Six state legislatures reach gender parity after midterms

Women currently hold 32.43% of state legislative seats, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, so next year’s projected share of nearly 35% would represent a gain. About 64% of the women currently serving in state legislatures are Democrats.

The gains follow an election in which Democrats swept control of Congress, flipped hundreds of state legislative seats and won a majority of governorships for the first time in 16 years. Women will hold a record number of seats in state senates and state houses, though the rise is driven solely by the increasing number of Democratic women elected.

The number of Republican women in state legislatures will fall from 867 today to at least 675 in upcoming sessions. Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics, addressed the split in a Friday news release. “While these are impressive gains for the overall number of women and Democratic women in state legislatures around the country, this is a significant decline for Republican women,” Walsh said. ”…It is past time the Republican Party put in the work to mitigate the ever-widening partisan gap in women’s representation.”

Representation also varies sharply by state. Women hold more than half of seats in Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico, but fewer than 15% of seats in West Virginia, South Carolina and Mississippi. The number of women serving in legislatures has increased nearly 40% over the past decade, according to government relations firm MultiState.

Across the political spectrum, research shows lower levels of political ambition among women. Women tend to underestimate their own qualifications, are more averse to competition and receive less recruitment and encouragement to run for office. Many women also work full-time and are primary caregivers.

This election cycle also set a record for the number of women governors, with at least 18 women slated to serve as their state’s executive. The midterms notched other records: for the first time ever, five Black governors will serve simultaneously in the United States. Voters also elected the nation’s first Black woman governor, the first Black Republican governor and the first Native American woman governor.

Congress will also see a record number of women serving, and the center tracked record numbers of Black, Latina and Native American women elected to Congress.