Women running for office in Texas made gains in last election, study says

Women running for office in Texas made substantial gains during the 2024 election, winning more than a quarter of all available seats, according to the 2025 State of Texas Women Report released Tuesday by the Lone Star Parity Project.

While that’s an increase from previous elections, the nonpartisan nonprofit warned that women still lack parity representation in key offices, including in the Texas Legislature, U.S. Congress and on county commissioners courts.

Women won 25.9% of Texas’ available elected seats in 2024, an increase of 3.6% from the 2020 contest, the study found. That uptick was mostly due to Republican women, who claimed 71.5% of all seats won by women during the election.

Despite the gains, most of the seats women won were in positions of lesser power, the report noted.

While women won 100% of the available seats for district clerk positions and more than 90% of available seats for county clerk, county treasurer and district clerk, they won fewer than 10% of available seats for county constable, county commissioner and sheriff, data shows. What’s more, they won just 18.9% of available seats for the U.S. House of Representatives.

Part of the issue, according to the report, is that women didn’t run for offices that would have otherwise been uncontested.

During Texas’ prior cycle, 58% of all elected positions were won in uncontested races. Nearly 80% of those positions were held by men.

“Women are slowly, but surely, gaining ground. With that said, there is much work left to do to reach parity in Texas,” the study said.

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This article appears in Mar 19 – Apr 1, 2025.