Elections Finally Over –  How’d We Do in ’22?

Elections Finally Over –  How’d We Do in ’22?

By Kathi Harper, Public Policy Chair AAUW California

The election is finally over!  In addition to an end to the non-stop requests for donations, AAUW members can be pretty happy with the results.  Here are a few highlights:

  • 1 woman each was added to the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate, bringing the numbers to 124 (H) and 25 (S)
  • Of the total of 149, 54 are women of color
  • We lost the most powerful woman in government (Nancy Pelosi) but still have a woman on the Minority leadership team, Minority Whip Katherine Clark
  • Governors of 12 states are now women
  • 23% of all mayors across the nation are women, including our brand new and first female mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass
  • 20 women won new seats in the California Legislature and 30 female incumbents were re-elected, bringing the total to 50 – but still just 42%
  • All executive positions in California except Governor are filled by women, including Secretary of State, Lieutenant Governor, Treasurer, and Controller, as well as the Senate Pro Tem
  • Proposition 1 prevailed and women’s right to control their own reproductive choices is now enshrined in our constitution.

And here are some fun facts:

  • Only 3.2% of all members of Congress to date have been women
  • California has sent more women to Congress than any other state – a total of 47 to date
  • Vermont is the only state that has never sent a woman to either the House or the Senate

The State Public Policy committee thanks each and every AAUW California member who voted,  who assisted in our Voter Education (VE) campaign by spreading our messages on social media, who took the pledge to vote for Prop 1 (we had 437 sign up!) and who worked within their branches to do their own VE events.

For a more detailed analysis of the election results, visit https://www.aauw-ca.org/got-voter-fatigue/