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Gender, Partisanship, and Candidate-Selection Mechanisms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2021

Valerie M. Hennings  and
R. Urbatsch
Valerie M. Hennings*
Affiliation:
Morningside College, Sioux City, IA, USA
R. Urbatsch
Affiliation:
Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA
*
Valerie M. Hennings, Morningside College, 1501 Morningside Avenue, Sioux City, IA 51106, USA. Email: henningsv@morningside.edu
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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.

Keywords

executive electionsexecutive politicsgender politicsidentity/group politicspolitical partiesparties and interest groupsprimary electionspolitical behaviorparties and elections
Type
Research Article
Information
State Politics & Policy Quarterly , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , September 2016 , pp. 290 - 312
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2015

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