State Voices

I think that when women take charge, they start building their own team [of] their own that serves them, serves a greater mission, [and] it makes the larger institution uncomfortable. And people don’t like being uncomfortable. …So what do people do when they’re uncomfortable? They either reject it or they try to shut it down or they just ignore it. Right? And so we have to get [to] a place where people are not uncomfortable with the idea of female leadership."

I think, yes, [women’s PACs and trainings] have value. They’re necessary. …But I also think they…can’t be standalone. As long as they’re always standalone and they’re segregated away from the main party apparatus, it will be treated as such. …The party needs to find a way to…welcome in those folks so it becomes a part of the natural party apparatus. And I think it’s just important for men to listen in. …The only way you’re going to learn and change is if you learn from different perspectives, right? And so I feel like integration on some level [is necessary]. We should always have our own space, for sure. …I’m not discrediting that. But if we want to be able to be successful in the space that already exists, we need to learn how to integrate into it. How else can we take it over?"

I think that people are recruiting women and more people of color…because they feel like they have to, not because they want to, particularly in Democratic circles because we’re supposed to be the party of inclusion. [This] goes back to that conversation of the type of person that they’re going to recruit – it so happens to be a woman or so happens to be of color, or so happens to [check] some sort of diversity box. And so I think until that changes, we’re going to always have this tension of doing just enough versus exceeding."

I think that [the good old boys’ culture in the state legislature is] something that you have to be cognizant of, and then I think you can, I hate to say it, kind of play into it a little bit. …If you know how to talk to Georgia football, you’re going to be more than okay at the Capitol. And so, you know, I think just kind of being cognizant of that and then understanding how you can [not only] move within it but how can you move it and use it to your advantage. And then, obviously, the parts that don’t work for you, just kind of leave it alone or stay away from it."

I think that there’s just this wave of old mentality going out the door [about women and political leadership]. I don’t know if it was a light switch that clicked on and everybody thought, ‘Let’s try women.’ I think that over time it’s a toggle. It just has evolved more than anything else."

I’m still focusing on staff at this point. I don’t have children, don’t want children, but I would always observe that I just have no idea how somebody could be on staff and have children. So I think that’s also a disincentive for somebody to rise to those levels as well. And it is still what it is just like everywhere else – women still carry most of the burden on childcare responsibilities, and I just don’t see how you could be a director or chief of staff and have kids as a woman."

I think it becomes a political equation, and what’s the demographics of the person that’s going to be the best candidate in a particular area? So happily, in a lot of cases, that’s a woman which I think is representative of a much bigger culture change in a community. You know, in a lot of instances, …it’s not because…we want female inclusion and we want to have diverse voices and blah, blah. It’s because they’re going to get here and they’re going to be a member of our caucus and support the values that we support. …[It’s] not purely altruistic."

I’ll also say that Nevada is very schizophrenic. While you have opportunities for women in the legislature, this is probably one of the most sexist cultures of any state. You’ve got showgirls,…you’ve got gaming where very few women are engaged. [It] is still a cowboy culture, not a cowgirl culture."

I think you have to have that intentionality, if you will, to be mindful of [putting women in strategic practitioner roles]. Now, look, I’m a Republican, and I believe we’re in a meritocracy and that the best person should get the job. But it’s foreign to me to believe that…there’s just no women that are qualified to [be in strategic campaign leadership]. Of course there are. …I don’t want to have a Rooney rule in politics, but we ought to at least interview more women for these jobs, give them shots at the jobs. And then you know, if a man is better, obviously, you want the most competent folks you can. But I think just giving them the opportunities to interview for those jobs would be a huge step forward. And something, again, I tried to do on campaigns that I’m involved in much more [is] intentionally over the last few years."

I think there’s a [party] realignment going on, not just here [in Georgia] but all over the country. And I think that one of the things that has enabled Democrats…to take advantage of that…is that women who are candidates are able to tap into that realignment in a way that your sort of a traditional Democratic candidate who’s not a woman probably does not tap into. That was my thesis in ‘18 and I think it remains true. I think that’s part of what you’re seeing [with the increase in women’s political representation]. [Interview conducted in March 2023.]"

Democrats as a party have done a better job providing opportunities for [women] and had been more intentional about trying to make sure that we were recruiting, providing the support for, for women to run for office than Republicans. Now I think Republicans are…doing better. …My observation was that in their recruiting [in 2022] that they were trying to field more women candidates in the suburban seats because they understand that it projects better for their party brand to voters who might have historically voted for Republican candidates, but defected to the Democratic camp post-Trump. And I think that they’ll probably continue to do that. [Interview conducted in March 2023.]"

For me, if I had the ability to hand pick a candidate for a generic house race [in 2018], I wanted a woman on the ballot. And part of the reason was because it was just that what was happening on the macro level, if you will, that women just presented the right foil for President Trump, for what the Georgia Republicans were doing in the state house. We wanted candidates who had empathy and that voters could look at and just do the side-by-side comparison. And then they’re processing that without anybody saying anything. …You don’t have to say a word. Right. All of this is baked in."