USA: Women's Status in 2024 State Level Elections

Earlier this month, I laid out where things stand for women in 2024 congressional elections, showing that the number of women running for the U.S. House is down, Republican candidacies have dropped more than Democratic candidacies from 2022 to 2024, and Republican women’s representation among their party’s U.S. House candidates has declined from 2022 to 2024. But do these trends persist in state-level elections? The analysis below provides a first look at gender and partisan differences and trends in state legislative candidacies at this point in the 2024 election cycle, while also offering an outlook on women’s election 2024 prospects in gubernatorial elections.

Among the major findings at this point in the 2024 election cycle are:

¨The number of major-party state House candidates is down from 2022 to 2024, with drops greatest among men (v. women) and almost entirely concentrated among Republicans (v. Democrats). 

¨At the intersection of gender and party, the only group seeing a rise in state House candidacies is Democratic women. State House candidacies are down from 2022 to 2024 among Democratic men, Republican women, and Republican men. 

¨Women are a larger proportion of all major-party state House candidates in 2024 than 2022, with Democratic women much better represented among their party’s candidates than Republican women. In fact, women are nearly 50% of Democratic state House candidates in 2024. 

¨Both the raw number and proportion of women who have filed as major-party candidates for governor are up from 2020 to 2024, and women are likely to increase their gubernatorial representation – at least by one – as a result of the 2024 election, which would yield a new record high.

Read here the full article published by the Center for American Women and Politics on 23 May 2024.

Image by Center for American Women and Politics