State Voices

We’re not doing any endorsements for the primary…mostly because it runs up into issues of…we might have a male incumbent who is incredibly passionate about helping women and then you have a new challenger and it was like okay, then what kind of spot are we putting ourselves into? We can’t just support someone just because of one reason. There’s a whole multitude of things that are included in that, including ability to win the election."

Essentially [what] would happen is [Madigan’s people] would send [their circle of lobbyists] a list and say, ‘Here’s the people we want you to write checks to,’ besides the money you had to give to him. …Not that you had to give to every single person on that list…but that’s what they really wanted."

[Money] translates to access and, you know, not saying, oh, this is going to change the way that that person votes, but I could get in the room to tell them. And if you can’t even get your voice heard or your issue heard then there’s no influence."

I think women are hesitant to think they can even do this. And that makes me sad. …They think they don’t belong there. …[When you are in the state legislature,] you see a whole lot of white men."

Well, you know, when I ran for office I got lots of info on EMILY’s List and Sally’s List and those PACs that are really progressive and want you to vote their way and stuff like that. And there was never any group of women that said, ‘We’re so glad you’re running. We’d like to throw our support your way.’"

There are still challenges for women culturally in Oklahoma for varying reasons. …The culture of the ‘Bible Belt’ of Oklahoma might be just a natural deterrent for women running. That is not anything that is outwardly repressive [to women] but it is generally accepted among people within that demographic. …Many of the main religions do not promote women in high-ranking leadership positions."

I think that women are very accepted in the political circle. …I think that women are very well respected."

[Oklahoma’s political ecosystem] is still a good old boys’ club, very much. And I do think that the antithesis of that is needed. …You still have the thing that somebody thinks you are an assistant. That happened to me when I first got elected. Someone called my office – I happened to pick up the phone and they kept asking to speak to the senator and I couldn’t convince them that I was the senator and it was an agency head. And that stuff still happens. People in the elevators will still ask the female members who they work for. But the key is we are not going to change that until…we change the diversity and change the culture. That’s the symptom of the problem. It isn’t the problem. …It’s just [there are] not enough [women] to change it."

I will say I do think the most important [thing] is electing more women into office at all levels because the influence that I wield now I don’t have if I’m not a former elected official. So the only way to have more former elected officials that can speak their mind and hold positions and have that influence on the outside is to have the women on the inside. …It’s very much one comes before the other. …So I really do think the priority continues to be to increase [women’s] elected representation at all levels."

With the growing Asian American population here [in Georgia]…it has sparked a lot of interest in that community for me to run [for office]. It has also sparked an interest [from] Asian American females that are younger. A lot of the younger generation, a lot of high school students reached out to me when I was running just to say, ‘Oh my God, I haven’t really seen an Asian American female run for office or take that kind of leadership role in my community, and I want to learn more because I want to do this and I want to do that in the future, and how did you get there?’ …It made me realize that we needed this for a long time. …Hopefully I can be the first but of many that are going to come after me. [Interview conducted in February 2022 before Hong was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in November 2022.]"

There are traditional roles that women play all over the world but here, as well, in terms of mothering, parenting, eldercare, [and] sometimes breadwinning, that we don’t see a path to being able to hold up the whole fort altogether [if we run for office]. So I think those are very personal barriers that are constructed…that we have to get over."

I believe from what I have experienced and seen here [in Northwestern Pennsylvania], you need the local support. You need some local women that other women know, who they trust, and who they have faith in, [that] would come forward and support them. And that’s why we’re going to create something locally here."