State Voices

I do think that more activists are now wanting their seat at the table. So I do think that also contributed to the influx [of women is] when you have people like [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] and Cori Bush and Lauren Underwood who were regular people, right? They were regular people that wanted to see change in their communities. So they ran and they won. I think that really spurred a totally new generation, you know."

I remember going to a specific party and offering to train any candidates they endorsed. And I was pretty much told, ‘You don’t have the expertise for this.’ And so…there was a She Can Win[-endorsed candidate] and there was a…party-endorsed candidate [and] our candidate won. And, you know, after that the party [asked me], ‘Do you want to sit on the advisory board? Like, how can we include you?’ And I never did. I never have been part of the state committee because that day rings true. And I knew just from that very brief interaction that I could not be accepted, right? My views and my thoughts were not accepted and they were going to try and make me conform. And I already knew the formula to [winning] so I didn’t really need them, per se."

White women [candidates] are typically introduced to higher-net-worth donors, [whereas] women of color don’t necessarily have that level of access to those high-net-worth donors."

Women of color need to be in all spaces that decisions are made, right? …Women need to be sitting on the paid boards. We need more women in unions, right? We need more women running corporate PACs. We need more women in those spaces. When you step out of your world and you look at the bigger sphere of influence, that’s where all the real influence comes. We need more women of color lawyers. We need more women of color judges. But we need more women in like those positions because once you get women in those positions they will make their own politicians. I’ve seen it done multiple, multiple times."

[A contributor to the increase in women’s political representation in Nevada is] also having our first female speaker go out and recruit other women, having the minority leader, Congresswoman Dina Titus, who kind of recruited me. Women go out and actually look for other women and give them opportunities, whether it’s a school board, a planning commission, the city council, or straight into [the] legislature."

When I term-limited out of the senate, I think we added it up – there was 170 years of institutional knowledge that left the chamber. That doesn’t do the next generation of legislators any good. There is no one there to show them, ‘Okay, this group has tried to do this four different times. They are going to try again’ because, guess what – there’s nobody in the chamber that heard this argument before. …I finally really got good at my job at about five years [in],…[to the] point where I could really do it well and could see a problem coming down the road at me, and now I’m being told, ‘Well, you know what, we’re forcibly retiring you.’ And I think forced retirements are wrong and that’s what term limits are – forced retirements."

I think one of the things that has to be taken into consideration when we talk about women running for office and people of color [running for office], a lot of these offices do not pay enough to live off of. A lot of people have to make the choice of – I need my full-time job, I’ve got to feed my kids, especially if they are a single parent. So luckily we have some folks who have the resources and/or a spouse or are able to do some of these things. But that’s one of the things that we really haven’t talked about but I think had a lot to do with folks in different job classifications being able to actually run for an office because they couldn’t afford to not have a paycheck for two full months. Because when we go up [to the legislature], it’s 120-day sessions, and we get paid for 60. You go 60 days without a paycheck, and you’ve got to have the kind of job that’s protected so you get it when you come back. So if you don’t have a union job or a good contract or an excellent relationship with your employer, running for office could mean you just fired yourself, in essence, from your job. …I was very lucky to have a husband that made a decent living, even though my first session put us in a huge hole because I didn’t realize how poorly I was going to be paid. When a coffee shop waitress makes more than a state senator, you need to rethink some of this, okay? I mean, really, honestly."

The fact that we have a part-time legislature and people cannot make a living doing it and you have to leave your family behind and move away [and] not get paid for two months. That is a significant barrier to the types of folks that we want [that will] bring [their] life experiences to the legislature. We need people from all different walks of life. And if you are not retired or have a spouse or [are] financially set, it can be very, very difficult. And even some of the guys talk about how it really put a dent in their career path and changed jobs a number of times. …I mean not being able to have the consistency to be able to build a career in the time of your life – in your mid 30s and 40s – when you should be building that career [is a challenge], and that goes to both men and women. But I think it’s even harder on women because you have [to] struggle more to actually climb those rungs of the ladder to build a career in that timeframe so that you are set when you get into [your] 50s and you can be at the top of the ladder."

It’s still true that the most lucrative professions are disproportionately white and male. …So I think there’s a real challenge for women, partly because of the professions we’re in, partly because of the networks that we’re a part of, and having sort of the economic foundation to run for office. And I keep putting [the] emphasis on money but we’re at a point in our history in which money is more important than ever [in elections]. …And we’re moving to a time in which only people of considerable personal wealth can run for the highest offices in the country, whether that’s governor or senator or president. And I think that’s a threat to our democracy."

And for a woman lobbyist, if you have a giant contract and you have these clients who are willing to give the donations and you’re able to direct them – which is normally what you’re trying to do – then you have influence."

I feel the culture is fairly good once you get [to the state legislature]. I really do. I felt like people worked with me. I felt like I was able to get things done. Certainly I had setbacks but it was more the idea than the fact of my gender or anything. …I feel like we [women] got leadership opportunities. We got our bills heard. I feel like once you’re there it’s a pretty good atmosphere for women and for minorities. …I think the challenge is getting women and minorities to even run, to think it’s a place for them."

The impression is that all of these groups that are out there now are all focused on Democrats and run by Democrats that are particularly excluding Republicans and conservative Republicans. They might invite some of the [Republican] women, but the women are…much, much more moderate and they are not necessarily focused on getting Republicans elected. [Interview conducted in February 2022.]"