Gender, Partisanship, and Candidate-Selection Mechanisms

Abstract

How candidates are selected, such as through nomination by party elites or election by primary voters, potentially influences the underrepresentation of women in political office. Partisan differences suggest that primary voters in right-leaning parties might select fewer female nominees than would their left-leaning counterparts even if both parties' elites are equally likely to select female nominees. This hypothesis is confirmed by an analysis of lieutenant governors in the United States, a position that varies in whether candidates are appointed by party elites or elected by primary voters. In cases where lieutenant-governor candidates are appointed, Democratic and Republican gubernatorial nominees are equally likely to choose female running mates; where primary voters select the lieutenant governor, Republicans are less likely to nominate women.

Diversity and Power: Selection Method and Its Impacts on State Executive Descriptive Representation

“…However, other work finds that selection method does not relate to more black state judges (Alozie 1988). Research beyond state courts finds selection method is associated with increased diversity for school boards, mayors, and lieutenant governors (Alexander 2011; Berkman 2005; Hennings and Urbatsch 2016). This article seeks to expand on this literature to state executive leadership positions and the role of selection method in elevating minorities to positions of power in state government.…”