Virginia lawmakers return with record number of women

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - Virginia lawmakers return to Richmond Wednesday, January 14, with the most women ever elected to the General Assembly, marking a historic shift in the state legislature’s makeup.

The 140-person legislature now includes 56 women, with a record 23 Black women among them. Roughly half of all Democrats in the House and Senate are now women.

“In terms of gender balance, there’s been a lot of progress made in Virginia and elsewhere across the country,” said Kyle Kondik, managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

Despite the historic gains, men still control both chambers of the General Assembly. Virginia State Senator Danica Roem said the shift represents progress after centuries of male dominance.

“Now, people should know, men will still have a majority in both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly,” Roem said. “That is unchanged going all the way back to 1619 when the Virginia legislature first began meeting. So men have had a majority in the legislature for 407 years now.”

However, within the Democratic caucus, women now hold significant power.

“And at this point in the Democratic caucus, in the House, the Democratic caucus in the House is overwhelmingly women at this point,” Roem said.

The increase in female lawmakers coincides with Democratic gains in recent elections. Kondik said the trend reflects the composition of the Democratic Party and broader gender patterns in American politics.

“There is a gender gap in American politics with women being a little more Democratic leaning, men being a little bit more Republican leaning,” Kondik said. “And so I don’t think it’s necessarily coincidence that you have this big Democratic wave and women are a big part of it just because the sort of women are sort of make up more of the Democratic Party than they do of the Republican Party.”

Kondik noted that the policy impact may be more about party control than gender representation specifically.

“I think what’s happening is that there are more Democrats and Democrats control things. And so they’re gonna be pursuing their own party priorities,” he said.

Roem, the first transgender person to be elected and serve in a state legislature in U.S. history, said Virginia has been overdue for change.

“Our numbers have exponentially increased. It’s time for women to be in charge of our state legislature,” Roem said.

Roem noted that achieving true parity will require changes across both parties, as Republican women remain underrepresented.

“The issue right now is the Republican caucus in both the House and the Senate. There are five Republican women out of what’s likely to be 36 total members. And in the Senate, there are four Republican women,” Roem said. “And so, you know, in order for us to get to parity for, you know, actual representation in the legislature, it’s really going to take both parties, you know, or what’s going to happen is the Democratic Party is going to have to become so overwhelmingly” women-led.

The increased female representation is influencing which experiences shape legislation, particularly in areas like Black maternal health and family policy.

“The fact of the matter is what is in place today that didn’t exist 10 years ago is now an entire network of elected Democratic women,” Roem said.

Roem said the shift comes after centuries of imbalance and reflects Virginia’s current demographics.

“In the Democratic caucus, at least, between the House and the Senate with women majority, it really does reflect where Virginia is,” she said.

Roem also serves as executive director of Emerge Virginia, which trains and recruits Democratic women to run for office. She said there is still work to be done and she will contribute as much as she can.

About one-quarter of the 100 House of Delegates members will be Emerge alumni in the upcoming session, with five Emerge alumni in the Senate.

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