A record number of women legislative candidates

By Jill Nolin | Editor

By Kevin Hardy

A record number of women are running for state legislative seats this November, more than two-thirds of whom are Democrats. 

Across the 46 states with legislative seats on the ballot, a total of 3,824 women are running — up from 2022’s previous record of 3,621 women candidates, according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. Women make up 35.5% of all state legislative candidates this cycle.

Currently, women hold about one-third of state legislative seats across the country — a record level of representation but nowhere near parity. 

By Jill Nolin, Ross Williams and Maya Homan

Several big names are hitting the campaign trail in Georgia in hopes of driving up turnout on their side as voters choose their next governor and decide whether to send Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff back to Washington. 

Congressman Mike Collins, who is challenging Ossoff, and gubernatorial candidate and healthcare executive Rick Jackson joined President Donald Trump on the stage Saturday in middle Georgia. Both candidates also appeared on stage at Trump’s recent rally in Dalton. Jackson initially said he would skip Saturday’s rally to campaign in the northern Atlanta suburbs before reversing course Friday and saying he would do both events. 

Back in Atlanta, Ossoff campaigned Saturday with Pete Buttigieg, the former secretary of transportation under President Joe Biden, who is seen as a potential 2028 presidential candidate. And the Democratic nominee for governor, former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, stumped in Savannah as part of a swing through south Georgia. 

By Jennifer Shutt

Fewer than 5% of U.S. House races are seen by a top political analysis as truly competitive heading into November’s midterm elections, giving relatively few voters the ability to determine which party controls the chamber for the next two years. 

The other 414 of 435 House districts are viewed by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report with Amy Walter as at least leaning toward a Democrat or a Republican, as of Oct. 22.

That lack of competition, once a primary election is won, heavily influences which priorities lawmakers pursue in office, according to experts interviewed by States Newsroom. It also means voters in those regions have less ability to hold lawmakers accountable during the general election, especially if those politicians haven’t kept their campaign promises or were embroiled in an ethics scandal. 

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