Cranston City Council Vice President Lammis Vargas, a mother of two, won the five-way primary for State Senate District 28, and is unopposed in November. (Michael Salerno/Rhode Island Current)
Jennifer Boylan didn’t plan on running for office until her two sons became adults.
But an unexpected opening in the Rhode Island House of Representatives two years ago made Boylan rethink her timeline.The Barrington Democrat cruised to victory in November 2022, defeating independent Samuel Read by 15 percentage points. The battle between legislative responsibilities and being there to support her two sons — the younger of which was still in high school — was not so easy.
“Making sure my kids are taken care of, it’s a top priority,” said Boylan, a passionate advocate for stricter gun laws and improving school safety. “It’s not like I head to the State House and just forget about it.”
A small subset in the General Assembly, Rhode Island mom lawmakers shoulder big demands
Boylan is among a growing contingent of mothers with children under 18 who serve in state legislatures: 582 of them nationwide as of February, according to a new report published by Vote Mama Foundation.
The Sept. 23 report touts a 48.6% increase in the number of mom legislators from September 2022, when the study was last conducted.
In Rhode Island, the number of mothers with minor children on Smith Hill increased 100% — from five in 2022 to 10 as of February 2024. Rhode Island ranked 21st among states based on the 8.84% of moms in its legislature, according to the report.
The increase stems largely from results of the November 2022 elections, when most state legislative seats, including all 113 in Rhode Island, were last decided. That the 2022 election cycle came months after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade is no coincidence, said Sarah Hague, chief program officer for Vote Mama Foundation.
“That jump reflects a momentous change in the conversations surrounding the role of mothers in America and the needs of American families,” Hague said in an interview.
“There are more and more conversations in the limelight about how American policies are failing women, children, and families. More and more, we are seeing moms step up to the plate when they are seeing a problem they know they can solve.”
Long hours, low pay
Yet the power comes often at great personal sacrifice for mom lawmakers, whose ability to win and remain in office is undercut by low pay and lack of support — both personal and systemic — to offset caregiving responsibilities at home.
Just ask Rep. Megan Cotter. The Exeter Democrat is in the midst of a tough reelection campaign against former seatholder, Republican Justin Price. Cotter ousted Price by just 32 votes in November 2022.
“I am so tired,” Cotter said in a recent interview. “Having kids is definitely a contributing factor. It’s hard to find the time. Your canvassing schedule has to be in line with what’s going on at home.”
It helps that Cotter’s kids are now teens — ages 18, 16 and 14 – with the oldest now living on campus at the University of Rhode Island. The flip side?
“Big kids, bigger problems,” Cotter said.
Moms with children under age 6 are especially scarce in state legislatures, comprising just 1.7% of lawmakers nationwide, according to the report. While Rhode Island is among 32 states that let candidates use campaign funds for child care, no parent — man or woman — has taken advantage since the 2021 state law was passed.
When Rep. Teresa Tanzi, a South Kingstown Democrat, first ran for office in 2010, her daughter Delia was 3. Tanzi, then a stay-at-home-mom, towed Delia to campaign stops, and, after winning election, legislative hearings at the State House.
Tanzi relished the opportunity to expose her daughter to the legislative process, with Delia firmly attached to Tanzi’s leg as she spoke on the House floor. But her colleagues were not always understanding.
“I have to admit, I was criticized by folks I never thought a criticism would come from,” Tanzi said.
Now 18 and a first-year student at the University of Rhode Island, Delia is no longer Tanzi’s State House sidekick. But a crop of new women lawmakers with children, and grandchildren, have given Tanzi a chance to pay forward the help she did not receive when Delia was young.
“The more moms that are there, the more support there is,” Tanzi said.
Rep. Teresa Tanzi, a South Kingstown Democrat and mother, has tried to offer support to other moms in the State House who have to bring their children or grandchildren with them to hearings. (Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)
‘They were my motivation’
For Lammis Vargas, having more women, and moms, serve alongside her on the Cranston City Council fostered a similar sense of kinship and support.
“We understand when someone sends a text saying ‘coming from a doctor’s appointment, running late,’” Vargas, a Democrat and council vice president, said.
Vargas’ kids, Nevari and Christian, were 12 and 5 when she first ran for the council in 2016, while battling a cancer diagnosis she received after she launched her campaign. She refused to drop out, crediting the support of her husband and her children.
“They were my motivation from the very beginning,” she said.
Eight years later, Vargas is a proud cancer survivor and on a path to becoming the elected representative for Rhode Island State’s Senate District 28, having won a five-way Democratic primary on Sept. 10. She is unopposed in the general election.
Nevari and Christian are now 20 and 13. But Vargas’ dad, 73, had a stroke at the end of 2023 which left him temporarily immobile on one side of his body. Vargas, the eldest of two children and the only one living in Rhode Island, found herself now tasked with driving her parents to doctors’ appointments, picking up groceries and acting as translator for her parents, who are immigrants from Colombia.
“During my Senate campaign, I would hit the grocery store at 9:30 p.m. and they would be closing at 10, so I was just running through the aisles,” Vargas recalled.
The Vote Mama report does not account for other types of caregiving challenges women lawmakers face, a criteria which Hague said they hope to incorporate in future data collection.
Caregiving, work and family obligations were the third-most cited reason why women leave state office, behind running for higher office, or retirement, according to the Vote Mama report.
“It’s hard enough to be a mom as a candidate, but being a mom in the state legislature brings on a whole different set of barriers,” Hague said. “Neither system was built for women, much less moms of minors.”
Demanding legislative schedule
Boylan found her first term in office much more difficult than the actual campaign. The long hours and opposite schedule to her teenage son left little time to spend together.
Not that it stopped her from seeking a second term this year.
“I didn’t really hesitate to run for reelection, because there’s still much work to do,” Boylan said.
The pay for that mountain of work is not considered commensurate. Rhode Island lawmakers made $19,000 a year in 2024 for the “part-time” job, though most lawmakers say they log as many hours as a full-time position, especially without dedicated staff to help them.
During my Senate campaign, I would hit the grocery store at 9:30 p.m. and they would be closing at 10, so I was just running through the aisles.
– Lammis Vargas, Cranston City Council VIce President and unopposed Democratic candidate for Senate District 28 seat
Rhode Island’s legislative pay is higher than nine states — excluding those that offer daily or weekly rates, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Massachusetts lawmakers earn over $73,600, while those in Connecticut are paid $40,000.
Only four states — Pennsylvania, Michigan, California and New York — pay lawmakers “a livable salary” as of 2024, according to the Vote Mama report. California and Michigan rank first and fourth for highest representation of moms in their legislatures. In both states, being a lawmaker is recognized as a full-time job, versus the “hybrid” or part-time model used in Rhode Island.
Tanzi has a real estate license and sells homemade focaccia through a state cottage food license. But she has struggled to find a full-time job that doesn’t conflict with afternoon and evening hearings at the State House, along with daytime meetings for her role chairing the Human Services Subcommittee.
“It felt impossible to me,” Tanzi said.
Meanwhile, pressure to bring in more money is growing under the weight of her daughter’s college tuition bill.
While Vote Mama in its report argues for higher pay as a way to usher in more moms to state legislatures, that isn’t a practical reality for most states, said Emily Lynch, associate teaching professor of political science at the University of Rhode Island. New Hampshire pays its state lawmakers $100 a year. It’s a paltry sum, yes, but given its size — 425 members, smaller only than Congress — a big salary hike would be very costly.
“I don’t think it’s as easy as just raise the pay,” Lynch said. “It’s more complex.”
A less pricey, but helpful way Rhode Island could support its part-time lawmakers would be to hire more staff to help legislators with research, bill drafting and responding to constituents, Lynch said. Half of states offer paid, personal staff to their legislatures, according to the Vote Mama report.
The report also recommends paid family and medical leave, child care reimbursements, and ability to attend and participate in legislative duties remotely as ways to remove barriers to moms running for and serving in office.
Not mentioned in the report was recruitment of more moms to run for state office.
“The big thing that’s not being discussed is the confidence gap,” Lynch said. “Research shows that when women run, women win. But there’s a lack of women being encouraged to run for office.”
Vargas hoped seeing moms like her in office would plant the seed for future lawmakers.
“I love when we have kids come to the council chambers,” Vargas said. “I tell them, ‘you could be my boss one day.’”
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