From the suburbs to the house: The metropolitan–rural population and the success of women candidates

Abstract

We analyze the voting behavior of metropolitan and rural residents in relation to women's legislative representation. Examining election data on the U.S. House and all lower state houses, we find that the greater the metropolitan population in a legislative district, the more likely it is to be represented by a woman. We extrapolate from these findings that the modern increase in women's representation can be attributed in part to the rural-to-suburban shift in population and legislative seats.