Up the Political Ladder: Gender Parity in the Effects of Electoral Defeats

Abstract

This paper investigates whether an electoral defeat has different effects on the subsequent political involvement of male and female candidates for state office. Using US state legislative election returns from 1972 to 2010 and a regression discontinuity design, I find that there is no gender difference in the effects of an electoral defeat on the propensity to run again for state legislature. I discuss possible explanations for why the gender gap in persistence documented among novice local politicians disappears among state politicians, focusing on the role of prior office-holding experience.