'When Black women run, they do win:' New report shows gains in Black women lawmakers

USA Today

a day ago

WASHINGTON ‒ The number of Black women elected to Congress has held steady in recent years, but a record number of Black women have served this year in state legislatures, often the pipeline to higher offices, according to a new report.
A new report titled 'Black Women in American Politics 2025" provided to USA TODAY shortly before its July 31 release, tracked the number of Black women serving in statewide offices, state legislatures and Congress over the last decade. The report found that at one point in 2025 there were 402 Black women serving in state legislatures, up from 240 nearly a decade ago.
'It's steady progress," Chelsea Hill, an author of the report, said of the 2024 elections.
Since 2014, there's been a 67% increase in the number of Black women in state legislatures, according to the report by Higher Heights, which works to expand Black women's political power, and the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
State legislatures have long served as a path to Congress. In the more than 10 years since the first report, there's been an acceleration of Black women 'moving along the pipeline,'' said Glynda Carr, president of Higher Heights.
Last year also marked some firsts for Black women with Kamala Harris' historic bid for president. Harris, who became the first woman of African American and Asian American descent to run for president and the first woman to serve as vice president, announced July 30 that she would not run for governor in California. She did not say if she had ruled out a presidential bid in 2028.
Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland, both Democrats, also made history when they were elected the first two Black women to serve in the U.S. Senate at the same time.
There were no Black women in the Senate when the report was first published in 2014, Carr said.
'It's a reminder of why we do the work and a reminder of the program and the impact of the work,'' she said.
'When Black women run, they do win'
There have been more opportunities over the years for Black women to run at the state level, said Carr and Hill. They pointed to more programs to recruit and train women candidates.
'When Black women run, they do win,'' said Hill, director of data at the Center for American Women. 'They have high win rates. At the congressional level, Black women have higher win rates than their counterparts.''
In the 2024 general election, 63% of Black women congressional nominees won their contests, outpacing the win rates of all female candidates at 49% and male candidates at 53% across race/ethnicity, according to the report.
Many women serving in Congress are former state lawmakers. The number of Black women in Congress has nearly doubled from 17 to 31, including non-voting delegates, since 2014, the report found.
The Kamala effect
Hill called Harris' run for the presidency a 'galvanizing force'' for all women, including Black women.
Carr said Harris' presidential bid 'shows the strength of a leadership pipeline for Black women.'
"Here's a woman who had run and won on every level of government," Carr said noting that Harris served in the Bay area and the state of California for more than a decade.
Carr said Harris' calculated decision not to run for governor will continue to inspire women and Black women to run for office.
'More importantly (it has) created a blueprint around 'how do you serve on a local level and continue to serve and run for higher office,'" Carr said.
Meanwhile, the report found there have been other gains. Eight Black women serve as mayors of the 100 most populous cities, including Karen Bass in Los Angeles , Muriel Bowser in Washington and LaToya Cantrell in New Orleans.
Challenges remain for Black female candidates
Despite the gains, women candidates often face hurdles, including fundraising, experts said. Some Black women candidates have complained that party organizations have been slow to support their bids.
While there are fewer of those barriers, Carr said there has been an increase in misinformation about candidates and Black women have been targets of political threats.
Most Black women elected to Congress have been Democrats.
GOP candidates must also deal with the tension of Republicans pushing back against diversity, equity and inclusion, which often includes women. There's only been one Black Republican woman, the late Mia Love of Utah, elected to Congress.
'I certainly hope that I won't be the last one. I really do," Love told USA TODAY in 2022.
And while there were a record number of Black women in state legislatures there are five states with no Black women in their state legislatures, Hill said. They include Hawaii, Idaho, Montanna, North Dakota and South Dakota.
No Black women governors
One place where there has not been a win for Black women is governorships. In the last decade, several Black women have run for governor, such as Stacey Abrams in Georgia, but have not won.
More are trying, including Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, who running for governor in Virginia this year. Keisha Lance Bottoms, a Democrat, has announced plans to run for governor of Georgia in 2026.
The landscape will be different from 2024 when there were 11 governor races, Hill said. In 2026, there will be 36 open seats.
'Hopefully, we can all retire that factoid of 'there's never been a Black woman governor,'" Hill said.
Meanwhile, Carr and Hill said there may be more opportunities for Black women to run next year. There were 73 statewide races in 2024. Next year, there will be 200.
Hill said she's hoping to see Black women recruited, supported and running for some of those positions.
There's also a push for more Black women to run in districts with diverse populations, not just majority-Black districts, Carr said.
'In 2026, the work is to ensure that we are not losing ground and (that) there's an infrastructure in place for Black women to run for reelection, for Black women to run for higher office and for more Black women to run,' she said.