State Voices

My experience being on council as the only woman, I do find it to be difficult and challenging [and], at times, frustrating because there are things that I feel like happen that wouldn’t if I was a man or one of the boys. So I’m definitely cognizant of that and of my gender being on there."

From what I have seen the candidates that do well have been people that have been volunteering or supporting campaigns or been involved in these party spaces for many years. But then it makes it harder for people that haven’t done that level of party-affiliated work to be successful. And I’ve seen…so many times where we have a candidate that is a very authentic advocate for her community. She’s a woman of color, grew up in the district wanting to run for office and is in a primary against a white man who has been in the Democratic Party for ten years, serves as a leader in the party and, of course, he’s going to win that primary because no one knows this woman even though she’s a more authentic representative of the district, right? No one knows who she is. She can’t raise the money. She can’t get through the fray of election season. And so, of course, we end up with people who lose because they don’t have the notoriety of being through the party. So I think our vision [at Asian American Advocacy Fund] is very much [to] try to identify and cultivate more of those people that are those authentic representatives of their communities and give them a chance to actually fight in those sorts of situations where they may be fighting a party person for a primary."

I only had a two-week period in which I had to decide if I was going to run because, of course, the incumbent decided at the very last minute that he was retiring. And so it didn’t give me very much lead time to figure all this out. But in that two-week period I had to really think about [it]. ‘Does this even make sense for me to run, like all the logistical things? But also, am I going to get a lot of hatred? Am I going to get a lot of pushback because of who I am? Because of what I look like?’ But at the end of the day, the reason that pushed me was because Stacey Abrams was on the ballot that year. I said, ‘Okay, wow, we have a Black woman running at the top of the ticket. She’s running statewide to be governor of the state. So if she can run and if she can be that bold that she thinks that the voters of Georgia will support her to get there, then I should be able to run at least for my small little district seat.’ …It was so important to have her in that role because…if it wasn’t for her taking that bold step, I don’t think I would have made the decision as I had, regardless of everything else that had been presented to me."

I think over the last five years, [the increase in women’s political representation has] been sort of this movement that was propelled by the Trump effect. But also even before then, just having seen how so much of the organizing happens by women, especially in the spaces I operate in. They are very women-led. It’s no surprise to me that more and more people in elected office are women because they have been the ones doing the work for the last many years. [Interview conducted in January 2022.]"

Honestly, I think [providing financial support to women candidates is] a part of [the strategy to move the needle for women] but I don’t think that’s the end all be all…especially with campaign finance laws and things like that. A PAC like Georgia WIN List could only contribute $2,800 or something like that. So in the grand scheme of the campaign, $2,800 is great, an endorsement from Georgia WIN List is great. But I think the real support comes in with how much work can an organization do? Or how much work can a network of people do to actually help to get voters in that district to show up? Because I think that that’s what some people forget. …It’s not about getting the endorsements. It’s not about getting the money. It’s about actually getting the voters in that district to support this person. …I think obviously PACs and those organizations play an important role. I don’t think that alone is enough."

As far as where we are today, what kind of resources that [are] available [for women], I will have to say the Democrats I feel like have us beat on that. [Interview conducted in January 2022.]"

We got a lot of attention here in Nevada for having a majority-women legislature and I think that we need to go a little bit deeper there as well because…it’s not that influential to have a bunch of women in power if they are going to align themselves with patriarchy, and they are going to align themselves with status quo, and they are going to align themselves with mass incarceration and all of the things that are consistently impacting our community. So I don’t necessarily consider that power. What I consider to be a power is having people who are in alignment with the community and positioned with power."

Donors want to invest in people that they think are going to win. And donors don’t think women are going to win. …And so I think that is the biggest obstacle facing women, facing every candidate, really facing women is how do they convince the donor base that they can win."

I think the biggest challenges facing Native American, Black, and Hispanic women in the state have to do with just the lack of very many opportunities [in] any districts where they can truly be competitive. And from what I’ve been following in 2020 with the new districting that’s been going on in Oklahoma right now, it’s getting worse. …There just aren’t that many opportunities at the state level for districts that would have large, active, engaged minority populations to be competitive. [Interview conducted in January 2022.]"

I think local government is becoming more and more of an option for women in Oklahoma. …Most of the cities are nonpartisan. …I think there are people finding that maybe a state legislative race is out of reach because of the nature of the district. And so they are turning to opportunities that are more accessible maybe."

I think sometimes, too, as a Black woman or as a Native woman, thinking about going into rural spaces…it does give you pause because you don’t know…if you will be welcomed or what type of response people will have, whether they think that you don’t belong, you don’t know what you’re talking about, you don’t have the education or skills or whatever the case may be."

Thinking that there aren’t resources out there to help [is a hurdle to women running for office]. …A big part of the work that I’m doing with Sally’s List is to make sure that people know that this organization exists, that it’s free, and that this is the first place you can turn to if you are considering running. But I think it’s just that feeling of a lack of support. …It makes a hard thing even harder."