diff --git a/python/ray/experimental/state.py b/python/ray/experimental/state.py
index 522226951..72b3956d8 100644
--- a/python/ray/experimental/state.py
+++ b/python/ray/experimental/state.py
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ class GlobalState(object):
     def __init__(self):
         """Create a GlobalState object."""
         self.redis_client = None
+        self.redis_clients = None
 
     def _check_connected(self):
         """Check that the object has been initialized before it is used.
@@ -69,32 +70,65 @@ class GlobalState(object):
             raise Exception("The ray.global_state API cannot be used before "
                             "ray.init has been called.")
 
-    def _initialize_global_state(self, redis_ip_address, redis_port):
+        if self.redis_clients is None:
+            raise Exception("The ray.global_state API cannot be used before "
+                            "ray.init has been called.")
+
+    def _initialize_global_state(self, redis_ip_address, redis_port,
+                                 timeout=20):
         """Initialize the GlobalState object by connecting to Redis.
 
+        It's possible that certain keys in Redis may not have been fully
+        populated yet. In this case, we will retry this method until they have
+        been populated or we exceed a timeout.
+
         Args:
             redis_ip_address: The IP address of the node that the Redis server
                 lives on.
             redis_port: The port that the Redis server is listening on.
+            timeout: The maximum amount of time (in seconds) that we should
+                wait for the keys in Redis to be populated.
         """
         self.redis_client = redis.StrictRedis(host=redis_ip_address,
                                               port=redis_port)
+
+        start_time = time.time()
+
+        num_redis_shards = None
+        ip_address_ports = []
+
+        while time.time() - start_time < timeout:
+            # Attempt to get the number of Redis shards.
+            num_redis_shards = self.redis_client.get("NumRedisShards")
+            if num_redis_shards is None:
+                print("Waiting longer for NumRedisShards to be populated.")
+                time.sleep(1)
+                continue
+            num_redis_shards = int(num_redis_shards)
+            if (num_redis_shards < 1):
+                raise Exception("Expected at least one Redis shard, found "
+                                "{}.".format(num_redis_shards))
+
+            # Attempt to get all of the Redis shards.
+            ip_address_ports = self.redis_client.lrange("RedisShards", start=0,
+                                                        end=-1)
+            if len(ip_address_ports) != num_redis_shards:
+                print("Waiting longer for RedisShards to be populated.")
+                time.sleep(1)
+                continue
+
+            # If we got here then we successfully got all of the information.
+            break
+
+        # Check to see if we timed out.
+        if time.time() - start_time >= timeout:
+            raise Exception("Timed out while attempting to initialize the "
+                            "global state. num_redis_shards = {}, "
+                            "ip_address_ports = {}"
+                            .format(num_redis_shards, ip_address_ports))
+
+        # Get the rest of the information.
         self.redis_clients = []
-        num_redis_shards = self.redis_client.get("NumRedisShards")
-        if num_redis_shards is None:
-            raise Exception("No entry found for NumRedisShards")
-        num_redis_shards = int(num_redis_shards)
-        if (num_redis_shards < 1):
-            raise Exception("Expected at least one Redis shard, found "
-                            "{}.".format(num_redis_shards))
-
-        ip_address_ports = self.redis_client.lrange("RedisShards", start=0,
-                                                    end=-1)
-        if len(ip_address_ports) != num_redis_shards:
-            raise Exception("Expected {} Redis shard addresses, found "
-                            "{}".format(num_redis_shards,
-                                        len(ip_address_ports)))
-
         for ip_address_port in ip_address_ports:
             shard_address, shard_port = ip_address_port.split(b":")
             self.redis_clients.append(redis.StrictRedis(host=shard_address,