June 27, 2023

Earlier this month, CAWP released updated data on the race and ethnicity of women serving in state legislatures around the country, and this data, compiled following the 2022 elections, shows new records for women across race and ethnicity groups.

• Asian American/Pacific Islander women: 98 (91D, 6R, 1NP) Asian American/Pacific Islander women serve in state legislatures. The previous record was 78, set in 2022.
• Black women: 372 (367D, 3R, 2I) Black women serve in state legislatures. The previous record was 369, set in 2022.
• Latinas: 190 (166D, 24R) Latinas serve in state legislatures. The previous record was 156, set in 2021.
• Native American women: 36 (30D, 6R) Native American women serve in state legislatures. The previous record was 32, set in 2022.
• Middle Eastern or North African women: 13 (13D) Middle Eastern or North African women serve in state legislatures. The previous record was 11, set in 2021.
• White women: A record 1,728 (945D, 759R, 4I, 20NP) white women serve in state legislatures.
• Multiracial women: 2 (2D) women who identify as multiracial alone serve in state legislatures.

These figures include women who identify with the given racial or ethnic group alone and women who identify with that racial or ethnic group in combination with others; adding totals from each racial and ethnic group above will not yield an overall tally of women of color serving in state legislatures, as it will double count officeholders who identify with more than group. Find full data on women serving in state legislatures by race and ethnicity here.

Primary elections were held this month in New Jersey and Virginia for their off-year state legislative elections, and CAWP compiled results for women candidates in these elections. Both states saw large proportions of current women legislators declining to run for re-election in 2023; in New Jersey, 21.4% of women legislators are not running for re-election this year, while in Virginia, 21.3% of women legislators are not running. These departures mean that New Jersey and Virginia are beginning at a significant deficit for their potential to equal or surpass women’s current representation in their legislatures.

Here are more results from this month’s primaries:

New Jersey

• Women are 23 of 75 (30.7%) major-party nominees for state Senate in New Jersey, including 15 of 40 (37.5%) Democrats and 8 of 35 (22.9%) Republicans. This is not a record high; 25 women won Senate nominations in 2017.
• Women are 62 of 150 (41.3%) major-party nominees for state Assembly in New Jersey, including 37 of 78 (47.4%) Democrats and 25 of 72 (34.7%) Republicans. This is not a record high; 65 women won Assembly nominations in 2021.

Virginia

• Women are 27 of 72 (37.5%) major-party nominees for state Senate in Virginia, including 22 of 38 (57.9%) Democrats and 5 of 34 (14.7%) Republicans. This exceeds the record high for women state Senate nominees (23), set in election 2019. In addition, two (2R) women candidates remain in one contest that is too close to call; check back with our Virginia primary post to see final results as they are determined.
• Women are 58 of 157 (36.9%) major-party nominees for the House of Delegates in Virginia, including 47 of 90 (52.2%) Democrats and 11 of 67 (16.4%) Republicans. This is not a record high; 72 women won major-party nominations for the Virginia House in 2021.

Full results for New Jersey and Virginia primary elections are available on CAWP’s Election Analysis page.

NEWL® 2023 students with keynote speaker, Philadelphia Councilwoman Katherine Gilmore Richardson, and program patron Susan N. Wilson

CAWP welcomed the 2023 Susan N. Wilson NEW Leadership® (NEWL) New Jersey class earlier this month to this very special six-day residential program. Students from around the state convened on the Rutgers–New Brunswick campus to learn from scholars, activists, political practitioners, and officeholders about how to prepare for a life in politics and deepen their civic engagement. NEWL 2023 students took workshops about leadership, networking, working on political campaigns, diversity and identity in political action, careers in government, and more. They also completed an Action Project examining both sides of the hotly debated bill currently before the legislature to expand liquor licensing in New Jersey. During a day of touring New Jersey government offices in Trenton, students met with New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Rachel Wainer Apter, multiple members of the New Jersey Legislature, and even had a brief, surprise meeting and photo opportunity with New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy.

At the NEW Leadership® networking reception and dinner, CAWP gave its annual Hazel Frank Gluck Award for NEWL alumnae to Maria J. Andrade, NEWL class of 2016. Maria, the site director for NJ GEARUP at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, encouraged students in her speech to recognize their power no matter what they intend to do with their future: “You belong anywhere you want to be.” The keynote speaker for the evening, Philadelphia Councilmember-at-Large Katherine Gilmore Richardson, described the road she took to public office and told NEWL 2023 attendees, “Stay ready. Because you never know when opportunity is going to present itself.”

We were also immensely grateful to be joined by our 2023 NEW Leadership® Faculty in Residence – New Brunswick Councilwoman and NEW Leadership® alum Petra Gaskins; Lucia Gomez, political director of the NYC Central Labor Council (AFL-CIO); and Katie Martinez Castellano, director of individual giving at the Pioneer Institute – who stayed on campus with students throughout the six-day program and whose advice and guidance were invaluable to them. We were also joined by representatives from the newest NEW Leadership® National Network partner programs – our NEW Leadership® Virginia partners from George Mason University and our NEW Leadership® Northern California partners from St. Mary’s College of California – who observed and participated in the program as they prepare to launch their own NEW Leadership® partner initiatives next summer. Learn about our NEW Leadership® National Network and how to bring NEW Leadership® to your state here.

We were thrilled to host this exceptional group of young people at NEW Leadership® 2023 and are enormously proud of the work they put into the program. We can’t wait to see what they do next.