Statewide, females make up 38 percent of candidates this year, compared to 32 percent in the prior election cycle.

More women in Hawaii are running for office in 2018 than in the last election cycle two years ago, following a nationwide trend.

In Hawaii, 125 women are candidates for local, state and federal offices this year, compared to 93 candidates on the 2016 primary ballot, according to the state Office of Elections.

The 2018 midterm elections are shaping up to be a watershed year for women and politics. Not only are a record number of women running for political office in 2018, but many of them are running campaigns that tout the underrepresentation of women in an effort to galvanize the women’s vote. MJ Hegar, an Air Force veteran and young mother running for Congress in Texas as a Democrat, said that “women are sick of” male elected leaders promising to protect women’s rights.

A millennial candidate has shaken up the US Democratic Party by defeating the incumbent congressman for his seat.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 28, defeated political veteran Joe Crowley, 56, on Tuesday night in their party's congressional primary in New York City.

Mr Crowley, a 10-term Democrat, had been tipped as a future party leader or even Speaker of the House.

Democratic state Comptroller Susana Mendoza says the party’s panel on sexual harassment issues will go beyond that subject to look at ways to recruit more women to run for public office.

Mendoza serves on the panel dealing with “anti-harassment and equal access” that House Speaker Michael Madigan appointed months ago amid harassment and bullying complaints in the party that he chairs.

With primary season underway and a record number of women on ballots nationwide, the question now is how many will make it to office after elections in November. The reality is that many of the women running face long odds.

Of the 40 women who have advanced from primaries in Solid Republican districts, 37 of them are Democrats, and may have the odds stacked against them.