Women in Elective Office 2021
Kamala Harris (D) became the first woman to hold the office of Vice President on January 20, 2021. She is also the first woman of color, the first Black person, and the first South Asian person elected to this office. Previously, Vice President Harris served in the U.S. Senate as well as California’s Attorney General.
In 2021, women hold 142, or 26.5%, of the 535 seats in the 117th U.S. Congress - 24, or 24.0%, of the 100 seats in the Senate and 118, or 27.1%, of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives. Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), the first woman Speaker of the House, holds the highest position in the House and is second in line of presidential succession.
plus 4 (2D, 2R) Delegates
In 2021, 94 women hold statewide elective executive offices across the country; women hold 30.3% of the 310 available positions. Among these women, 51 are Democrats, 41 are Republicans and 2 are non-partisan.
2 non-partisan
| AL | Kay Ivey (R) |
| IA | Kim Reynolds (R) |
| KS | Laura Kelly (D) |
| ME | Janet Mills (D) |
| MI | Gretchen Whitmer (D) |
| NM | Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) |
| OR | Kate Brown (D) |
| RI | Gina Raimondo (D) |
| SD | Kristi Lynn Noem (R) |
| CA | Eleni Kounalakis (D) | MA | Karyn Polito (R) | |
| CO | Dianne Primavera (D) | MN | Peggy Flanagan (D) | |
| CT | Susan Bysiewicz (D) | MT | Kristen Juras (R) | |
| DE | Bethany Hall-Long (D) | NJ | Sheila Oliver (D) | |
| FL | Jeanette Nunez (R) | NV | Kate Marshall (D) | |
| ID | Janice McGeachin (R) | NY | Kathy Hochul (D) | |
| IL | Juliana Stratton (D) | SC | Pamela Evette (R) | |
| IN | Suzanne Crouch (R) | UT | Deidre Henderson (R) | |
| KY | Jacqueline Coleman (D) | VT | Molly Gray (D) |
| Attorney General - 8 (5D, 3R) | Railroad Commissioner - 1R | |
| Secretary of State - 12 (8D, 4R) | Commisioner of Labor - 2 (1R, 1NP) | |
| State Treasurer/Chief Financial Officer - 10 (5D, 5R) | Corporation Commissioner - 4 (2D, 2R) | |
| State Comptroller - 3D | Public Service Commissioner - 3R | |
| State Auditor - 10 (6D, 4R) | Public Utilities Commissioner - 1R | |
| Chief State Educational Official - 9 (2D, 6R, 1 non-partisan) | Commissioner of Lands - 2D | |
| Insurance Commissioner - 1R | Agriculture Commissioner - 1D |
In 2021, 2,274 (1,506D, 7487, 13NP*, 6Ind, 2Prg.), or 30.8%, of the 7,383 state legislators in the United States are women. Women hold 555 (359D, 183R, 13NP), or 28.1%, of the 1,972 state senate seats and 1,719 (1,147D, 564R, 6Ind., 2Prg.), or 31.8%, of the 5,411 state house seats. Since 1971, the number of women serving in state legislatures has more than quintupled.
Includes 13 non-partisan, 6 Independent, 2 Progressive
Nevada (58.7%)
Colorado (46.0%)
Rhode Island (45.1%)
New Mexico (43.8%)
Maine (43.5%)
Arizona (43.3%)
Oregon (42.2%)
Vermont (42.2%)
Washington (41.5%)
Maryland (40.4%)
Alabama (15.7%)
Mississippi (16.1%)
Tennessee (16.7%)
South Carolina (17.6%)
Wyoming (17.8%)
Louisiana (18.1%)
Oklahoma (20.8%)
North Dakota (22.0%)
Arkansas (23.0%)
As of June 2020, among the 100 largest cities in the U.S., 27 had women mayors. Six are Black women (Keisha Lance Bottoms, Atlanta, GA; Muriel Bowser, Washington, DC; London Breed, San Francisco, CA; LaToya Cantrell, New Orleans, LA; Lori Lightfoot, Chicago, IL; Vi Alexander Lyles, Charlotte, NC); two are Latina (Mary Casillas Salas, Chula Vista, CA; Regina Romero, Tucson, AZ); and two are Asian Pacific Islander women (Karen K. Goh, Bakersfield, CA; Lily Mei, Fremont, CA).
As of June 2020, per CAWP data and the U.S. Census, of the 356 mayors of the U.S. cities with populations 100,000 and over, 76, or 21.3%, were women. Of the 1,621 mayors of U.S. cities with populations 30,000 and above, 378, or 23.3%, were women. Full list here.
| City | Mayor | Rank |
|---|---|---|
|
Chicago, IL |
Lori Lightfoot |
3 |
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 | 2001 | 13.6% | 27.6% | 22.4% | |
| 1973 | 3% | 8% | N/A | 2003 | 13.6% | 26.0% | 22.4% | |
| 1975 | 4% | 10% | 8% | 2005 | 15.0% | 25.7% | 22.4% | |
| 1977 | 4% | 10% | 9% | 2007 | 16.1% | 24.1% | 23.5% | |
| 1979 | 3% | 11% | 10% | 2009 | 16.8% | 22.6% | 24.3% | |
| 1981 | 4% | 11% | 12% | 2011 | 16.8% | 22.1% | 23.7% | |
| 1983 | 4% | 11% | 13% | 2012 | 16.8% | 23.4% | 23.7% | |
| 1985 | 5% | 14% | 15% | 2013 | 18.5% | 23.0% | 24.2% | |
| 1987 | 5% | 14% | 16% | 2014 | 18.7% | 23.0% | 24.3% | |
| 1989 | 5% | 14% | 16% | 2015 | 19.4% | 24.8% | 24.6% | |
| 1991 | 6% | 18% | 18% | 2016 | 19.6% | 24.1% | 24.5% | |
| 1993 | 10.1% | 22.2% | 20.5% | 2017 | 19.6% | 22.8% | 25.1% | |
| 1995 | 10.3% | 25.9% | 20.6% | 2018 | 20.6% | 23.8% | 25.4% | |
| 1997 | 11.0% | 25.4% | 21.6% | 2019 | 23.7% | 29.3% | 28.9% | |
| 1999 | 12.1% | 27.6% | 22.4% | 2020 | 23.6% | 28.9% | 29.3% | |
| 2021 | 26.5% | 30.3% | 30.8% |