State of the Texas Woman
What is the SOTW?
The State of the Texas Woman is a biennial report released after every midterm and presidential election. It contains important trends and patterns of women running for office down to the local level. Both quantitative and qualitative data points are reported, giving our readers a better understanding of what it takes to run for office in the Lone Star State. Currently, Lone Star Parity Project is the only entity to landmark a report with aggregated data down to the countywide level.
2022 Midterm Election
Click the drop down menu below to find out how many women+ filed for, ran for, and won elected office during the 2022 election.
How many women+ filed?
Filing for office means an individual submitted an application for a spot on the ballot. In a campaign, filing to run for office is the first step. Below is a chart that shows how many women+ filed. More Republican women filed for office than Democratic women. However, Democratic women+ made up a greater percentage of all Democratic filers than Republican women+ compared to Republican filers.
How many women+ won their primary election?
Primary elections only exist in partisan elections, meaning candidates who run for a specific political party. The goal of a primary election is to narrow down the candidate representing a party (i.e. Democrat or Republican) in the November general election.
Uncontested Primaries
Uncontested primaries are primary elections where only one individual from a certain party filed to run for a specific position. 2,612 people ran uncontested in their primary election. 1,147 of those uncontested candidates were women+, making up roughly 43.9% of uncontested primary candidates.
Contested Primaries
Contested primaries are primary elections where more than one individual from a certain party filed to run for a specific position. 1,385 individuals won their contested primary election. 486 of those winners were women+. That means 35.1% of winners were women+.
How many women+ won their general election?
General elections are elections where the candidate with the most votes wins the position. Midterm general elections occur every four years and generally include most countywide and statewide races. For the 2022 election cycle, the general election occurred November 8, 2022.
There were 3,527 general election candidates. 1,543 of those candidates were women+. 2,938 people won their general election. 1,261 of the total people that won their general election were women+. That means 42.9% of winners were women+.
Which elected offices have the most women+ serving?
There are twelve elected offices in Texas that have women serving at or above parity—meaning 50% or more of these seats are filled by women.
The most populous offices are elected offices that have the largest number of seats available across Texas. Though there are more offices available for election, these positions do not always correlate with those elected at or above parity.
What counties elected the most women+?
Texas is home to 254 different counties. The counties in the chart below elected the most women comparative to the number of elected seats
This is a map showing the parity levels by county. Geographic representation across the state is an important intersection of parity, of which we are only beginning to understand. Below is a map showing parity levels by county. 101 counties out of 254 elected candidates at parity in 2022. 105 counties increased their parity percentage from the 2018 midterm elections, as 149 counties decreased. Rural counties (less than 100,000 people) are more likely than their more populated counterparts to be at parity, with around 25% of rural counties above parity. Despite gains, only 3.4 million of the 29.1 million people in Texas live in a parity county.
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Stories behind the numbers
On top of crunching the numbers from the 2022 election cycle, we also interviewed women+ from across the Lone Star state.. Scroll from left to right then click each feature to expand their picture and read their story.
