Record Number of Women Advance to General Elections in Virginia General Assembly Races

This November, a record 85 women (65D; 20R) will compete in the general election for seats in the Virginia General Assembly, according to data from the Center for American Women and Politics. In the Virginia Senate, 23 women (17D; 6R) will be on the general election ballot, while 62 women (48D; 14R) are running for seats in the House of Delegates; these are record levels in both chambers of the Virginia legislature.

Of the 85 women who will be on the ballot in November, 33 (26D; 7R) are incumbents, 12 (7D; 5R) are running as challengers, and 40 (32D; 8R) are contesting open seats.

In 2019, 103 women (79D; 24R) filed as primary candidates for the Virginia legislature, 34 (26D; 8R) for the Senate and 69 (53D; 16R) for the House of Delegates.

In years when both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly were up for elections, the previous record for women general election candidates was 45 (36D; 9R), set in 2015. The record for women candidates for the Virginia Senate was 14, first set in 2007 and again in 2015, while the previous record for House of Delegates candidates was 52, set in 2017 when there were no Virginia Senate elections.

Currently, there are 37 (29D; 8R) women in the Virginia legislature, making up 26.4% of all members. In the Senate, women hold 10 (7D; 3R) seats, or 25%, while in the House, women hold 27 (22D; 5R) seats, or 27%. Virginia ranks 32nd among the 50 states in our rankings for women’s representation in state legislatures.

Learn more about the history and current state of women’s representation in Virginia at its state fact sheet on the CAWP website.