Office of the Secretary of the State

Fifty Years of Women Candidates

As we celebrate the centennial of the 19th Amendment and examine its history and legacy, it is important to take a step back and see how the passage of the 19th Amendment has affected the representation of women in office.

This report analyzes the activity of women candidates for General Assembly, statewide, and federal offices since 1970 and will be supplemented with 2020 data after the November elections to reflect a full 50 year period.  In addition to analyzing data trends of women candidates the report also celebrates women who achieved milestones in serving in a particular public office or toward representing diversity among women.  The Secretary of the State would also like to give special thanks to the Reflective Democracy Campaign whose assisted in the data analysis of the report. The Campaign’s mission is to forge a democracy whose leaders reflect the life experiences and diverse backgrounds of all the American people.