This year’s General Assembly session is set to break records, with more women serving than ever before.
Why it matters: It’s mostly due to Democratic women — including two from the Richmond area — flipping House seats previously held by men.
By the numbers: Ten of the 13 House seats that flipped in November were flipped by women, per an Axios review of Virginia Public Access Project data.
- Nearly all had male incumbents, including one who was elected in the 1990s, and more than half were flipped by women of color.
- Four are from the Richmond area: Kimberly Pope Adams (Petersburg), Leslie Mehta (Western Chesterfield), Lindsey Dougherty (Chesterfield) and May Nivar (Henrico).
Zoom out: Those wins, in addition to a Republican woman who beat her Democratic opponent, added eight women to the House.
- And that brought the total number of women in the 140-person legislature to a record high of 56, per the Center for American Women and Politics.
- All but nine are Democrats.
- The legislature will also include a record 23 Black women, more than double the number a decade ago, according to the Center.
The intrigue: The number of Republican women in the House has barely budged in nearly 20 years, while the number of Democratic women has almost quadrupled, per VPAP…