



.

The statistics aren't good. According to recent estimates, women make up just under 20 percent of Congress and less than 25 percent of all state legislatures. Only six of our nation's governors are women. But we are 51 percent of the population. And the research shows that when women participate in government, we make it run better, more collaboratively. Historically, women have needed to be convinced to enter politics. But within weeks of the 2016 presidential election, thousands of women announced they plan to run. And we want them to win. So we're giving them a weekly example of a woman who has run and won. The point: You can, too.

Sen. Tina Smith represents Minnesota in the United States Senate. She was appointed in 2018, chosen to replace Al Franken, who left office amidst accusations of sexual misconduct. From 2015 to 2018, she was the Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota and has worked in politics for over two decades. She was previously the vice president of external affairs at Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Minnesota is now represented by two women in the Senate—Smith and Sen. Amy Klobuchar.

When I was a kid, I wanted to be a hairdresser. At the time, my mother was a school teacher, and my grandmother was the president of a small bank in a rural town in northern Indiana, which was very unusual for her era. I had these two very strong women as examples, and I wanted to be a hairdresser! That said, hairdressers can be quite strong, too. In all seriousness, what I remember most is not knowing what I wanted to be when I grew up, but I remember my parents telling me, "You can do anything you want to do. You can be anything you want to be." They never put any limits on me. In fact, growing up, I wished that they had given me a little bit more direction. But I came to realize that sense of freedom was special.



I went to college and majored in political science. I had a real interest in politics and public service and how public sector organizations could be made to run well. I went to business school and then went to work at General Mills. Eventually, I started my own little company. At this point, my kids were little; maybe one and three or something like that. I woke up one day and said, "Well, okay, here I am. I've got this little company. I living in this community. How do I connect into this community?"

I started to think about what my parents had taught me when I was young, about getting involved and making a contribution. I realized that there was a state legislative race that was unfolding in the district. And I just turned up. I showed up with my kids in a stroller and said, "How can I help?" I started out by knocking on doors and walking up and down the streets in my neighborhood and talking to my neighbors. I really loved that. We realized that there were a lot of apartment buildings in the district that no one paid much attention to. Everybody who knew what they were doing said, "Oh, there's no point in talking to those people. They're young. They don't vote. They don't own a house, so they don't really care what happens here." And we said, "Well, wait a minute. We ought to talk to them about this race." I put my kids in the car, and we went around and started to organize the apartment buildings in this suburban district of Minneapolis. We won that race with barely half a point difference.

I learned from that experience that organizing matters. Talking to people about what is happening in their own lives matters. I just loved it. It was the most fun I'd had in, you know, forever.

The truth is I think the lessons that I learned in that election are the lessons that we are still learning as a country. We're slow learners! If you go and really invite people to talk to you about their lives and you really listen to them, they will tell you what's happening. They will tell you, "I'm really worried about how I'm going to meet my rent payment, because I also have this huge school debt that I'm trying to pay off. I am working two part-time jobs and neither one of them offers health insurance. I don't know what to do."

Isn't that kind of a classic moment that every woman has had to cope with? I just said, "I should not be underestimated."

I think that women are often underestimated—our suggestions, our advice, our leadership style. I think one of the reasons that that happens is women are much less likely to blow their own horn and brag about everything that they’ve done. And so people don’t always take us as seriously as they should. That was really driven home to me when it was announced that I had been appointed to the Senate. I stood next to the governor, and it was this really incredible moment. I felt quite prepared to take the task on. Here I have a graduate degree, I ran my own business, I worked at General Mills, I’ve been a lieutenant governor, I’ve been the chief of staff for the governor, which is like COO for the whole state—34,000 people reported to me when I was chief of staff, and I was responsible for billions of dollars. One of the reporters looked at me and said, "So, do you think you'll be able to do this? How are you ever going to raise the money?" And isn't that kind of a classic moment that every woman has had to cope with? I just said, "I should not be underestimated."

Sen. Tina Smith (L) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (R). Getty Images

Luckily, it's been a really terrific experience to be in this role with my 21 women colleagues—Republicans and Democrats. There’s a real sense of sisterhood and support that I have so appreciated. We have a tradition of getting together for dinner once a month; one of us organizes a dinner and pulls it together so that we can just sort of let our hair down and have a chance to talk. Last time we did it, it was in the offices of Mazie Hirono from Hawaii and Mazie had all of us who were there fold origami cranes because she’s working on getting a thousand cranes folded, which is a sign of good luck and best wishes. There we were—it was me, Dianne Feinstein, Kamala Harris, Maggie Hassan, all in serious competition to figure out how to fold a perfect origami crane. Kamala was probably the best at it; she had the most muscle memory.

The Senate has a reputation as quite a collegial place, and I have found that to be true, especially with the women. I lived in Alaska in high school and junior high school, so I have gotten to know Lisa Murkowski from Alaska a little bit. We just have some shared experiences. So I turn to the women for advice a lot; not even on such big issues. On the small stuff. When it came time for the State of the Union, I just needed someone to tell me what to do! Where do I sit? When do I stand? The best piece of advice I got was to head to the left in the chamber, because then when the speech is over, it’ll be much easier to get out of there. Otherwise, you might get stuck and it will take you 45 minutes. It’s late by the time the speech is over. We’re all tired. We have homework to do! I wanted the fastest route out of there.

This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

Hi there, @politico – the name is Tina Smith, and I’m a U.S. Senator for the great state of Minnesota. #WomenRule https://t.co/TEZVre6ATm — Senator Tina Smith (@SenTinaSmith) March 7, 2018

To be in the Senate, it's a huge amount of work. And on top of that, I’m home in Minnesota every weekend, so the travel is also a lot. I'm constantly making sure that I have the right stuff in the right place, so that I don’t end up in Washington, D.C. with all of my socks in Minnesota and no mascara—which has happened to me. That's still a work-in-progress for me; where's the mascara?

Sen. Tina Smith (L) and Sen. Maggie Hassan (R). Getty Images

Because I was appointed to this seat, I need to run in November of this year and then I need to run again in November of 2020. The election in November is a special election that will allow me to complete this senate term, so I am both learning how to be the best senator that I can be and assembling the best political team so that I can continue to do this work.

I'm thinking about the same issues that Minnesotans are thinking about: What are they doing to do about the fact that their healthcare costs are going up so astronomically? Are their kids going to be able to go to a good school and how will they pay for college? That's where I'm focused. But at the same time, I know it’s been a tough moment for the people of the state. Al Franken was a real champion for Minnesota, and he was also a friend of mine. He still is a friend of mine, but we are in the middle of a big and important conversation about women and our workplaces. It's a shift, and it's on people's minds. I try to be conscious of that.

The bottom line is wherever you work, whether you work in the United States Senate or whether you are a maid in a hotel, you should feel safe. There has to be excellent policies in place so that sexual harassment can be minimized, and there has to be people to speak to about what happens if something does. This isn't an issue that is going away, and women are demanding the respect they deserve.

This interview has been edited and condensed.



Mattie Kahn Mattie Kahn is a writer who lives in New York.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io