State Voices

I think we’re doing our best – myself, Josina, other women of color – we’re doing our best to help bring in other women of color. …We’re trying our best to get other women of color involved and plugged into this informal network of other women and making sure we support and continue to foster the love of public service and politics and outreach and organizing. …And we’re going to need to, even myself, [to] make space for those people to bring in their experiences and their issues and so they can solve other issues that maybe I did not experience but that they are more in touch with. So just continuing that cycle of inclusiveness and just bringing other people in. I think that will also help us build up more women of color in politics."

You know, sometimes we celebrate getting there because it’s so important to be there, right? But when you get there and when you’re in that space it can really cause you to shrink if you don’t have the development that you need. You can shrink. … And that is what oppression seeks to do. It seeks to wear you down."

I look at how Black and brown and marginalized voters have begun to lean into their power and to fight back. …Whether that is through direct action, whether that is through advocacy…through voting."

The biggest source of power that I see is with the Clark County Commission quite frankly. I think they have even more power and certainly more money than the state. And they fund almost everything that we’re talking about and then some. …They’re able to lobby and direct the way in which legislative efforts are made at the state level…because they fund so many things. They have an enormous amount of influence and power."

It sucks that we have to [build a support infrastructure for women] this way…this underpaid, no pay, volunteer movement of women. But I think that’s the history, so I guess we just have to keep pushing."

I think more women are getting involved from the Republican side than perhaps used to be the case. So I think naturally the numbers will continue to grow. I would never want anybody to cast a vote for me just because I was a woman or for anybody else."

I think it’s getting friendlier all the time [for women in Oklahoma politics]. I’m definitely in a minority but I don’t see any differences in the way I’m treated or the opportunities I have than my male counterparts. I have the benefit of being in [legislative] leadership and I think all those opportunities are open to women."

I’ve been in the Senate for 12 years and have become one of the highest-ranking Republican women within the state. Throughout that entire time, we’ve talked about what needs to be done to get more women into the party. My female colleagues and I have articulated suggestions to accomplish that goal. However, it can be frustrating at times to see the pace at which real positive change happens. [Interview conducted in May 2022.]"

We’re always fighting to have that voice at the table, and some are more successful than others. [Interview conducted in May 2022.]"

We need to see more women in the campaign arena as well, not just as the ones running for office but as those helping and leading the ones running for office."

I think there has been an awakening of women to say if not now, when? And why not me? …We’ve kind of relinquished the fact that we needed somebody else’s permission to have a seat at the table. …We started to mobilize and more women realized that our representation and the issues that mattered most to us were being controlled by men and particularly white men."

We need to make sure…that the infrastructure is in place so that when a woman runs…they are supported not just politically but financially, emotionally, relationally. These things have to be in place…in order for a woman legislator to be successful."