Women of color candidates: examining emergence and success in state legislative elections

Abstract

ABSTRACT Scholars conclude that increasing the number of elected women of color is vital to achieving gender and racial parity in U.S. politics. Many challenges remain, however, in order for women candidates of color to reach office in proportion to their share of the population. In this dialogue, we focus on the patterns of opportunities that women of color have used to run for state legislative office. Building on other intersectionality work within the American context, we take gender and race/ethnicity to be interactive and mutually constitutive, and thus women of color may face unique challenges and opportunities as candidates as compared to non-Hispanic white women. We examine how three structural features – legislative district demographics, incumbency, and partisanship – influence the emergence and electoral success of women of color candidates. The findings suggest that while women of color are very successful when they run for state legislative office, they are far too often missing from ballots in white districts, pointing to a particular intersectional issue in the partisan pipeline.