Women in Elective Office 2015
Elective Office 2015
In 2015, women hold 104, or 19.4%, of the 535 seats in the 114th U.S. Congress - 20, or 20.0%, of the 100 seats in the Senate and 84, or 19.3%, of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives. Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who was the first woman Speaker of the House, is now minority leader.
plus 4 (3D, 1R) Delegates
In 2015, 77 women hold statewide elective executive offices across the country; women hold 24.7% of the 312 available positions. Among these women, 35 are Democrats, 41 are Republicans and 1 is non-partisan.
1 non-partisan
| NH | Maggie Hassan (D) |
| NM | Susana Martinez (R) |
| OK | Mary Fallin (R) |
| OR | Kate Brown (D) |
| RI | Gina Raimondo (D) |
| SC | Nikki Haley (R) |
| AL | Kay Ivey (R) | MA | Karyn Polito (R) | |
| CT | Nancy Wyman (D) | MN | Tina Smith (DFL) | |
| IA | Kim Reynolds (R) | MT | Angela McLean (D) | |
| IL | Evelyn Sanguinetti (R) | NJ | Kim Guadagno (R) | |
| IN | Sue Ellspermann (R) | NY | Kathy Hochul (D) | |
| KY | Crit Luallen (R) | OH | Mary Taylor (R) | |
| WI | Rebecca Kleefisch (R) |
| Attorney General - 9 (6D, 3R) | Agriculture and Commerce Commisioner - 1R | |
| Secretary of State - 13 (7D, 6R) | Commisioner of Insurance - 1D | |
| State Treasurer/Chief Financial Officer - 7 (4D, 3R) | Commissioner of Labor - 1R | |
| State Comptroller - 2 (1D, 1R) | Corporation Commissioner - 2R | |
| State Auditor - 9 (5D, 4R) | Public Service Commissioner - 2R | |
| Chief State Educational Official - 9 (3D, 5R, 1 non-partisan) | Public Utilities Commissioner - 1R | |
| Railroad Commissioner - 1R |
In 2015, 1,814 (1,091D, 707R, 11NP*, 4Ind, 1WFP*), or 24.6%, of the 7,383 state legislators in the United States are women. Women hold 443 (265D, 166R, 11NP, 1Ind.), or 22.5%, of the 1,972 state senate seats and 1,371 (826D, 541R, 3Ind., 1WFP), or 25.3%, of the 5,411 state house seats. Since 1971, the number of women serving in state legislatures has more than quintupled.
Includes 11 non-partisan, 4 Independent, 1 Working Families Party
Vermont (41.1%)
Arizona (35.6%)
Washington (34.0%)
Minnesota (33.8%)
Nevada (33.3%)
Illinois (32.8%)
Maryland (31.4%)
Montana (31.3%)
Oregon (31.1%)
Oklahoma (14.1%)
South Carolina (14.1%)
West Virginia (14.2%)
Alabama (14.3%)
Mississippi (14.4%)
Louisiana (15.3%)
Utah (15.4%)
Kentucky (16.7%)
Tennessee (16.7%)
Municipal Officials
As of June 2015, among the 100 largest cities in the U.S., 18 had women mayors. Four are Black (Ivy Taylor, San Antonio; Muriel Bowser, Washington; Paula Hicks-Hudson, Toledo; Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Baltimore) and two are Latina (Nelda Martinez, Corpus Christi; Mary Casillas Salas, Chula Vista).
As of September 2015, of the 288 mayors of the U.S. cities with populations 100,000 and over, 49, or 17.0%, were women, including ten Black women and three Latinas. Of the 1,393 mayors of U.S. cities with populations 30,000 and above, 257, or 18.4%, were women.
| City | Mayor | Rank |
|---|---|---|
|
Houston, TX |
Annise Parker |
5 |
Percentages of Women in Elective Office
| Year |
U.S. Congress |
Statewide Elective |
State Legislatures |
Year |
U.S. Congress |
Statewide Elective |
State Legislatures |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | 3% | 7% | N/A | 1995 | 10.3% | 25.9% | 20.6% | |
| 1973 | 3% | 8% | N/A | 1997 | 11.0% | 25.4% | 21.6% | |
| 1975 | 4% | 10% | 8% | 1999 | 12.1% | 27.6% | 22.4% | |
| 1977 | 4% | 10% | 9% | 2001 | 13.6% | 27.6% | 22.4% | |
| 1979 | 3% | 11% | 10% | 2003 | 13.6% | 26.0% | 22.4% | |
| 1981 | 4% | 11% | 12% | 2005 | 15.0% | 25.7% | 22.7% | |
| 1983 | 4% | 11% | 13% | 2007 | 16.1% | 24.1% | 23.5% | |
| 1985 | 5% | 14% | 15% | 2009 | 16.8% | 22.6% | 24.3% | |
| 1987 | 5% | 14% | 16% | 2011 | 16.8% | 22.1% | 23.7% | |
| 1989 | 5% | 14% | 16% | 2012 | 16.8% | 23.4% | 23.7% | |
| 1991 | 6% | 18% | 18% | 2013 | 18.5% | 23.0% | 24.2% | |
| 1993 | 10.1% | 22.2% | 20.5% | 2014 | 18.7% | 22.6% | 24.3% | |
| 2015 | 19.4% | 24.7% | 24.6% |