With results finalized for the 2019 elections in Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, and Virginia, the Center for American Women and Politics has updated its rankings of the 50 states based on women’s representation in state legislatures. As a result of the 2019 elections, Mississippi will move up 4 spots in our state rankings, from 49th to 45th, and Louisiana will move up from 47th to 44th. Both states remain in the bottom 10 states for women’s representation in state legislatures. Virginia, which saw a modest gain in women’s representation, will move from the 31st to the 25th spot, and New Jersey, which saw no change in the number of women in its legislature, will return to the 21st spot in CAWP’s rankings after briefly being 17th due to a woman filling a vacancy by appointment at the end of 2019.
KENTUCKY RESULTS
Elections were held for Kentucky’s statewide executive offices, and women candidates competed in the general election races for lieutenant governor, secretary of state, auditor, and treasurer. Of these, Jacqueline Coleman, running on a joint ticket with gubernatorial candidate Andy Beshear, won her election for lieutenant governor, and Republican incumbent State Treasurer Allison Ball won re- election.
LOUISIANA RESULTS
Three women ran for statewide elected executive offices in Louisiana in 2019, but only one woman advanced past the primary, secretary of state candidate Gwen Collins-Greenup, who lost her general election contest.
A record 26 (11D, 15R) women were elected to the state legislature, with 6 (3D, 3R) women elected to the Louisiana Senate and 20 (8D, 12R) elected to the Louisiana House. The previous record number of women serving in the overall legislature was 25, first set in 2005. The number of women who will serve in the Louisiana Senate falls short of the record of 8, first set in 2008, and the number of women who will serve in the Louisiana House matches the record first set in 2000.
MISSISSIPPI RESULTS
The state elected its first woman attorney general, current State Treasurer Lynn Fitch, following the woman vs. woman contest between Fitch, a Republican, and Democrat Jennifer Riley-Collins. A woman also competed in the race for state treasurer but was not successful.
In Mississippi’s state legislative elections, 29 (13D, 15R, 1I) women were elected, with a record 12 (4D, 8R) women elected to the Mississippi Senate, breaking the previous record of 9 first set in 2016, and 17 (9D, 7R, 1I) women elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives. Mississippi fell short of its record for women serving in the House (23, set in 2013) and its overall legislature (31, set in 2013).
*Includes 1 Independent incumbent who ran and won re-election.
NEW JERSEY RESULTS
In races for the New Jersey Assembly, 26 (20D, 6R) women won elections, joining 10 women who are holdovers in the Senate and one woman who is a holdover in the Assembly*, meaning 37 (29D, 8R) women are likely to serve in the New Jersey Legislature next year. This number will tie the overall record, first set in 2014, and falls short of the record number of women in the Assembly, which was 28 in 2009. Because of Aura Dunn’s appointment* in November 2019, New Jersey currently has 38 women legislators, which is a record, but the number will return to 37 upon the seating of the new legislature in January 2020.
“This was a dispiritingly status quo election for CAWP’s home state of New Jersey,” said CAWP Director Debbie Walsh. “Between the partisan dimensions of the state and the number of incumbents in the race, there was little opportunity for women to expand their numbers in the legislature. These results reflect that reality.”
*Aura Dunn was chosen in a District 25 Republican Committee convention to replace Anthony M. Bucco for the remainder of the current term after Bucco moved into the Senate seat held by his late father. Dunn will have to run in an additional special party convention early in 2020 to continue on in this seat until a special election in November 2020.
VIRGINIA RESULTS
Virginia set new records for women’s representation in its overall legislature, as well as its Senate and House of Delegates. Next year, 41 (31D, 10R) women will serve in the Virginia General Assembly, with 11 (7D, 4R) women serving in the Senate and 30 (24D, 6R) in the House. The previous records for women’s representation in the Virginia legislature were 38 overall (set in 2018), 10 in the Senate (first set in 2017) and 28 in the House (set in 2018).
In addition, with control of the House flipped from Republican to Democratic and following a caucus election, Delegate Eileen Fisher-Corn will become the first woman Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates. In the same election, Delegate Charniele L. Herring was chosen as majority leader, becoming the first woman and first Black person to serve in that position.
Learn more about what’s in store for next year at our 2020 candidate list and summary.
Contact: Daniel De Simone; 760.703.0948