Four female Democrats in Daviess County have been campaigning as a unit. Now, as the election approaches, the team reflects on the impact their approach has made so far.
More than two years of planning began taking its final shape in January, when four Daviess County women announced their campaigns for the Kentucky Legislature.
The group of Democrats call themselves the “Sister Slate.”
These women are running separate races but making their case together as each seeks office for the first time.
Vicki Quisenberry is running for the District 8 seat in the state senate against Republican incumbent Gary Boswell. She was known to the Owensboro community as a local nonprofit leader long before she announced her candidacy. She said the group wanted a layered approach, having candidates from different backgrounds, with different ideas and perspectives.
“One of the things that we did when we started putting candidates together is to come up with a support system. To find people who were willing to pitch in and work on campaigns,” Quisenberry said.
Quisenberry says about 60 people are working as campaign staffers to support the four candidates.
Larry Miller, chair of the Daviess County Democratic Party, said finding an all female slate wasn’t the intention, but that each candidate showed potential.
“It emerged that these four women were the strongest candidates coming forward. As I say, two years in the works,” Miller said. “And now I think we have the strongest slate of candidates I can remember in a long time.”
The group said that when building their slate, it wasn’t just important that they find passionate and strong individual candidates, it was important that they built a united front that could lift up one another's campaigns.
Laurie Campbell is a former public school educator running in House District 7 against Republican incumbent Suzanne Miles. She said each of the candidates have a long history in community service. Campbell feels this helps them understand Daviess County community needs on a personal level.
“None of us are career politicians. It’s a two-year term, for Vicki a little longer, but it’s not meant to be a career. We feel like we bring to the table all of our background experience to be able to serve in yet a different manner,” Campbell said.
Donna Haynes has worked around politics for most of her career, serving as a longtime labor advocate and community leader. Now she is a part of the Sister Slate running in District 14 against Republican Wesley Pate.
She said when she first got involved in Daviess County politics, the state legislature’s majority leadership was made up of Democrats.
Now, the political pendulum has swung toward a Republican leadership. But Haynes said growing division among Kentuckians makes it harder to implement effective change.
“Forget the R for Republican, forget the D for Democrat. Just look at D for Donna. Talk to me” Haynes said.
Haynes said when asked why she hasn’t changed parties like others around the region she often responds that it makes no difference.
“Five minutes on the computer, I could be a Republican. I’m still Donna” Haynes said.
Campbell said that regardless of party affiliation, the voters she's spoken with repeat the same concerns
“Cost of living, healthcare, public education, Michelle P. Waiver Medicaid waitlist, of which there's thousands of people that need care, child care, preschool for all. These are things that people are asking for,” Campbell said. “We want people to be informed voters, meet us candidates and talk about these issues because we will find common ground with that voter.”
Michelle P. Waiver (MPW) is part of Kentucky’s HCBS Medicaid waiver program. MPW provides assistance to individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities to help them live in their community as independently as possible. The current waitlist for the MPW is around 7 to 10 years.
Rev. Rhondalyn Randolph has been preaching since 1996 and now turns her focus from the church to the wider Daviess community through her campaign in District 13. Randolph is running against Republican incumbent DJ Johsnon. She said along the campaign trail she’s noticed apathy among voters because of the divisive nature of current politics.
“It’s gotten so negative, or either they’re just so overwhelmed with their everyday lives of working, kids, school that to have to sit and focus on something like politics that can be so negative, they have truly checked out” Randolph said.
Despite the negativity and division that exists within the political sphere, Quisenberry said she has been pleasantly surprised with the amount of bipartisan support she’s received.
“When you sit down and talk to people, they realize that we have more in common than we have that divides us,” Quisenberry said. “We’ve got to stop listening to the really loud people on either end, because most of us are in the middle, and most of us just want what’s best for our community.”
Randolph said that putting more women into legislative positions will bring the understanding and passion needed to provide stability for Daviess County communities.
“If you look at the state of our economy, the challenges that our working families and young families just starting out have to face, it’s going to take women like us to push things forward and provide those protections, the resources, the stability that our community needs,” Randolph said.
These women offer a shared message, but each candidate still has an individual case to make. The Sister Slate will soon find out whether voters agree with their outlook.
Three days of no-excuse in person early voting is being held across the state Oct. 29-31, with the traditional Election Day on Nov. 3.
