Why aren’t more women on the gubernatorial ballot?

Abstract

ABSTRACT Although women now occupy a record number of governorships and the number of women running for governor has increased significantly in the last four years, women still run for governor at lower rates than men. This study examines why there have been so few women gubernatorial candidates in primary elections using a dataset that includes every primary election or convention used to select major party gubernatorial nominees from 1978 through 2022. We examine four distinct areas to learn why so few women run: the potential candidate pool; candidates, parties, and voters as strategic actors; gubernatorial office structure; and major political, social, and cultural events and their impact on candidate pools. With some important differences between the Democratic and Republican parties, we find that each of these areas has a significant impact on whether women run for governor. Notably, we find that the pipeline is significant for Republican women during the period of study but not for Democratic women. Office structure, incumbent governors, and events such as those surrounding the 2016 election, also impact whether women run for governor. The results indicate that states can adopt changes to the structure of the governor’s office, and parties can adopt rules and facilitate norms that are favorable to women.