Document Type
Article
Abstract
Over one hundred years ago, Ohio was at the forefront of women’s political participation. In 1872, Victoria Woodhull became the first woman to run for president. In 1922, six women were elected to the Ohio state legislature for the first time, and Florence Allen was elected to the Ohio Supreme Court, making her the first woman to be elected to any state supreme court in the nation. This research looks at where the state stands now in the number of women running for office, their success rates, and the impact of having a woman at the top of the ticket. The results show that while the state can claim multiple historic famous firsts, today women candidates are still significantly underrepresented at all levels of Ohio’s legislative political hierarchy: women won only 17.8% of legislative seats in 2024. The pyramid predicted by the pipeline theory that more women run at the lower levels of the political hierarchy is not evident in Ohio; there are very few women at the bottom in county legislative offices in addition to very few women at the top. Assessing the role-model effect, our data across legislative offices present no clear or consistent evidence that having a woman running for president significantly boosted women’s electoral success down-ballot.
Recommended Citation
Irene Jayapandian, Barbara Palmer, Pipelines & Presidential Candidates: The Dynamics of Women Running for Public Office in Ohio, 16 ConLawNOW 121 (2025)