The New Year Brings a Mixed Picture for Women’s Political Representation
The new year brings a mixed picture for women’s political representation in the United States. While the number of women in Congress has decreased slightly, female governors and state legislators are setting new records. The number of women in Congress is now 150, down from a record 152 set in 2024. This is the first time since the 2016 election that there will not be a net gain in women’s representation in Congress.
Partisan differences are also notable, with Democratic women in Congress setting new records, while Republican women are declining. According to Kelly Dittmar, director of research and scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University (CAWP), this is a “stasis election” for women’s representation in Congress.
Despite the decline, several women have made significant gains, including the election of two Black women – Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland – to the Senate. Additionally, 13 female governors will serve in 2025, a new record.
The number of women in state legislatures has also increased, with 2,467 women serving across the country, a new high. This represents about a third of the total number of legislators, still shy of the roughly 53% of the 2024 electorate that was female.
Women’s representation in Congress is lopsided in favor of Democrats, with only two non-incumbent GOP women winning in the 2024 election. According to Dittmar, this is a concern for Republican women, who have seen a decline in their numbers over the past few years.
The incoming House freshmen, Julie Fedorchak of North Dakota and Sheri Biggs of South Carolina, won open seats in safe Republican districts, providing a glimmer of hope for GOP women. However, Republicans face significant challenges in electing women to office, including a lack of resources and infrastructure to support their campaigns.
Women’s representation in the new Congress is a complex issue, with both positive and negative trends. While there are still significant barriers to entry for women in politics, there are also reasons to be optimistic about the future. For example, a record number of women are serving as governors and state legislators, and new organizations like Run for Something are helping to recruit and support female candidates. As Dittmar notes, “the environment to see heightened involvement of women – as candidates or other ways, other types of political activism – is very similar to post-2016.”