Panelists at Cornell explored issues pertaining to sexism, LGQBTIA+ and more issues at an event at Zamora’s Market Tuesday, Oct. 8.

The panel was one of two that Cornell College was hosting pertaining to the election.

State Senator Liz Bennett (Class of 2010) and Iowa State Representative Elinor Levin (Class of 2009) were the guest panelists.

Bennett explained that she had attended Cornell College as an adult, and when she was first approached about running for office, she was put aback because she wasn’t used to seeing people who looked like her in office.

At the time, the Varnum vs. Brien Supreme Court Decision had just passed, and that inspired Bennett to be working to protect marriage equality in the state.

She was elected to her first office in Iowa in 2014 as the first out LGBT woman to serve in the state legislature.

Levin’s path was a little different. Levin was originally from Illinois when she came to Cornell.

“The one course at a time study worked well for my ADHD brain,” Levin said. “I was on track to graduate as teacher specializing in middle school and move out of the state, but I was charmed by Iowa and chose to remain.”

Her spouse was in the military, and they moved to locations for the next five years due to their service. When Levin was looking to return to Iowa in 2017, she said many of her friends were leaving the state.

She got involved with the local League of Women Voters initiatives and working with the bipartisan group. When a Representative was looking to retire in 2021, she let Levin know, and Levin announced she was running for the seat shortly after. She had a primary and general election that she was part of, and she admitted she should have lost the election, but her work with the League helped her find support throughout her district. She is running unopposed for the seat in the 2024 election.

Bennett mentioned she was told by many she couldn’t work a full time job and campaign, which she called a nonstarter of an argument.

“I had excelled at taking college one class at a time while doing other work,” Bennett said.

When it came to the first question, on obstacles to overcome, Bennett said the adage about women needing to be asked multiple times to run for office proved true.

She also said having to walk the line between credibility but not coming across as too uppity was something she warred with.

Levin said that the childcare expenses not being reimbursable for a number of years made a barrier to entry for many elected officials, and elected officials still deal with pay parity issues.

The sacrifices made during a session, which stretch for four months out of the year, mean missing events for children and family as well.

Both noted you will experience sexism as a lawmaker, both egregious and minor cases.

Megan Goldberg noted women excel in the job once they’ve been elected, as they do extremely well at constituent services and delivering on projects for their districts.

Levin said she feels that men like women willing to do the emotional labor for them.

Bennett said her biggest issues have come from female senators and female congresswomen and their views. Bennett also noted there was at least one time she was expected to be a guaranteed yes vote on a bill, but had done the research on the issue and found she sided against the bill.

“You would have thought I killed their puppy when I told a few colleagues in a sub-committee it wasn’t an open and shut vote for that issue,” Bennett said.

Levin said that she has been told she talks too much or asks too many questions on the floor, but she wears that one as a badge of honor, because it means that people are paying attention to her. Her greater issue is when other women are saying the same thing.

As for role models, Levin said that her predecessor Mary Mesher is definitely one of them.

As a queer neuro divergent, Bennett said Kyrsten Sinema, as well as Elizabeth Dole and Elizabeth Warren were some of her role models.

On how the race changed in July area, Levin said when she has been knocking on doors to campaign, she has seen far more excitement in voters than even June.

Bennett and Levin said that the agenda they will see and the agenda that should be discussed are two different things.

As for what should be on legislative agendas this next session-

· funding of colleges, universities and schools

· Childcare and elder care issues

· Strengthening workers rights

· Mental health

“The biggest thing I’m hearing from people out on the campaign trail are pocketbook issues,” Levin said.

“What we’re most likely to see are bills tackling social issues once again,” Bennett said.

They both agreed that carbon sequestration pipelines and eminent domain are going to be a huge non-partisan issue that gets addressed.