Shay White is looking to make history in Oklahoma, becoming the first woman -- and the first African-American -- to hold a seat in the state legislature.
She hopes she can use her relatability to her advantage.
“The biggest unifying factor is that I am a voter from my district,” White told Cheddar in an interview. “I live here, I shop here, I worship here, and I contribute here.”
Like her potential constituents, White says, “sometimes I have to make a tough decision [of whether] I buy gasoline or groceries.” She says she wants to provide a voice to working families in her area.
White is one of many women jumping into the electoral fray since 2016’s presidential elections. Nearly 400 are reportedly running for the U.S. House of Representatives this year -- the most in U.S. history -- and 22 are non-incumbent black women.
But White’s campaign has nothing to do with that movement. She told Cheddar she’s wanted to run since age 12.
The twenty-six-year-old elementary school mental health provider has a prevalent presence in her community. Besides being a woman’s rights supporter, the District 77 candidate holds a leadership position within Together Oklahoma, a grassroots education and advocacy group.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/the-womens-march-to-elected-office).
The U.S. has fully reopened its borders with Mexico and Canada and lifted restrictions on travel that covered most of Europe.
America’s employers stepped up their hiring in October, adding a solid 531,000 jobs, the most since July and a sign that the recovery from the pandemic recession may be overcoming a virus-induced slowdown.
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell to a fresh pandemic low last week, another sign the job market is healing after last year’s coronavirus recession.
The Federal Reserve made official on Wednesday its plan to wind down the aggressive monthly bond-buying program that has defined the central bank's pandemic response.
Fed watchers are expecting Jerome Powell to announce a timeline for tapering bond purchases on Wednesday afternoon following the meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee.
World leaders are promising to protect the world’s forests, cut methane emissions and help South Africa wean itself off coal at the U.N. climate summit.
A majority of the Supreme Court are signaling that they would allow abortion providers to pursue a court challenge to a Texas law that has virtually ended abortion in the nation’s second-largest state after six weeks of pregnancy.
President Joe Biden is taking a markedly more humble tone for a U.S. leader on climate change.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has opened a global climate summit, saying the world is strapped to a “doomsday device.”
Activists are getting a boost from CrowdLobby to press legislators to expand New York's Good Samaritan Law to teach high school students about being proactive in saving their peers from potentially dying of a drug overdose.
