More than 500 women announced they will run for governorships and Congressional seats around the country this year, and some pundits have predicted there will be a pink wave in this midterm election cycle. But the Status of Women in North Carolina Politics 2018 report shows that there is no pink wave in North Carolina.
In fact, fewer women are running for office in the state this year than in 2014. Women hold less than a quarter of about 5,000 elected positions around the state. There are almost an equal number of appointed positions in North Carolina, but women hold only about a third of them.
Host Frank Stasio talks to report author David McLennan about the state of women in politics in North Carolina. McLennan is a professor of political science and the director of the Meredith Poll at Meredith College. Whitney Ross Manzo joins the conversation to put North Carolina numbers in national and historical context. Manzo is an associate professor of political science at Meredith College.