A new report on the 2018 midterm elections found that women and people of color won their races at similar rates to white men challenging prevailing notions of what types of candidates are more electable.

The Reflective Democracy Campaign a group that studies the demographics of elected officials in the U.S. looked at the more than 30,000 candidates in races for federal, state and county offices in 2018, as well as those who won, and found that women of color, white women, men of color and white men all won seats in close proportion to their share of candidates.

Specifically, women of color were 4% of 2018 candidates and 5% of winners; white women were 28% of candidates and 29% of winners; men of color were 6% of candidates and 7% of winners; and white men were 61% of candidates and 60% of winners.

Theres a common assumption that white men are the more electable candidates but our research found the opposite, Brenda Choresi Carter, director of the Reflective Democracy Campaign, said on a press call. We found women of color, white women and men of color win at essentially the same rate. Theres only one group that loses slightly more and thats white men.

She noted that white men still make up the vast majority of the nations politicians: While they are 30% of the population, they hold 62% of elected offices at the local, state and federal levels.

But while white men still hold a monopoly on political power, they definitely do not hold a monopoly on electability, Choresi Carter added.

The 2020 presidential election has the most diverse field of candidates ever, with more than 20 Democrats, including several women and people of color, vying to face Donald Trump. As pundits and others have questioned certain candidates electability usually shorthand for which candidates arent white and male some of the contenders have pushed back.

The conversation too often suggests certain voters will only vote for certain candidates, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), who is black and Asian, said at an event in May. And it is shortsighted, it is wrong and the voters deserve better.

Women won all kinds of elections, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said at a town hall last month, when asked about male candidates appearing ahead in early polling. You discount them at your own peril.