North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall believes her 1996 victory over NASCAR legend Richard Petty provided a path for other female political hopefuls looking to advance to Victory Lane at the top tier of state government.

“Nobody ... thought that I could do it,” said Marshall, the first woman elected to a statewide, nonjudicial office in North Carolina. “Without seeing some real examples, it’s only wishful thinking.”

No longer. Marshall is one of four women on the Council of State, comprised of the 10 statewide elected executive branch positions. And parity could soon come: five of the Democratic candidates for the offices this year are women, and a sixth is possible following a primary runoff. All 10 of the positions are up for election in November.

Add to it that the U.S. Senate race between Republican Elizabeth Dole and Democrat Kay Hagan, and Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue’s bid for governor, the November election could be a watershed moment for women in North Carolina politics.

“We love it. We think it’s a great year for women,” said Carol Teal, executive director of Lillian’s List of North Carolina, a group that supports female Democratic legislative candidates. “You are starting to see the results of women starting to see role models in these leadership positions.”

The percentage of women holding office has risen nationwide in the past 30 years. In state legislatures, almost 24 percent of seats are held by women, compared to 10 percent in 1979, according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. Among statewide elected offices, the percentage has more than doubled.

North Carolina took a while to catch up with the trend.

In 1995, no statewide elected officials, aside from judicial posts, were women while 17 percent of state lawmakers were female. Today, a record one-quarter of the members of the 170-seat Legislature are women.

Janet Cowell, a state senator from Wake County who defeated two male candidates to win the Democratic primary for state treasurer, said the increase is the natural result of women who have worked as neighborhood advocates and started out in politics by serving on local boards and commissions.

“We’ve had women really getting involved in politics in the ’70s and ’80s and those women are moving up,” said Cowell, a former member of the Raleigh city council. “It just reflects that it takes some time for that bench strength to evolve.”

Elsewhere on the Council of State, Perdue defeated Richard Moore in the Democratic gubernatorial primary; incumbent Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson won her Democratic primary over Eddie Davis, president of the N.C. Association of Educators; and Beth Wood defeated Fred Aikens in the party’s primary for state auditor.

Mary Fant Donnan finished first in a four-way race for labor commissioner, but she failed to get the more than 40 percent needed to avoid a runoff and will face second-place finisher John Brooks on June 24. The winner will take on another woman — GOP commissioner Cherie Berry.

The other five Democratic women will face male GOP candidates in November.

“I think it’s great when we have highly qualified, talented people willing to run for statewide office,” said Rep. Deborah Ross, D-Wake. “I’m looking forward to the day when people don’t think it’s remarkable that a woman is running.”

When they do run, women have had a great deal of success in recent years. Before this month’s primary, there had been 17 statewide races since 2000 in which there was one female candidate and one male candidate. The woman won in 14 of the races.