As we did in 2021, AEIdeas will look at women’s progress in several areas during Women’s History Month.
In covering women in politics, most news organizations tip their hats to the progress women have made, but they quickly turn their focus to the obstacles women face and the distance yet to go. Typical was a story last week in the Indiana Capital Chronicle “Where Are All the Women?” The columnist lauded the gains in women governorships in 2024, but then added, “women remain chronically underrepresented in elected office.” Let’s look at the numbers.
No, Kamala didn’t win, but there is overwhelming public support for a woman in the top job. Her defeat by Donald Trump was a disappointment to many, but as it turns out, many women and men don’t see a woman as president a necessity. It would be nice, they say, but it isn’t an absolutely necessity. Hillary Clinton, after all, did win the popular vote.
In 2024, the Senate saw some “firsts.” For the first time, there are two black women in the body, Angela Alsobrooks from Maryland and Lisa Blunt Rochester from Delaware. The Senate now includes 26 women, 16 Democrats and 10 Republicans. For the 2026 cycle, one woman, Tina Smith of Minnesota, has announced that she will not seek reelection. Two other women, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Susan Collins of Maine are potentially endangered. But prominent women have already indicated interest in open around the country.
Voters elected 125 women in the House, and once again Democrats outnumbered Republicans, 94 Democrats and 31 Republicans. The 2026 total was one seat shy of 2024, but that’s normal and isn’t an indication of backsliding on women’s gains.
The Center for American Women in Politics (CAWP), which tracks the statistics and provides historical context, reports it was a banner year for women in top state offices. Thirteen women will serve as governors, making them 26 percent of all governors. And they aren’t shy. When Donald Trump hosted the governors recently, he and Maine Governor Janet Mills sparred over trans athletes in women’s sport. Her final comment was that she would see the president in court. There will be two governors’ races this November, and one, in Virginia, will feature two women, Democrat Abigail Spanberger and Republican Winsome Sears.
Women also made gains in state legislatures in 2024. State legislatures are the farm teams for many seeking higher office, and 2,467 women will serve, making up slightly more than a third of state legislative officeholders. Once again, Democrats outnumber Republicans.
We know from groundbreaking research done first by Jody Newman in the early 1990s that women win in our politics just as often as men do. The challenge is getting more women to run. Research by Jennifer Lawless and Richard Fox, who have made suggestions on how to get more women, and particularly younger women, to run, shows that politics just isn’t a very attractive career for many women — and men. Their work identified some of the same difficulties that our former colleague political scientist Jeane Kirkpatrick did in her seminal study of women in politics, Political Women, published under the auspices of CAWP in 1974.
Today, Americans see women everywhere in politics. It is no longer exceptional, and we need to celebrate their progress.
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