In this post, we take a first look at women running for state legislative seats in 2016. The detail and predictability of our data is limited at this level due to the high number of candidates and races, but our outlook shows that we enter Election Day with a record-level number of female state legislative nominees, with enough poised to win that we expect an increase in women’s state legislative representation in 2017.

In December 1990, more than sixty statewide officials, state legislators, other practitioners and scholars gathered for the fourth annual State of the States symposium. The symposium focused on the problems and possibilities that exist for women, Black and Hispanic elected officials. Issues discussed included campaigning and elections, changing political institutions, shaping state policy, and achieving leadership positions. Workshop summaries and participating scholars' papers are included in the report.