University of Virginia Professor Jennifer L. Lawless, who has written books about women in politics, said research shows female candidates are as likely to succeed as men on Election Day. But women are often held to different standards once elected, she said, noting the top 10 governors in the Morning Consult poll are men. Lawless, who ran unsuccessfully for Congress in Rhode Island while working at Brown University, said there has long been a perception that female politicians could not succeed in Rhode Island, where Republican Claudine Schneider was the only woman to represent the state in Congress, from 1981 to 1991. “Rhode Island norms die hard,” she said.
Jennifer Lawless
