Nearly 130 years since the first three women were elected to state legislative offices in the US, women remain massively underrepresented in state legislatures. In 10 states, women make up less than 25 percent of their state legislatures, according to Rutgers’ Center for American Women in Politics. And those running in southern, conservative states — still mostly Democratic women, data show — aren’t winning as those states continue to overwhelmingly elect Republicans. In 2022, 39 women ran as their party’s nominee for state legislative seats in West Virginia, and 26 were Democrats. The Republican women received censures and promises of primary challenges in this year’s elections.
