LAST UPDATE: 5/30/23 at 8:00PM ET
Based on election results and holdovers of legislators not up for re-election in 2022, 2,409 (1,578D, 805R, 20NP, 6Ind) women will serve in state legislatures in 2023. This surpasses the previous record of 2,307 women in state legislative offices (set in 2022). Women will hold at least 32.7% of seats in state legislatures.
These numbers may change, as state legislative counts also typically fluctuate between Election Day and January 2023 for other reasons.
As of Election Day 2022, 2,293 (1512D, 760R, 14NP, 5Ind, 2Prg) women served in state legislatures nationwide, holding 31.1% of all state legislative offices.
The numbers of women serving in state senates and state houses in 2023 will also surpass previous records, based on the latest election results. 592 (384D, 189R, 18NP, 1Ind) women will serve in state senates, up from the previous record of 564 set in 2022; they will hold 30% of state senate seats nationwide. 1,817 (1194D, 616R, 2NP, 5Ind) women will serve in state houses, up from the previous record of 1,747 set in 2022; they will hold 33.6% of state house seats nationwide.
The gains for women in state legislatures from 2022 to 2023 (+116) matches the net increase in women state legislators that resulted from the 2020 election; from Election Day 2020 to January 2021, the number of women state legislators increased by 116 (+5.4%) nationwide. By further comparison, the number of women state legislators increased by 237 (+12.6%) from October 2017 to January 2018.
There have been significant partisan differences in the gains for women state legislators as a result of recent elections. From October 2018 to January 2019, the number of Democratic women state legislators increased by 289 (+25.3%), while the number of Republican women state legislators dropped by 47 (-6.7%). From Election Day 2020 to January 2021, the number of Democratic women state legislators increased by 43 (+2.9%) and the number of Republican women state legislators increased by 74 (+11%). From 2022 to 2023, the number of both Democratic and Republican women state legislators will rise, with the partisan divide much smaller than in the past two cycles.
Based on election results, Republican women will be about 33.4% of all women state legislators. On Election Day 2022, Republican women were 33.1% of women state legislators.
One more state will join Nevada in becoming a state legislature with gender parity in its membership. Nevada became the first state to reach this milestone following the 2018 elections. As of Election Day 2022, 58.7% of Nevada state legislators were women and in 2023 Nevada’s legislature will be 60.3% women. Colorado’s legislature will also be majority-women in 2023, with women holding 50% of state legislative seats.
What do the numbers look like in your state? Use the charts below to see the change in women’s state legislative representation (overall and by party) between Election Day 2022 and January 2023.