Weekend Reading on Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation in politics, on boards, in sports and entertainment, in judicial offices and in the private sector in the U.S. and around the world—with a little gardening and goodwill mixed in for refreshment!
Independence Day Reminds Us: Equality for Women Is Still Revolutionary
This Friday marks the 249th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. I join in celebrating our nation, and look forward to my hometown hosting yet another joyous, community-driven parade.
At the same time, with much talk of celebrating the 250th anniversary next year, I will keep centered on the journey for women that remains unfinished. Americans have had trouble enough living up to the Declaration’s vision that “all men are created equal.” We have much more to do to ensure women’s equality is elevated as a necessary, still revolutionary, goal.
It’s hard to feel celebratory as Congress careens toward legislation adding more than $3 trillion to the national debt while likely causing more than 10 million Americans to lose their health insurance. But I’m encouraged by the latest political news from New York City—not just how better electoral rules contributed to unheard-of voter turnout of young people and the convincing defeat of a frontrunner who resigned as governor due to a string of claims of sexual harassment and intimidation, but a confirmation that those better rules are sustaining women’s incredible electoral success since 2021.
The Haudenosaunee’s Great Law of Peace, William Penn and the U.S. Constitution
I am reminded that the The Haudenosaunee’s Great Law of Peace with its system of self-governance, a central council, two legislative bodies and checks and balances that protect individual freedoms came first.
William Penn, whom my Quaker ancestors arrived with in 1679, drew inspiration from the Haudenosaunee to develop a written framework of government for Pennsylvania that would respond to the people, accommodate dissent and evolve with the changing times—a model for the U.S. Constitution.
While John Adams envisioned that Congress would be “a portrait of the people in miniature” we have yet to reach that “portrait” because the American electoral system limits competition, protects incumbents, fuels polarization and slows progress for women in office. The good news is that we can change electoral systems and change outcomes for women, as the NYC system shows us, but redistributing power is hard work!
New York City and Opening Up Politics With Ranked-Choice Voting
New York City’s mayoral primary on June 24 resulted in a big upset: Zohran Mamdani, 33-year-old state legislator and Muslim American born in Uganda, swamped political heavyweight Andrew Cuomo and a talented field in the Democratic mayoral primary.
Mamdani, this fall, looks poised to join 36-year-old Boston mayor Michelle Wu as part of a new generation of leadership in the U.S. Northeast.
Mamdani won by leaning into the incentives of New York’s ranked-choice voting (RCV) election system. RCV is a system that rewards unifiers, and Mamdani embraced those incentives. He and third-place finisher Brad Lander cross-endorsed one another, producing clever joint ads and appearing together on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert. He urged voters to use all five of their rankings. As I detailed in Ms. magazine last month—”Ranked-Choice Voting Spurs a New Era of Collaborative Campaigning in New York“—he boosted the candidacy of city council speaker Adrienne Adams to help her secure public financing.
In contrast, Andrew Cuomo did not ask voters to support any other candidate, and admitted he only ranked himself when voting.
It should be no surprise that Mamdani surged past Cuomo in first choices and gained far more votes as the backup choice of supporters of trailing candidates after they were eliminated.
Looking forward, women should be at the center of this necessary change. We have never had a woman president, Senate majority leader nor majority on the Supreme Court. We’ve never had even a third of Congress, our governors and big city mayors be women. With all due respect, it’s time for more aging men like Cuomo to step aside and let more women step up. And if New York City is any indication, the voters may take matters into their own hands.
Women Poised to Maintain New Supermajority on the New York City Council
New York City voters cast ranked-choice voting ballots in party primaries for all 51 seats on the city council.
RCV was first used in city primaries in 2021, when voters more than doubled the number of women on the council from 13 seats to a record-breaking 31. Our 2022 report showed the role of intentional organizing and electoral rules (RCV, combined with term limits and a strong public financing program) in that jump for women and the positive impact RCV has made on policy of particular concern to women.
Represent Women’s indefatigable research director Courtney Lamendola has crunched the numbers:
- Twenty-seven women won primaries based on a first round majority (of which 17 were in uncontested races) and all 27 seats are favored for women in November.
- Five women won after ranked-choice voting tabulations—all leading in first choices and having their majority win confirmed with RCV. Of those five women RCV winners, one was an incumbent, three won open seat elections and one is a Democratic challenger running against an incumbent Republican woman in the general.
The bottom line is a total of 31 women on the council, barring any surprise outcomes in November, consolidating the amazing growth in the 2021 primaries.
Kudos also to Vanessa Gibson, who easily turned back a challenger in the Bronx Borough president primary after winning a tough RCV primary in 2021.
Better rules matter, but so does organizing. Hats off to The New Majority NYC, Vote Run Lead, Running Start, Eleanor’s Legacy and other organizations for doing so much to lift up opportunities for women in city government. As they move up the pipeline, expect more success for more of these women in citywide and federal office in years to come.
As to RCV, The New York Times has a great rundown of its impact. From New Yorkers Embraced Ranked-Choice Voting:
“The campaigns tried to educate voters about the new voting system, and it appears to have worked. Roughly 95 percent of voters ranked either Mr. Mamdani or Mr. Cuomo on their ballots, allowing them to survive until the final round. Most voters said they understood the system and wanted to keep it, according to an exit poll from SurveyUSA that was paid for by groups that support ranked-choice voting, including Common Cause New York and FairVote….
“We’ve always said that we needed to get through two mayoral primaries to really see how ranked-choice voting was going to work,” said Susan Lerner, the executive director of Common Cause New York. “Candidates really embraced ranked choice this go-around and I think that’s just an indication that the system is maturing in New York City.”
Roughly three-fourths of voters said they wanted to keep or expand ranked-choice voting, and about 17 percent said it should not be used for municipal elections.”
While it’s true that New York City unnecessarily takes too long to report its first RCV tallies 79 percent of RCV jurisdictions report RCV tallies within 24 hours of poll closing. I trust constructive engagement with the NYC Board of Elections will lead to a faster, more transparent process when New York next uses RCV.
New York City Charter Commission May End Use of Ranked-Choice Voting
In an article published in The Fulcrum co-written with Ebonie Simpson, the talented executive director of The New Majority NYC, we share:
“Ranked choice voting works because it delivers more voice, more choice, and more representative outcomes. Voters crave choice in elections. But the reality of many candidates in a single-choice election is a giant headache. Voters have the nearly impossible task of trying to determine whether their favorite candidate has a chance to win or whether they should vote for someone they liked well enough who might be polling a little better.
Meanwhile, candidates elbow each other out of the race—fearing the vote will otherwise be split among ideologically or demographically similar options. The loser? As we’ve learned from conversations with leaders in New York and across the country, it’s most often women—or candidates of color—who are told to “wait their turn.” Candidates get picked in back rooms, not by voters.”
Despite this progress, this could be the last election where RCV effectively decides elections in New York City. A charter commission appointed by controversial mayor Eric Adams has provided a tentative recommendation for a California-style “Top Two” system where an all-candidate primary open to all voters would limit the field to two. It would be followed by a long, punishing head-to-head runoff that maximizes the influence of big money and reduces the women-empowering opportunities to build coalitions with positive campaigns.
Revealingly, the 135-page interim report from the Commission does not mention “women” once in its discussion of electoral reform except when part of an organizational name. That’s a disappointing oversight.
While addressing the legitimate frustrations of unaffiliated voters and seeking to make more general elections competitive, a Top Two system would be a regressive step in a city that already has RCV well-established and where an overwhelming majority of voters choose to rank more than one candidate. Here’s a link to my recent testimony to the charter commission lifting up how extending RCV to the general elections as a more impactful and inclusive approach. My husband Rob Richie of Expand Democracy also provided testimony to the Commission contrasting Alaska-style Top Four primaries with Top Two primaries.
The Charter Commission concludes its work this month, with a final in-person hearing on July 7. You can make your voice heard at this link to preserve and ideally expand ranked-choice voting in New York City.
Black Women Win Likely Decisive Mayoral Primaries in Albany and Syracuse
Cities across New York held primaries on June 24. Among notable races, women came out on top in hotly contested Democratic primaries for mayor in Syracuse and the capital city of Albany.
The winners, Sharon Owens in Syracuse and Dorcey Applyrs in Albany, are well-positioned to be the first Black women elected as mayors in their respective cities.
Spectrum News on Sharon Owens in Syracuse:
“Syracuse Deputy Mayor Sharon Owens is one step closer to being promoted to the top job. Owens declared victory in Tuesday’s Democratic primary race to be the city’s next mayor, defeating Common Councilors Pat Hogan and Chol Majok. According to the latest unofficial results from the Onondaga County Board of Elections, Owens led with 62%.
Owens has served as deputy mayor for the entirety of Ben Walsh’s eight-year tenure in City Hall. Walsh, an independent, endorsed her to succeed him. Walsh is term-limited and cannot seek the office again. The local Democratic committee endorsed Hogan…If Owens wins the general election, she would be the first Black mayor of Syracuse.“
WAMR Radio on Dorcey Applyrs in Albany:
“Albany’s Chief City Auditor is on the cusp of making history as the city’s first Black mayor after winning Tuesday’s Democratic primary. Dorcey Applyrs, Albany’s chief city auditor and a former common councilor, delivered a victory speech late Tuesday after pulling ahead by a large margin in the four-way Democratic mayoral primary. Her closest challenger, businessman Dan Cerutti, conceded the race…
‘We are people who will always be 10 toes down for Albany, people who have come together, who have a shared belief in democratic principles and values that government should work for everyone, regardless of which zip code you live in, regardless of the color of your skin, regardless of how much money you have in your account, even if you have an account,’ Applyrs said. ‘Regardless of who you love and regardless of who you pray to, Albany should and must work for all of us.‘”
Virginia Primaries Create History for Women—With Limits
Virginia and New Jersey are the two states that will both elect new governors and hold legislative elections. The Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) has a helpful rundown of what the June 17 primaries meant for women.
A few highlights:
Governor and Lt. Governor:
“Current Lt, Governor Winsome Earle-Sears (R) and former U.S. Representative Abigail Spanberger (D) are nominees in an all-woman gubernatorial contest in Virginia this year. Either would both be the first woman governor of Virginia.
Virginia is one of 18 states that has never had a woman governor. The others are California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
There are two gubernatorial elections in 2025, in New Jersey and Virginia. If women are successful in both states, the number of women governors could reach 14 by January 2026, matching the record high set briefly in January 2025.
The sole woman candidate for attorney general was unsuccessful, but state Senator Ghazala Hashmi (D) won the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor. If Hashmi is successful, she could become both the first Democratic woman and first Asian American/Pacific Islander woman to serve as Virginia’s lieutenant governor.“
House of Delegates:
“Women are 70 of 169 (41.4%) major-party nominees for the House of Delegates in Virginia, including 56 of 99 (56.6%) Democrats and 14 of 70 (20%) Republicans. This is not a record high.
All 34 (27D, 7R) current women House incumbents are nominees for re-election in November 2025. All ran for re-election and zero lost their bid.”
Richmond Primaries Position Black Women for Reelection as Sheriff and Attorney
Virginia’s capital city of Richmond also held partisan primaries on June 17. I congratulate two Black women for winning contested Democratic primaries for key roles in their city dealing with crime and justice.
Here’s more from VPM on their wins:
“Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney Colette McEachin and City Sheriff Antionette Irving won re-election Tuesday night, both defeating repeat primary challengers in similar fashion to 2021. McEachin and Irving will each run unopposed in the Nov. 4 general election, as the city’s elections office told VPM News no other candidates filed to run…
In a statement, McEachin said city voters considered her record and ‘spoke resoundingly in support’ of her experience and tenure. ‘Richmond is safer today than it was 5 years ago, and with your trust and support, I will work every day to continue that progress,”’she said…
In an interview ahead of the primary, McEachin told VPM News the role should be to ‘promote public safety, to provide second chances to people who want them and ultimately to hold offenders accountable for what they did.’ She called her office ‘one of the best in the state’ in the interview, touting her office’s Restorative Justice Program and efforts to expand drug and mental health treatment opportunities for people charged with crimes…
Irving won her third term as sheriff by again defeating William Burnett, a longtime Richmond law enforcement officer. She received just under 55% of the vote in unofficial counts, a similar margin to her 2021 victory. Irving thanked both her supporters and Burnett in a statement celebrating her victory: ‘This campaign allowed us to share our stories, the progress we’ve made, and the vision we continue to build for the future… The Richmond sheriff’s office — one of the largest in Virginia, with nearly 500 staff members — oversees the city’s jail and provides security at city courthouses.'”
Irving has a remarkable story of electoral persistence. She first won in a major upset in 2017, defeating a long-time incumbent.
Here’s 2017 coverage of that win from Richmond Free Press.
“By every measure, Antionette V. Irving seemed to have no shot of winning her third attempt to unseat Richmond Sheriff C.T. Woody Jr. The popular sheriff had crushed Ms. Irving by 4-1 and 5-1 margins in her previous Democratic primary attempts to unseat him in 2009 and 2013. For Tuesday’s primary, he had raised $100,000 to fuel his campaign, or 20 times her campaign war chest. In fact, her biggest donation was the $5,000 contribution she made.
Ms. Irving, who had made history as the first woman to reach the rank of major in the Henrico Sheriff’s Department a few years earlier, was undeterred. The 52-year-old Richmond native undertook a gritty shoe-leather campaign in which she and her six faithful supporters spent the past two years knocking on thousands of doors to press her case with potential voters — the kind of effort that Sheriff Woody, after 12 years in office, no longer felt a need to undertake…
It was a stealth campaign that created little buzz, and seasoned political operatives completely missed what was happening. That made it all the sweeter Tuesday night when the former public housing resident pulled off arguably one of the biggest upsets in city political history in defeating Sheriff Woody, who has held office since 2006.”
Charlottesville the Latest Virginia City to Elect Women with RCV
On June 14, Charlottesville became the second locality in Virginia to move to ranked-choice voting in a Democratic primary for two citywide seats. Political newcomer Jen Fleisher secured just over 50 percent of first-round votes, while Mayor Juandiego Wade achieved 36 percent, with Vice Mayor Brian Pinkston at 13 percent.
With the proportional form of RCV, winning a seat required the votes of just over a third of voters to earn a seat.
More from Independent Voter News:
“RCV advocates say the outcome demonstrates one of the reform’s core strengths: It empowers voters to choose candidates they genuinely support without fear of “vote splitting.” This happens when a majority of voters split up their votes between multiple preferred candidates under a choose-one method, leading to the least preferred candidate winning. To avoid this, voters end up thinking more about strategy over choosing who they most prefer.
‘Tuesday’s results demonstrate that ranked choice voting delivers on its promise of diverse representation,’ said Sally Hudson, executive director of Ranked Choice Virginia. ‘Charlottesville voters got two winners who come from different corners of our community. One lives on the north side and one lives on the south side. There’s one man and one woman, one Black candidate and one white candidate.’”
Charlottesville voters liked what they experienced. From Ranked Choice Voting Virginia on the results of a new survey:
“One week after Charlottesville’s first ranked choice election, a survey of the city’s primary voters revealed decisive support for maintaining the new system. Fully 80% of survey respondents strongly support using RCV in future City Council elections, with another 9% expressing some support. Less than 10% voiced opposition to continued RCV use. Support was strong across all demographic groups, including age, race, gender, education, and homeownership. The only group that voiced majority opposition was the small subset of voters (5%) who were also dissatisfied with which candidates won.”
Meanwhile, Arlington County uses RCV for both its primary and general elections. This year’s County Board primary had only two candidates, but the general election will put RCV in play, with several independents running The Board’s Maureen Coffey posted this week on Twitter:
“I can’t believe this website has gotten me to care about the #NYCMayor race…No matter what happens, RCV made this a better campaign, focused on more issues and coalition building. Should absolutely be used more often, ESPECIALLY in these crowded field primary races!!!!”
Women and St. Paul Special Election with RCV on Aug. 12
St. Paul in 2023 elected an all-women city council in its ranked-choice voting elections.
There’s now a vacant seat, and three women are among the four candidates running in an Aug. 12 special election with RCV: Molly Coleman, Carolyn Will and Chauntyll Alen.
A regularly scheduled general election will take place in November, along with several other Minnesota cities like Minneapolis.
RepresentWomen, the Matriots, and the Hamilton County Commission on Women and Girls Host ‘Braver Together’
On June 24 in Cincinnati, RepresentWomen, in partnership with the Matriots and the Hamilton County Commission on Women and Girls, co-hosted “Braver Together“—a gathering to discuss the status of women’s representation in elected office, building community, and the power of collective activism.
We recognize and honor our different perspectives and lived experiences, and how much better we are when we come together. The first part of the evening was spent learning from one another’s journeys of advocacy and activism. Because activism is new for some, we know that bravery is needed to take the first step.
Feeling activated, the second part of the evening was about matching people with organizations and causes where they could give their time and talent.
At RepresentWomen, we recognize that so much of the energy to increase parity in elected office has to be harnessed locally. People understand that the government doesn’t always represent the people they serve but there aren’t always opportunities to learn how to create needed change. “Braver Together” was a beautiful space to present our work and engage people on the system reforms needed to make government more accessible for everyone.
What Jacinda Ardern’s New Book Gets Right About Women and Power
I’ve been reading former Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern’s new book, A Different Kind of Power, which highlights the shifting dynamics of power, how women are redefining what leadership can be, and the impact of fairer election systems for creating openings for new voices like her own. Her words align with what we are doing at RepresentWomen: focusing on improving the quality of leadership, policy and governing through better representation.
