… in conversation … Interview by Tina Owen
Lisa Murkowksi JD’85, Republican U.S. senator for Alaska and this year’s commencement speaker for the Willamette College of Law, is one of only 46 women ever to serve in the United States Senate. On the way to and during her successful political career, she’s taken on skeptics and the Tea Party — and won.
> What do you think women bring to politics? First, it’s pragmatism, a practical approach to governing. Most women are used to juggling a lot of balls in the air — job, children, making sure that your retirement account and your kid’s lunch are both well-balanced. As a consequence, women don’t have a lot of time for nonsense. Women also want to accomplish a job and not spend a lot of time over who gets the credit for it. Plus, women tend to be more collaborative, and that yields a good product at the end of the day. > What do you think is most challenging about today’s political environment? Special interest groups or the media push people into lanes on either the far right or far left: “Well, you’re a Republican; that means you must be in this camp.” Once people are driven into those lanes, it’s tough to get back into the middle of the road. And that’s hard, because a legislative body has to work to find compromise. Not everyone gets what they want. > After being defeated by a Tea Party candidate in the Republican primary in 2010, you ran as a write-in candidate. You became the first person since 1954 to win a write-in election to the Senate. What was that like? It was a hard option. We had to teach people how to participate in a write-in ballot with a nine-letter last
name like Murkowski. Alaskans had to affirmatively exercise their right to vote. In a very deliberate act and expression of support, 103,000 people effectively said, “This is the person I want, regardless of the fact that she is not her party’s candidate, and I will go to the effort to write in her name.” I felt extraordinarily humble when I won. > What advice would you give women who are considering a political career? Never wait for the right time, because there will always be something else you should be doing. You just need to jump in the deep end. Sometimes women are hesitant because they think the right time will come — but you have to make it. > What are some of your memorable experiences from Willamette? Before I went to law school there, I did two years as an undergrad. I wanted to be a teacher, but one of the core requirements was an economics class. I had a pretty lackadaisical view towards it. Halfway through the semester, the professor called me in, said I wasn’t doing well and suggested I drop the class. I was so offended that he had so little confidence in me that I not only stayed in the class, but I changed my major to economics. It’s great to prove the skeptics wrong. Plus, it’s OK to have someone challenge you so you can rise up and find what kind of backbone you have.
WILLAMETTE UNIVERSITY
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