Intense training helps Democratic women win state seats, widening gender gap with Republicans

Intense and intentional training is helping Democratic women gain state lawmaking seats, a trend illustrated in Virginia where auditor Kimberly Pope Adams joined a six-month program with Emerge after a call from State Sen. Danica Roem. The training covered campaign finance, communications, media strategy and overall planning in granular detail, which Adams says made her a stronger candidate. She lost her first bid by 53 votes after a recount but is running again for a competitive seat this November, buoyed by a sense of preparedness she attributes to the program.

The pattern is underscored by research from Rutgers University’s Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP). The center finds that Democratic women are now nearly equal in number to Democratic men in state legislatures, rising from 34.1% of Democratic lawmakers in 2016. By contrast, women make up only about 21.3% of Republican state legislators, a gap that CAWP and other researchers attribute in part to a systemic failure to invest in female candidates. The researchers note that women across parties have faced unique campaigning challenges, from fundraising and child care to perceptions about appearance and safety, and that organized training has helped address some of these barriers.

The Rutgers data come as advocacy organizations have expanded efforts to recruit and train Democratic and progressive women for public office. Debbie Walsh, director of CAWP, said intentionality has paid off for Democratic women candidates. “Intentionality has paid off for Democratic women candidates,” she said, noting that the growth in female legislators on the Democratic side is paired with an ongoing gap on the Republican side. Democrats generally argue that representation from a range of demographics and viewpoints strengthens leadership and policy perspectives, while Republicans emphasize the merit of the candidate regardless of gender.

As a result of these efforts, the share of women among state lawmakers overall has risen to just over one-third this year. Ten years ago, the share stood around 24.5%. Much of the increase is attributed to organized recruiting and training networks focused on Democratic and progressive women. Organizations like Emily’s List — which advocates for pro‑abortion‑rights candidates — and Emerge have expanded their reach and impact. Emily’s List, founded four decades ago, asserts it has raised nearly $950 million in pursuit of electing women and has helped more than 1,600 women win state and local offices. Emerge, founded in 2002, says it has trained more than 6,500 women, with roughly 1,200 currently serving in office, and it operates in 27 states. Alumni report strong networks and ongoing camaraderie that many see as a competitive advantage in elections and governance.

The gains on the Democratic side have translated into three states achieving gender parity in their legislatures for the first time this year: Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado. By comparison, the share of Republican women in state legislatures has risen only modestly since 2016, by about four percentage points, and experts say Republicans have fewer resources dedicated to training and supporting female candidates. Walsh said GOP women who are serving in office have spoken about the need for more opportunities to run and lead, but such opportunities are not as widely available as they are for their Democratic counterparts.

Patricia Russo, executive director of The Campaign School at Yale, said nonpartisan efforts to recruit Republican women to run for office lag behind those aimed at Democrats. “There are very few training programs out there that prepare Republican women for the level of intensity of either running a political campaign or running as a candidate,” Russo said, adding that the lack of parity in resources and emphasis helps explain the gap. Jennifer Pierotti Lim, executive director of Republican Women for Progress, said the MAGA era has complicated recruitment for Republican women and that the party’s stance on identity politics can deter potential candidates. “If that worked, we would be much closer to gender parity in elected office right now,” she said, noting there would be more Republican women in leadership roles if the party actively supported women’s campaigns.

Virginia Del. Amanda Batten, chair of the House of Delegates Republican caucus, said she would like to see the party revive leadership programming for Republican women. Batten, who represents a competitive district around Williamsburg, said she knows colleagues who later decided to run after participating in programs that offered the resources and confidence to pursue public office. “There was an opportunity that came up and they thought, ‘I do understand the process. I know what it looks like. I know I’m going to have the resources and the support that I need and I’m going to go for it,’” Batten said.

Overall, political organizers and researchers describe a decade of progress in which targeted education and recruiting have helped Democratic women close some gaps in representation while Republicans face structural barriers in access to the same types of programs. The Associated Press’ coverage of women in the workforce and state government receives financial support from Pivotal Ventures. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.