Assessing the Impact of a Candidate's Sex in Judicial Campaigns and Elections in North Carolina

Abstract

A candidate's sex may affect how accessible elective state judgeships are to women attorneys. Research has offered conflicting findings on the competitiveness of women congressional candidates: Several studies argue that women compete equally with men, while others conclude that women are at a disadvantage. This study draws upon the North Carolina trial court elections and provides one of the few empirical analyses of the women and men who compete in judicial elections. Its findings coincide with both conclusions of the research on women congressional candidates. Although the women candidates in this study were more adept than men at financing their campaigns, they still had to overcome challenges to win seats on the trial court.