State Voices

I think there’s still a limited acceptance of what Black women bring to the table. I think they are still seen as women who bring issues to the table that the broader political group doesn’t want. But if you are not completely in bed with this group or in alignment with this, that they just see you as an obstacle to what they want. And they actually see a Black woman that has freedom to think and [to be an] independent thinker as a threat."

If they are conservative women and they are on the campaign trail, I think they get…significantly more questions about their role in their family, how will [being an elected official] take them away from their family, because they are usually speaking about family responsibilities and family traditional values in a lot of ways that can go back to families."

I think a lot of our conservative women aren’t confident in some of the national organizations [for women in politics] as truly being nonpartisan. I think there’s a little skepticism that they are really more encouraging Democratic women, so that hasn’t always come to fruition of a lot of help."

I do think that the fact that there [are] role models out there, there are other women that have done this, [has contributed to the gains in women’s political representation]. …I was always encouraged to and happy to talk to other women and get them involved."

I do think it is harder for women – and this is a gross generalization, of course – but just their role with family and particularly if there [are] kids involved, it’s really hard to be away from home three or four days a week. …You have to be really fortunate to be in a situation where you can pull that off."

[Legislative leaders] have a lot of ability to impact when hearings are [and] things like that. [They set] the whole tone of what’s permissible [which] I do think…is really critical in terms of not ending up with a so-called toxic environment. …That’s why I think it’s important to get women elevated beyond just membership in the body."

In Nevada, most of [the increase in women’s political representation] can be attributed to the leadership. I mean, in Nevada in legislative politics, the leadership have [an] outsized role in recruiting, supporting, [and] mentoring the newly-elected representatives. And on the Democratic side, I was mentored by the speaker [and] by the majority leader, from the very beginning. …I was given opportunities to succeed and I did. And then it led to me being appointed leader. And I certainly recruited women, and then the women I recruited recruited women. And so it was part of a culture. It was part of the culture to get the best candidate, too. Not just any individual based on gender, but who shows an outstanding work ethic? Who can get things done? Who has a great profile? And it just was natural for us."

I also think the electorate has shown that they trust women more. No offense to my male friends, but I think you are seeing that. We see that, particularly in judge races here in Pennsylvania, female candidates perform better."

We have to say, and we believe it, that we don’t want women for the sake of women. We want good women and we want them to be effective leaders once they’re there because otherwise it doesn’t do us any good. But also, and this was the part that I understand why the left pushes on the numbers game so much more…But for us [as Republicans], the hard part is…it’s not just the women for the sake of women because we’re pushing against this identity politics stuff on our side, but also coming back and reminding that these are actually important positions. It’s not just like we just need women there to [be] figureheads. These are important positions [where people] are voting on matters that impact communities. …It’s not just putting someone up there so [her] face [is] on a poster for little girls. I mean, that’s great but it does matter who are in these positions. And so the trick of this work is…trying to find those folks that are going to be those effective leaders that are both good because they are who they are but then also good because they bring a different voice to the table."

I think the impediment [to women in politics] is…the lack of binders. …[Romney] was ahead of his time and he got persecuted for it. I err on the side that it’s not that people don’t want women, or that…there’s a conspiracy against women. But I do think that this is the good old boy network piece. It’s not [that] they’re, again, going with the good old boys versus the women. I think it’s easier to go with who’s in your network, who you can trust, you already have a relationship with, or that they can raise money and they are [a known commodity], whatever it is. It’s so much easier to just go [with] whoever’s in your circle. And if you haven’t built your circle to include other options – women, diverse candidates, fill in the blank – then you really do have to do work to go find those leaders and elevate them up and it requires work."

Once term limits really started kicking in [in the Nevada legislature], if you go to the Clark County Commission you will notice, if you look at the pictures over the years, we’ve gone from it being [a] female-majority now to only one woman in there. It’s almost all white men. …The men in our state migrated down to the county and the city levels because those are full time, so openings came up within the legislature. [Interview conducted in November 2021.]"

I think both of the political parties have recruited women when they thought it was going to be in the party’s best interest. …I haven’t really seen the concerted effort to really build the pipeline until, especially after 2010 and I think again it relates to redistricting. …And so if you ran a person of color, if you ran a woman, the national media showed up, it was a big hoopla, and you might then be able to overcome the way the districts have been rigged against you."