Vermont’s Legislature will look a little more like the population it represents when it convenes next month. The House and Senate still will be dominated by white men. But the new class of lawmakers elected last month is more diverse than the one that’s departing.
One-third of senators and one-third of state representatives will be women. Additionally, there will be four gay men in the House and one in the Senate. The number of racial minorities will remain unchanged at three.
The Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University compiles figures for every legislature in the country. It ranked Vermont’s incoming Legislature fifth best in the nation for representation of women, based on percentage.