Amanda Edwards, a former Democratic member of the Houston City Council who announced in 2019 she is running for U.S. Senate, and shares Mr. Buttigieg’s birthday. Not getting as much traction as I wanted in the area of transit in the city of Houston. We’re adding 4.2 million people to our eight county region and we have not added the resources I would like to see.

Image Jasmine Clark

Georgia House of Representatives

Elected with 10,877 votes

Would you have kids in public office? If you already do, what is the balance of work and child care like for you?

Pete Buttigieg, asked by Jake Tapper whether he wants to start a family in the White House:

I don’t see why not. It wouldn’t be the first time that children have arrived to a first couple, but obviously that’s a conversation I had better have with Chasten before I go into it too much on television.

Jasmine Clark: Balancing child care is one of the things that keeps me up at night the most as a legislator. It’s not just as a legislator, it’s as a working mom. What I find is the lack of a real schedule as a legislator makes child care difficult. In Georgia, on the first day we adjourn and they tell us we’re coming back tomorrow. And then the next day. But there’s no schedule, so it’s difficult to plan out things way far in advance. Some days we leave the capitol at noon and some days at 8 p.m. The traditional child care setting is closed by 6 p.m.

Jessica Hembree: Honoring my obligations to our school without cannibalizing or compromising my obligations to my own family is one of the hardest balances to walk. I’ve set up strict parameters, like I will only do two activities a week that take me away from time with my kids. I think if a man set those kinds of boundaries it would be seen as admirable, but as a woman I know they’re not perceived the same way.

Nicole Frethem: I mean, child care was one of the big policy things I wanted to do more to invest in, especially in our family child care providers which in Minnesota are licensed by the county agencies I would oversee as a commissioner. It’s both personal and professional and political for me to talk about child care. The first day after getting sworn in, I had meetings and my daughter was recovering from a little stomach bug and couldn’t go back to day care quite yet so I brought her into the office with me.

Jocabed Marquez: I have a nine-year-old. The thing that makes it difficult for me is I’m currently alone in Texas with my daughter. My husband is in Florida, he works for NASA. He accepted that position, then I got elected and I couldn’t be like ‘hey voters, you all voted for me, bye.’ I have a lot of evening meetings and council sometimes goes from 3 p.m. to 12 a.m. and it’s really difficult to balance. My daughter’s like ‘you always drag me to meetings, I want to do something fun.’