America’s most powerful women lean left

Unlike their male counterparts, America’s top female executives send the majority of their personal political donations to Democratic candidates.

Marissa Mayer, Sheryl Sandberg & Pres Obama

The most powerful women in corporate America want Democrats controlling Washington. That’s the unmistakable message the 50 business leaders on Fortune‘s Most Powerful Women list sent with their political giving over the last decade.

For the first time in the 16-year history of the list, Fortune examined the campaign contributions of the female executives at the top of the heap. When these women crack open their personal checkbooks for candidates, they favor Democrats over Republicans by a striking margin of more than two-to-one.

The finding is all the more notable considering the environment: Heading into the homestretch of the midterm elections, Republicans are looking to seize power in the Senate and pad their House majority. To pull it off, the GOP has to limit its losses among women, traditionally a challenging demographic for the party. A leaked report from a pair of Republican outside groups recently sounded the alarm about the party’s standing with women, finding that female voters think Republicans are “intolerant” and stuck in the past.

Democratic candidates are eagerly pressing that same argument across the map, even as a new poll showed an opening for Republicans to cinch their gender gap with women.

Women, broadly, have become a reliable source of funds for President Obama’s party — especially women with careers. Those with jobs outside the home were giving 62 percent of their contributions to Democrats at the start of this election cycle, a 2013 study by the Center for Responsive Politics found — up from 42 percent in the 1990 elections.

More From Fortune Magazine: