By Tom Coyne, Associated Press – Even without Senate and congressional seats up for grabs, 2011 could turn out to be a landmark election year for Indiana women.

Indianapolis, Fort Wayne and Gary could get their first women mayors in the Nov. 8 elections, breaking a political glass ceiling that has been slow to shatter.

“I think it’s a sign of the times, or a sign of the changing times, that voters in Indiana are quite accepting of women as mayoral candidates and as mayors,” said Andrew Downs, director of the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne.

Nationwide, the number of women elected in office remains low. Of the 1,167 mayors of U.S. cities with populations of more than 30,000, only 203 — or 17.4 percent — are women, said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.

The numbers in Indiana are even worse. Only 11 of the state’s 119 cities — or 9.2 percent — have female mayors. Four years ago, 27 mayoral races in the state had at least one female mayoral candidate.

The numbers are up slightly this year. Thirty-one cities have at least one female candidate and three — Columbus, Warrick and Montpelier — have female candidates representing both major political parties, according to Kristin Garvey, executive director of the Indiana Commission for Women.

Freeman-Wilson is no stranger to politics. She was defeated in the attorney general’s race in 2000 after being appointed to the position nine months earlier. She also ran for Gary mayor in 2003 and 2007