COLUMBUS, Ind. — A century after the first woman, Jeannette Rankin, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, the number of women in elected office is at record levels.
There are approximately 1,830 women serving in state legislative organizations, or about 25 percent of the more than 7,300 seats in the country are held by women. The previous record was set in 2010 when 1,808 women held elected posts. Sixty-six of these women serve in the top levels of state legislatures.
Of the elected women 1,109 are Democrats, 704 are Republicans, 13 are nonpartisan and four are members of a minor party. Both, Democrats and Republicans have actively recruited women to run for office in recent years.
