Democratic Women Near Parity in State Legislatures

Organized recruitment and training programs such as Emerge have helped Democratic women make substantial gains in state legislatures; Democratic women are now nearly equal in number to Democratic men, rising from 34.1% of Democratic state lawmakers in 2016. Overall, women make up just over 33% of state lawmakers, up from 24.5% a decade ago. Republican women comprise only 21.3% of Republican state legislators, a shortfall experts link to a systemic failure to invest in female candidates. Kimberly Pope Adams, encouraged by state Sen. Danica Roem, entered a six-month Emerge training program that covered campaign finance, communications and media; she lost her first race by 53 votes and is running again in the November election. Supporters say greater female representation ensures diverse perspectives in policymaking, with Democrats emphasizing deliberate recruitment and training while Republicans generally argue the best candidate should emerge regardless of gender.