Women in Statewide Elective Executive Office from Historically Marginalized Racial/Ethnic Communities
To date, 629 women have served in statewide elective executive office in the United States, including 69 women who served in more than one statewide elective executive position. Only 72 (11.4%) are women from historically marginalized racial/ethnic communities (two of these women served in more than one statewide elective executive office):
- 13 (10D, 3R) Asian American/Pacific Islander women
- 26 (21D, 5R) Black women
- 30 (23D, 6R, 1NP) Hispanic/Latina women
- 0 (0D, 0R) Middle Eastern/North African women
- 4 (3D, 1R) Native American/Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian women
- 557 White women (273D, 273R, 15NP, 1Ind, 2Third Party)
The counts above add up to more than 629 because women officeholders who identify as more than one race/ethnicity are included in each group with which they identify. In addition, seven women officeholders who identified as white served in office under multiple party labels. They are counted within each party count but only once in the total.
The first women in statewide elective executive office by racial/ethnic group include:
- Soledad C. Chacon (D-NM), the first Hispanic/Latina woman statewide elective executive officeholder, who served as the secretary of state in New Mexico from 1923 to 1926.
- March Fong Eu (D-CA), the first Asian American/Pacific Islander woman statewide elective executive officeholder, who served as the secretary of state in California from 1975 to 1994.
- Vel R. Phillips (D-WI), the first Black Woman statewide elective executive officeholder, who served as the secretary of state in Wisconsin from 1979 to 1982.
- Sandy Garrett (D-OK), the first Native American/Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian statewide elective executive officeholder, who served as the superintendent of public instruction in Oklahoma from 1991 to 2010.
To date, no Middle Eastern/North African (MENA) women have served in statewide elective executive office.
The first women governors from historically marginalized racial/ethnic communities were elected in 2010. They include former governors Nikki Haley (R-SC), who identifies as Asian American, and Susana Martinez (R-NM), who identifies as Latina. Martinez served as New Mexico's governor from 2011 to 2019 and Haley served as South Carolina's governor from 2011 to 2017.
Beyond governor, the first women in statewide elective executive offices from historically marginalized racial/ethnic communities by position include:
- Secretary of State: Soledad C. Chacon (D-NM), 1923-1926, Hispanic/Latina
- Lt. Governor: Jean Sadako King (D-HI), 1979-1982, Asian American/Pacific Islander
- Attorney General: Pamela Carter (D-IN), 1993-1996, Black
- Treasurer: Denise L. Nappier (D-CT), 1999-2018, Black
- Auditor: Kathleen K. McGuiness (D-DE), 2019-2022, Multiracial
Among the remaining gaps in officeholding in statewide executive positions most commonly elected nationwide:
- No Middle Eastern/North African (MENA) women have served in statewide elective executive office.
- No Black, MENA, or Native American/Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian women have served as governor.
- No MENA or Native American/Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian women have served as attorney general, secretary of state, or state treasurer.
- No Asian American/Pacific Islander, Latina, MENA, Native American/Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian women have served as state auditor.
Scholars, including CAWP Senior Scholar Kira Sanbonmatsu, have investigated why the racial/ethnic diversity of women in statewide elective executive offices has been and remains so low in the United States. In a previous assessment on women's representation in state politics, for example, Sanbonmatsu (2018) wrote:
Studies of gender or race and access to the office of governor have not usually taken women of color into account. But the fact that women of color can achieve statewide executive office, and are holding those offices today, means that scholars should not ignore the topic of minority women’s access to state offices…
Both parties could be more supportive of women of color seeking statewide office. Assumptions about voter reluctance to cast ballots for women of color for state office can become a self- fulfilling prophecy.
[From “Women’s Election to Office in the Fifty States” in Gender and Elections: Shaping the Future of American Politics (4th Edition), eds. Susan J. Carroll and Richard L. Fox, 299-300]
Sanbonmatsu has conducted more in-depth research on the topic that is available in the following publications:
- Sanbonmatsu, Kira. 2016. “Officeholding in the Fifty States: The Pathways Women of Color Take to Statewide Elective Executive Office.” In Distinct Identities: Minority Women in U.S. Politics, Eds. Nadia E. Brown and Sarah Allen Gershon. New York: Routledge Press. 171-186.
- Sanbonmatsu, Kira. 2015. “Why Not a Woman of Color? The Candidacies of U.S. Women of Color for Statewide Executive Office.” In Oxford Handbooks Online, ed. Desmond King. New York: Oxford University Press.
In addition to accessing Sanbonmatsu's research, you can learn more about women from historically marginalized racial/ethnic communities serving in statewide elective executive office from the slides below, and by visiting CAWP’s Statewide Elective Executive Office page for the most up-to-date information.
