to win," Burress told Fox News.
She knocked Pou, saying she has "spent decades living on the taxpayers' dime," and "puts extreme progressive agendas ahead of the priorities of our district" by voting with the likes of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., nearly 94% of the time.
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Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., and Republicans are attempting to retain their majority this midterm election cycle. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Similarly, Barb Regnitz, in Indiana’s 1st Congressional District, is running to flip a long-held Democratic seat currently filled by Rep. Frank Mrvan.
Regnitz, who is a former software engineer and current Porter County commissioner, told Fox News Digital that "for almost 100 years, Republicans have been powerless to stop the failed policies of the far-left that have resulted in falling incomes, struggling industry, and increasingly unsafe communities right here in Northwest Indiana."
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"I'm running for Congress because I believe our district deserves serious, principled leadership focused on results, not rhetoric," she said.
Down in Texas, another Republican woman, Jessica Steinmann, is fighting to retain a Republican seat north of Houston, being left vacant by Rep. Morgan Luttrell, who opted not to seek re-election.
Steinmann served in President Donald Trump’s Justice Department during his first term as director of the Office for Victims of Crime.
She told Fox News Digital she is running for Congress "because the next two years of President Trump’s administration are critical for our country."
"I was proud to serve in the first Trump administration, where I saw firsthand what strong, America First leadership can accomplish," she said, adding, "I’m confident that message will carry us to victory in November."
Peter Pinedo is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.
