Vote Mama Foundation at APSA in Boston

On September 6th, Vote Mama Foundation attended the American Political Science Association gathering in Boston for the first time! This is the largest gathering of political scientists in North America, and we were thrilled to participate as both attendees and presenters. Vote Mama Foundation coordinated and submitted a roundtable discussion titled ‘Assessing the Status of Women’s Representation in US Politics: Findings from 2026’ alongside Director of Research Courtney Lamendola from Represent Women, Director of Research Shana Hardin from New American Leaders, and Senior Scholar Paru Shah from the Center for American Women in Politics (CAWP). The panel was moderated by Senior Scholar Kira Sanbonmatsu, also from CAWP. Vote Mama Foundation’s Senior Research Manager, Maria Wilson, attended sessions and presented on behalf of the organization.

Thanks to Kira’s thoughtful questions, Maria anchored her answers with context from our top-line takeaways from the 2026 Politics of Parenthood data that we released this month:

• 8.3% of all state legislators are moms of minor children
• This is a 59.1% increase since 2022
• 630 more moms of minors are needed to achieve proportional representation nationwide
• 3 states have reached proportional representation of moms in state legislatures: California, Virginia, and Nevada

Having so many great organizations in one room gave panelists a great opportunity to discuss shared research, such as Vote Mama Foundation’s 2024 collaboration with New American Leaders. We also discussed the ways in which our organizations are meeting the challenges of the current political moment. For Vote Mama Foundation, safety and security among women in the office was a recurring talking point. We discussed our organization’s research that suggests that Campaign Funds for Childcare and Campaign Funds for Security are critical reforms that can make it easier for parents to run for office while keeping their children safe and cared for.

Our audience asked great questions, and it was nice to see so many familiar faces in the audience, including Dr. Michelle Irving from Penn State and Dr. Julia Marin Hellwege from the University of South Dakota, two scholars who are doing critical work on parenthood and politics. Thank you to everyone who attended!

In addition to presenting on our panel, Vote Mama Foundation had a great time catching up with former colleagues and scholars from Maria’s alma mater, Rutgers University, including those from the Political Science Women and Politics graduate program and the Eagleton Institute of Politics.

We had a great time at APSA and look forward to attending again next year!