A record number of women currently serve as U.S. governors, and a record number also are seeking governor’s offices in the November election.
Still, women represent less than one-third of the country’s governors, said Kelly Dittmar, director of research for the Center for American Women in Politics at Rutgers University. This year, six incumbents are term-limited, and the Iowa governor is retiring.
“In order to keep the number at the record level that we have today, which is 14 women governors," Dittmar said, "we have to at least elect six new women governors in this cycle.”
Minnesota is among the states where a woman has never held the top job. The state is known for exceptionally high voter turnout and is more likely to choose Democratic candidates. It is the only state to have consecutively voted blue in every presidential election since 1976.
Minnesota’s primary is Aug. 11, but U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., is currently favored to win the nomination. On the Republican side of the aisle, state House Speaker Lisa Demuth is among the candidates seeking to win over primary voters to be on the general election ballot. While Demuth did not get the party endorsement, there's a chance the ballot could feature two women for the highest office.
Four other states where a woman has never been put forward for the governor’s office also are fielding candidates this year, including Georgia, Ohio, Tennessee and Wisconsin.
Not all political filing dates have passed, but the number of Democratic women running for governor has hit a new high of 43, compared with 41 in 2018. At the same time, the number of Republican women who have filed is 29, eight short of the 2022 record of 37.
Of the current female governors, Dittmar noted, 10 are Democrats and four are Republicans. She said those metrics suggest more can be done to encourage women to run for office.
“Even in a year that looks good for women candidates running for governor," Dittmar said, "we’re seeing women still be underrepresented in the pool, and we’re seeing these partisan disparities that are persistent.”
California, one of the nation’s largest states, has never been led by a female governor. Dittmar said women in office can change political conversations, agendas and legislative outcomes.
“Time and again, when we have more women in office," she said, "they bring distinct perspectives that inform their agendas as well as the types of issues that might not have gotten attention were it not for somebody who had that lived experience.”
