By Katie Ziegler
Election Day did not turn out to be the historic event watchers of women in politics may have expected.
And, at the state level, women’s representation will be virtually unchanged.
A preliminary count shows that there will be about 1,824 women serving in the 50 state legislatures in 2017. That number is subject to change, as there are some contests still uncalled and recounts pending.
The overall share of legislators who are women will be 24.7 percent. Though a record number of women ran for state legislative seats this year, and it will be the highest number of women ever, it is a very small increase from the 2016 numbers of 1,805 women and 24.4 percent.
For some context, the national share of women legislators reached 24 percent following the 2008 election, and 20 percent in 1992. For women to reach 25 percent—one-quarter of all legislators—is a symbolic milestone that will have to wait for another election.
The states with the highest percentages of women legislators are Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and Vermont. At the lower end are Mississippi, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Wyoming. NCSL will post complete state-by-state data soon.
Katie Ziegler is the program manager for the Women’s Legislative Network of NCSL.
Email Katie