State Voices

[The Illinois Institute for Women’s Leadership] is a woman’s organization, right? So the conversation of what someone might experience on the campaign trail or…as an elected official – in having this network, this safety area where you can have open and real conversations with leaders and how to address [it] when these serious issues arise is important. And we spend a good amount of time talking because you do need that place to have conversations that are real, to find solutions that are real."

One of the greatest things I love about being a legislator is that when I walk through the halls and there are youth in the building, how they get overwhelmed to see someone that looks like them and can relate to them."

There are times where legislators are labeled as…we’re 100% policy makers and legislators should not be activists or advocates. I tend to disagree. I don’t think that it’s an either/or. I happen to be an advocate that likes policy, so if my boots are not on the ground and my ear is not to grassroots organizations and building collaborative partnerships, how do I know what your needs are and [how] policy should be written?"

When you talk about racist tendencies or bias or gender discrimination, …this is something that’s behavioral. It’s learned and it’s accepted. You can stop this. You have a climate [in the Georgia State Legislature] where there are predominately white men that make the decisions. So again, [it] is this stereotype that we should know our place. Well, our place is that I was elected. So my place is under the Georgia Gold Dome. That’s my place. And my place is wherever I show up and wherever my voice needs to be heard and the work needs to be done."

I’m going to be honest. I never saw the party help men more than women because they were men. If there was a strong candidate, they were going to support him. I still go back to, after 13 years, it’s just that women don’t consider running. And I think a lot of times, too, it’s the sandwich generation…and I think that [for] men it’s just not a consideration like it is with women on those things."

I’ve had people say to me, ‘Wow, look at all these record number of women,’ and I’m like, ‘That’s great. But I’m not sure [former House Speaker] Michael Madigan is [recruiting women] because he feels like this is the right thing to do.’ This is how we win. And I respect that as well. But that is a different kind of conversation and coming from a very different place."

I spent a good majority of my career…as a staffer…trying to change the trajectory for the generations that were coming behind me so they didn’t have the same lived experience that I had – again, the gun violence, the having to travel an hour outside of my community to access a quality education. And I really worked to move that needle, and I was able to accomplish some things while I was there. …We were able to accomplish a lot while I was working for the councilman. And I realized when the seat became available for the 192nd [legislative district] that I can have a greater impact representing this district [at] the state level. One, because we have access to more resources in the state, so that’s more investment that we’re able to make, but then also I realized that so many things that we’re trying to change in Philadelphia, so many things that we’re trying to change in our different communities and neighborhoods, we can’t change them or we don’t have the resources to do it [at] the city level. And when you go up to the state [level], you have the opportunity to make a great impact. …So that’s one of the reasons why I really ran for office. …I believe I can make a greater impact running on the state level for the communities that I serve."

Being able to tap into different networks that are non-traditional but networks in themselves…is going to be the key to expanding the bench of more Black women in public office. But then also, again, we are ourselves supporting other Black women as they are running too. …Once you get into the door you have to open the door for the next one and then the next. And for us we have to keep building a network that will specifically support Black women because, again, you can rely on the Democratic Party but when you look at my colleague Summer Lee, again, you have to be ready to reinforce that infrastructure to get across the line. …For Congress we hosted a fundraiser for her out in Philadelphia. I mean we have nothing to do with a congressional member that is out in western PA, but to see her successful will be a story for Black women across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. …Being able to send the first Black woman to the United States Congress from Pennsylvania will be transformative. [Interview conducted in May 2022 before Lee was elected to Congress.]"

It was [women-led] organizations like [EMILY’s List and Represent PA] that helped me to lean in as a female candidate. So a lot of my mentors at the time were actually male. And, you know, it was always a conversation about just [being] the best candidate that’s offered to the public. But at that time and working with some of the female-led organizations, I realized as an African American female I have a different lived experience and I can bring a different conversation, a different narrative to political discourse and really have an impact on women across Philadelphia as well as the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. So I really want to attribute those groups that were extremely helpful."

I don’t think [Nevada not having a woman governor to date is] necessarily a male or a female thing. I just think its people feeling like that’s something that they should do. I mean I had a lot of people that [have] said, ‘Why don’t you run for governor?’ Well, it’s just – it isn’t anything that appealed to me. …I really do think that it’s not…a gender issue."

The Republican women don’t want to talk about this gender thing. They have a harder time with that."

Our [Senate president] pro tem makes everything about family. …Like with our Republican caucus meetings, for example, our spouses are welcome and our kids. It’s always…if we can’t do something as a family then we’re not going to do it."