The election of Republican Kelly Ayotte as governor of New Hampshire means 13 women will serve as the state’s chief executive next year, breaking the record of 12 set after the 2022 election.
Governors exert a powerful influence on American politics, shaping state policy and often using the experience and profile gained to launch campaigns for higher office.
“Having women in these roles is important to normalize the image of women in political leadership and especially in executive leadership, where they are the sole leaders, not just members of a team,” Kelly said Dittmar, research director. at the Rutgers Center for American Women and Politics.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was touted as a potential Democratic presidential candidate after President Biden left the race. South Dakota Republican Gov. Kristi Noem was thought to be in the running for President-elect Donald Trump’s vice presidential post.
Ayotte, a former U.S. senator, defeated Democratic candidate Joyce Craig, the former mayor of Manchester, New Hampshire’s largest city.
Yet 18 states have never had a woman serve as governor.
“This is another aspect of political leadership in which women continue to be underrepresented,” Dittmar said. “Thirteen out of 50 are still underrepresented.”
With two women running for governor of New Hampshire, a new record for female governors was inevitable. The state has long elected women. As senator, Ayotte was part of the nation’s first all-female congressional delegation. It was also the first state to have both a female governor, Senate President, and House Speaker, and the first to have a female majority in the Senate. Ayotte will be the third woman to become governor of the state.
“Being a woman is not really essential to one’s political persona,” Linda Fowler, professor emeritus of government at Dartmouth College, said of Ayotte.
Ayotte and Craig said their gender was not discussed on the campaign trail, even though reproductive rights were often at the forefront.
During his campaign, Craig attacked Ayotte’s record on abortion, and both candidates aired television ads detailing their own miscarriages. Ayotte said she would veto any bill further restricting abortion in New Hampshire, where it is illegal after 24 weeks of pregnancy.
When Ayotte is sworn in, five Republican women will simultaneously serve as governor, a new record. The other eight are Democrats.
New Hampshire’s was one of the few competitive governor’s races among the 11 this year. Further progress or setbacks in women’s representation could come in 2026, when 36 states elect their governors.
Most voters tend to vote based on party loyalty and ideology rather than gender, Dittmar said. However, she noted that female candidates often face levels of scrutiny that their male counterparts largely avoid, with voters judging things like a woman’s intelligence, appearance and even dating history with a more precise objective.
The small gain for women in governor’s offices comes as Vice President Kamala Harris failed in her effort to become the first female president.
“I wouldn’t suggest to you that Kamala Harris lost a race because she was a woman, because she was a Black and South Asian woman,” Dittmar said. “We would also fail to tell the right story if we didn’t recognize how gender and race are shaping the campaign as a whole, and if we didn’t have a direct effect on how Kamala Harris was evaluated by voters, addressed by its opponents and even in the media and other spaces.
Executive roles, particularly the presidency with its associations like commander in chief, often carry masculine stereotypes that women must work harder to overcome, Dittmar said.
Experts say women face these perceptions more acutely in executive races, such as those for governor and president, than in state legislatures, where women are making historic strides as leaders, occupying roles such as committee chair and committee chair.
“Sexism, racism, misogyny are never the miracle solution. That’s never the reason a voter acts one way or another,” said Erin Vilardi, CEO of Vote Run Lead, a left-leaning group that supports women running for state legislatures. “But we have so much built into how we view a leader.”
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Volmert reported from Lansing, Michigan, and Govindarao reported from Phoenix. Associated Press writer Holly Ramer in New Hampshire contributed to this report.
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