A record number of women will serve as state governors next year — building on the historic gains made during the 2022 elections.
The new record came after Republican Kelly Ayotte, a former U.S. senator and state attorney general, won the New Hampshire governor's race on Tuesday, defeating Democrat Joyce Craig in what was considered this year's most competitive gubernatorial election.
Ayotte's victory will bring the total number of women holding state governor's offices to 13 — surpassing the previous high of 12 set after elections in 2022. Before that, the highest number of women serving as governors was nine, a record established in 2004.
"We're both celebrating the milestones that women have achieved, but at the same time, as we note those milestones, we also have to recognize that there is a lot of progress left to make for women," said Kelly Dittmar, director of research at Rutgers University's Center for American Women and Politics.
"And that is especially true at the gubernatorial level," she added.
Governors, in particular, play a major role in shaping state policies that often can have a more immediate and direct impact on their citizens than federal policies. When women are elected into office, it tends to promote more trust in government and better perceptions around fairness, Dittmar said. "Because it holds up to that standard of being representative," she said. "That's the message."
Dittmar added that while women in office are far from monolithic in their positions or priorities, they have historically been the force behind raising issues and policy agendas around caregiving, women's inclusion in medical trials, and concerns about the treatment of women in the military.
Seeing women in office also sends a positive message to young women about what's possible for them in the future. "And for young men, will they see that and hold less biases about who can and should be in elected leadership?" Dittmar said.
Next year, Ayotte will join the group of female governors already in office: Kay Ivey of Alabama; Katie Hobbs of Arizona; Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas; Kim Reynolds of Iowa; Laura Kelly of Kansas; Janet Mills of Maine; Maura Healey of Massachusetts; Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan; Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico; Kathy Hochul of New York; Tina Kotek of Oregon; and Kristi Noem of South Dakota. Including Ayotte, five are Republicans and eight are Democrats.
In the U.S. territories, Lou Leon Guerrero, a Democrat, has been serving as Guam's governor since 2019. This past week, Republican Jenniffer González-Colón won Puerto Rico's governor's race.
Still, 18 states have never had a female governor: California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
This year was not a major election cycle for governors, with only 11 states holding elections. Among them, only four included women as leading contenders. Female candidates in Missouri, Indiana, and Vermont — all of whom were Democrats — lost to male opponents.
It also coincides with Vice President Harris' unsuccessful bid to become the first female commander-in-chief. Many Democrats say sexism was a factor in Harris' loss.
Had Harris won the presidency, Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan would have taken over as governor for vice presidential candidate Tim Walz — and would have become the first Indigenous woman to serve as governor in the U.S.
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