MA Legislature 2023-2024 Legislative Session

• The Senate is headed by its third female President, Karen Spilka. Senate President Spilka’s leadership team includes:

  • Senator Cynthia Stone Creem: Majority Leader

  • Senator Joan B. Lovely: Assistant Majority Leader

  • Senator Cindy F. Friedman: Vice Chair of the Senate & Joint Committees on Ways and Means

  • Women chair 12 Committees in the Senate; 14 Senate Committees have women as their Vice Chairs

  • In total, women comprise 30% of the MA State Senate, with 12 members

• In the House, Speaker Ronald Mariano appointed the following women to his leadership team:

  • Representative Kate Hogan: Speaker Pro Tempore

    • Rep. Hogan made history in 2021 as the highest-ranking openly LGBTQ member in the House’s history.

  • Representative Alice Hanlon Peisch: Assistant Majority Leader

  • Representative Sarah K. Peake: Second Assistant Majority Leader

  • Representative Ruth B. Balser: Division Chair

  • Representative Danielle W. Gregoire: Division Chair

  • Representative Ann-Margaret Ferrante: Vice Chair of the House & Joint Committees on Ways and Means

  • Women chair 5 Committees in the House; 15 Committees have women as their Vice Chairs

  • There are two women in leadership positions in the House Republican Caucus

    • Representative Kimberly N. Ferguson: First Assistant Minority Leader

    • Representative Susan Williams Gifford: Third Assistant Minority Leader

  • In total, women comprise 32% of the MA House of Representatives, with 51 members

MA Statewide Offices (2023)

• Massachusetts has five women in statewide offices serving as Constitutional Officers

  • Governor Maura Healey

  • Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll

  • Attorney General Andrea Campbell

  • Treasurer Deborah Goldberg

  • State Auditor Diana DiZoglio
    
    

• On election day, November 8, 2022, the Commonwealth saw several historical wins:

  • Attorney General Maura Healey was elected as Governor, and will be the first woman and first openly gay governor of Massachusetts, and the first lesbian to be elected governor in the United States.

  • Mayor Kim Driscoll was elected Lieutenant Governor and, alongside Healey, they will make Massachusetts the only state in the country to have women in both the Governor and LG’s offices.

  • Andrea Campbell also made history, as she will be the first Black woman elected as Attorney General in Massachusetts, and is the first woman of color to win a statewide election in Massachusetts.

MA Congressional Delegation (2023)

• Four out of Massachusetts’ eleven congressional representatives are women

  • Senator Elizabeth Warren

  • Representative Lori Trahan

  • Representative Katherine Clark

  • Representative Ayanna Pressley

Women in Local Government Nationwide (2024)

• Municipal Officeholders - Cities over 10,000: 32.0%

• Mayors – Cities over 30,000: 25.8% of 1,616 seats

• Mayors – 100 Most Populous Cities: 34%

Source: Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP). 2024. “Women in Elective Office 2024.” New Brunswick, NJ: Center for American Women and Politics, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University-New Brunswick.

Women in State Government Nationwide (2024)

• Statewide Elective Executives: 99; 31.9% of 310 seats *

  • 54 Democrat, 43 Republican, 2 Non-Partisan

  • Governor: 12

  • Lieutenant Governor: 22

  • Other Statewide Elective Executive: 65

  • The is a record high for women serving in statewide elective executive office & a record high for women serving as governors.

• State Legislatures: 2,424; 32.8% of 7,386 seats **

  • 1,591 Democrat, 807 Republican, 20 Non-Partisan, 6 Independent

  • State Senators: 595; 30.2% of 1,973 seats

  • State House/Assembly Members: 1,829; 33.8% of 5,413 seats

  • Since 1971, the number of women serving in state legislatures has more than quintupled

Sources:
* Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP). 2024. “Women in Elective Office 2024.” New Brunswick, NJ: Center for American Women and Politics, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University-New Brunswick.

** Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP). 2024. “Women in State Legislatures 2024.” New Brunswick, NJ: Center for American Women and Politics, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University-New Brunswick.

Women in Federal Government (2024)

• Vice President: Kamala Harris (D) became the first woman to hold the office of Vice President on January 20, 2021. She is also the first woman of color, the first Black person, and the first South Asian Person elected to this office.

• Congress: 151; 28.2% of 535 seats

  • 107 Democrat, 43 Republican; 1 Independent

  • 25 in Senate, 126 in House of Representatives, 4 U.S. Delegate

  • This is a record high for women serving in the U.S. Congress.

Source: Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP). 2024. “Women in Elective Office 2024.” New Brunswick, NJ: Center for American Women and Politics, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University-New Brunswick.

Women Officeholders by Race and Ethnicity (2024)

The Rutgers University Center for American Women and Politics also offers both current and historical data on Asian American/Pacific Islander, Black, Latina, Middle Eastern and North African, Native American, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian, and White women officeholders as well as notable firsts.

Source: Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP). 2024. “Women Officeholders by Race and Ethnicity.” New Brunswick, NJ: Center for American Women and Politics, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University-New Brunswick.

Updated February 2024