State Voices

The party tends to say it wants more women to be involved. However, sometimes it seems like they are more interested in taking an active role in supporting women if it’s a closely contested race. [Interview conducted in May 2022.]"

I was trying to recruit in places like State College, where Corman is. I was recruiting women activists, women community activists. I got knocked down by the men. They didn’t want it. And we did not do well. That was 2008. …That was my experience. It’s better now."

I have hope with Joanna [McClinton]. I hope, I hope. She is a good strong leader and is successful and can motivate more women to run and we pick up more seats. [Interview conducted in May 2022.]"

I think that that feeling of belonging to this network of women who are interested in some of same things you are has really been tremendous. And I think it’s real. …When we do the interviews [for Emerge Pennsylvania], it’s one of the things that people mention that they are looking for because one of the questions is, ‘What are you looking for?’ And a lot of them have heard about the network and that it’s a cohort. And if they’ve gotten recommendations from people who have gone through the program, I think that they rely on that. So I think that is actually really helpful because actually being an elected representative or being a candidate, you have to make a lot of decisions on your own. I mean, you have a lot of people out there helping you but it just seems to be a good thing to have other people who are in the same situation or who can give you an ear and just listen. You’re having a bad day, you know, sharing that is, I think, helpful."

I mean, when I first got here [to the legislature] I thought it was the stone ages. I almost – I was very shocked. …And I do believe we came a little way, but we’re so far off. [Interview conducted in February 2022.]"

The men [legislators] always congregated, before COVID, in the cafeteria. And we would laugh and we would be like, ‘What they talking about?’ So we started meeting on Mondays and just sit in the cafeteria, all women, and just talk about anything, we didn’t care, just to let them see that we’re part of the equation now."

I went to a…statewide meeting [of the state Democratic committee]…and I was really taken aback by…the lack of recognition that we really need to push women, both from the men and women who are in the party structure. So no, I don’t really see in this area the party doing much to get more women running. [Women] are doing it on their own. [Interview conducted in November 2021.]"

Power is having something that someone else wants and that you have the ability to either give or hold back. …In the political realm it’s usually resources, its voting blocs, its networks, access to other resources, or other votes."

I think you’re also fighting all the stereotypes of women. ‘Oh, they’re so emotional.’ ‘Oh…they just couldn’t handle it.’ [I] don’t want to be a point of validation to that. Yeah. But if you quit, you are confirming what they’re saying. I don’t want to be that, right? You don’t want to be…just another story of someone who just couldn’t handle it, even though they’ve created the entire situation to make you fail? Yes, yes, they have done this to you. And they poke you, and then they sit back as you respond, when there is really no response that would satisfy anybody."

It’s a whole other level of like, what do you have in common with the ruling good ol’ boys? …I don’t have that much in common with them because I’m not from a family of particularly conservative men, nor am I married to a conservative man. …So it’s not like I have that much experience being around white men that are particularly conservative, …but it’s still a level of commonality just given the cultural divides that exist going back hundreds of years between, in particular, white and Black Americans. …It’s still going to be easier for me at times to fit right in with the white guys than it would be for people of another race."

Let me tell you that the ones mobilizing, the ones organizing around the state in these communities are our women mostly. …If the ICE or the police have arrested the loved ones, they are the ones calling, mobilizing, organizing the community meetings. …Women are the ones moving the vote. …There are men, but the majority are women. They’re willing to take the stand."

In the last ten years I’ve seen more female pollsters, more female principals of firms,…[of] mail houses, women in digital spaces and creative spaces, not just doing finance. And I do think that was a major shout out that came out of the 2020 election of the lack of diversity in the consultant class – that if you looked to who the top earners were nationally, it was pretty much all white men. …Since that, in the last three or four years, I’ve seen a shift of more diversity in the space. But in terms of like, major [general consultants], female strategists, there’s not a lot of us. [Interview conducted in May 2023.]"