Just one-third of state political donors are women
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Women are not only underrepresented as political candidates across the country, they're also underrepresented as donors.
Driving the news: Women donors made up just 29% to 33% of the contributions to general election candidates at statewide and state legislative levels between 2019 and 2022.
- That's according to a new report on the "donor gap" from Rutgers' Center for American Women and Politics using data from OpenSecrets.
Why it matters: While women are registered to vote at higher rates than men, they remain disproportionately absent from the halls of political power — and from the political donations that fuel those halls.
What's happening: The underrepresentation of women candidates and donors are entwined, Kira Sanbonmatsu, a Rutgers political science professor and the report's lead researcher told Axios.
- "We're not able to disentangle which comes first ... it's a mutually reinforcing relationship," she said.
- It also is inextricable from a persistent gender wealth gap, she said.
State of play: Just 33% of state legislators are women. Only eight of the 28 governors running for re-election in 2022 were women.
- About 50.4% of the U.S. population is female, per census data.
Zoom in: Female donors on both sides of the aisle disproportionately support women candidates, according to the report.
- However, the pattern is stronger among Democratic women. For example, women donors accounted for 49% of the money given to Democratic women statehouse candidates, compared to 36% of contributions to male candidates.
- For Republican women statehouse members, meanwhile, women donors accounted for 29% of total donations, compared to 21% of the money given to men.
The big picture: While the report found the disparity to be worse in some states — just 14% of Nebraska's contributions in 2022 were from women, 17% of Illinois' and 18% of Alabama's — no state had contributions equivalent to their female population last year.
- Colorado came in on top with 46% to its 49% female population.
- "It's not unique to any state," Sanbonmatsu said.
Of note: States without regular elections in 2022 were excluded from the data.
The intrigue: Across the country, Democratic women outnumber Republican women as candidates at all levels, the report says.
- Among women state legislators, 66% are Democrats compared to 34% who are Republicans.
- That could be in part thanks to a disparity in groups recruiting and supporting female candidates. More of them, like Emily's List, are for Democrats, though Republicans are trying to catch up.
Yes, but: Once they run, women candidates are strong fundraisers, the report outlines.
- 51% of the top Republican fundraisers and 52% of the top Democratic fundraisers in statehouse races between 2019 and 2022 were women.
Reality check: Among women candidates, another funding disparity along racial lines exists.
- In 2022 gubernatorial non-incumbent primaries, white women received more contributions than those from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, the report points out.
- "The campaign finance space yields similar challenges for people of color regardless of gender," Sanbonmatsu told Axios.
What we're watching: There's a "need for some new strategies and new mobilization ideas" to rectify the gender gap, Sanbonmatsu said.
- That includes trying to activate new donors and untapped sources of candidate funding support.
- "Women are voting," she said. "They're interested in politics. They're engaged. They maybe haven't been recruited yet in this capacity."
