While Black women are often called the backbone of American democracy, their journeys to political office remain understudied. When and Where They Enter offers a way to develop our understanding of the women transforming American politics. By focusing on state-level elections, it explores what motivates Black women to run for public office, the biases they navigate in the public eye, and the structural factors that help or hinder their path to victory.

By deliberately departing from traditional, single-axis models of political ambition, Jamil Scott-Cummings frames candidate emergence through an explicit intersectional lens, treating Black women’s political agency as a dynamic interplay between psychological motivations, institutional factors, personal characteristics, and race-gender bias. She introduces a new conceptual model that challenges standard strategic entry theories: the intentional candidacy framework. Incorporating experiments, observational data, and elite interviews, When and Where They Enter offers robust empirical evidence of how race-gender identity shapes modern electoral supply. An essential read for voters, changemakers, and future leaders, the book offers a roadmap for understanding identity, power, and the future of political representation in America.

Jamil S. Scott-Cummings is Assistant Professor of Government at Georgetown University.

Contents

List of Figures
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
Preface
1    Introduction
2    Defining Black Women’s Place in the Socio-Political Context
3    Why be intentional?: Engaging with Stereotypic Narratives of Black Women (Politicians and Candidates)
4    Let’s Talk About Money: How Campaign Finance Matters for Black Women’s Candidacies
5    Black Women in the State Level Context: Where They Run and When They Are Successful
6    Conclusion
A    Supplemental Information
B    Chapter 2 Supplementary Information
C    Chapter 3 Supplementary Information
D    Chapter 4 Supplementary Information
E    Chapter 5 Supplementary Information
References