Governor Kim Reynolds and the woman she just appointed as lieutenant governor got similar — and not that uncommon — starts in politics. They ran after someone encouraged them to do so.
Reynolds often tells the story of how her husband, Kevin, encouraged her to run for Clarke County Treasurer in 1994 after she’d worked for the treasurer who was retiring.
“He listened to me go on and on for a while and he said: ‘I kind of see it this way: either you run for office and you make all of those changes you have been sharing with me the last couple of years or I don’t want to hear another thing about it,'” Reynolds said during a recent interview with Radio Iowa.
Lieutenant Governor Chris Cournoyer said her nudge to run for her local school board in 2013 came from a friend who’d watched her attend board meetings and question why the front door at her children’s’ elementary school was unlocked.
“I was a four-sport athlete in high school, so I got really competitive when I decided to run and ended up winning with 78% of the vote,” Cournoyer said. “…It wasn’t something I ever thought I would do, but the opportunity came up and I thought: ‘You know, if I’m upset about this I can either complain about it or I can get involved and do something about it.'”
Two Iowa State University political science professors say these are common stories. Karen Kedrowski is director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics.
“We hear over and over again that women who are running for public office will say: ‘I never thought I would run for public office, but,'” Kedrowski said. “…By contrast many men who enter politics are what we call intrinsically ambitious. They just sort of think: ‘I could do a good job. I’m interested in this. I’d like to serve my community, so I’m going to run for X,’ but it’s a very different dynamic for women.”
And ISU professor Kelly Winfrey oversees the university’s “Ready to Run” program and the female candidates — from both parties — who’ve participated amplify another point, that women often run to solve a problem. “A lot of times those are at more local level offices, so things like the school board,” Winfrey said, “which is where Lieutenant Governor Cournoyer started.”
Winfrey and Kedrowski made their comments during taping an “Iowa Press” episode taped this past week.t
women still view themselves as less qualified to run for office and often
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