The dominance of party organizations in campaigns declined in the 1960s and 1970s. Candidate-centered campaigns became the principal approaches for those seeking elective office, especially national positions. In recent decades, national party organizations have been reinvigorated, emerging once again as major players. They have been joined by other political organizations, including women's groups that recruit and train candidates and provide financial and logistical support to their campaigns. Contemporary electoral campaigns take place within a vibrant and complex organizational world, one that shapes women's quests for political leadership, whether in public office or within party organizations.

This chapter chronicles the historical development of women's involvement in the major political party organizations, considers their emergence as leaders within those organizations, and provides an overview of trends in party efforts to elect women to national office. It also offers a parallel narrative of the emergence and growth of women's organizations whose goal has been to recruit and support women candidates. Such organizational efforts have sometimes operated in tandem with party organizations but also often as independent and even challenging forces to the parties. An assessment of the current state of women's quests for political leadership from these organizational perspectives is woven into this narrative, with organizational activity in the 2012 election highlighted.