Originally published by The 19th. Subscribe to The 19th's daily newsletter.
In Meghan Meehan-Draper’s first years with the Democratic Governors Association (DGA), she noticed something startling: “We had more governors named John than we had governors who were women,” Meehan-Draper, now the executive director of the DGA, told The 19th.
A few years later, DGA launched the Women Governors Fund, which has put $80 million in Democratic women candidates in general elections. Since its start in 2018, the number of Democratic women governors has quadrupled.
The eight Democratic women leading their states — Maura Healey in Massachusetts, Katie Hobbs in Arizona, Kathy Hochul in New York, Laura Kelly in Kansas, Tina Kotek in Oregon, Michelle Lujan Grisham in New Mexico, Janet Mills in Maine and Gretchen Whitmer in Michigan — have changed what it means for women to win and hold executive office in the United States.
They’re a group marked by notable firsts, too. Three — Healey, Hochul, and Mills — are the first women to hold that office in their states. Lujan Grisham is the nation’s first Democratic Hispanic woman governor. Healey and Kotek are the first elected out lesbian governors in their states.
But what’s perhaps even more remarkable is the way the women in this group have made their relationships with one another a critical part of their own leadership. These eight women are actual friends. They call and text each other to check in and get advice. They get together for dinner — and bring their daughters. They turn to each other when they are going through something challenging and when they need to laugh.
The 19th interviewed Governors Healey, Hobbs, Hochul, Kelly, Lujan Grisham, Mills and Whitmer about their relationships with their peers, how they think about leadership, the issues that matter most to them, and how their families have shaped their work.
Most interviews were via phone; Mills’ responses are via email. Kotek declined to be interviewed. Interviews have been edited and condensed for clarity.
