The latest in Susan Platt’s “Find Your Roar” interview series (see video, below) is with former Virginia First Lady Anne Holton, who of course also is the daughter of former Virginia Gov. Linwood Holton, the wife of U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, a mom, a former judge, former Virginia Secretary of Education, and…yeah, she’s an incredibly impressive person!
In her interview a few days ago at Gene Rossi’s house, Holton talks about her different “roars” all revolve around “roaring out for other whose voices might not otherwise be heard,” such as caring for foster children, some of whom had been through things “you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy.” Holton talked about he father, Linwood Holton, who “announced in his inaugural address…in January of 1970 that he was going to appoint people of different colors and different genders to his cabinet…which was unheard of [at the time].” She talked about her childhood, including attending a school that was SUPPOSED to have been integrated, but wasn’t because “all the white people that were supposed to go there left town.”
Asked what advice she would give to women in politics today, Holton said, “just jump in…there’s just so many opportunities and so much need and and…women will be taken seriously as potential candidates…women are gonna bring voices of reason to the public forum and we need those voices.”
Regarding Tim Kaine’s reelection race, Holton said that he’s taking nothing for granted, that he “loves his job in the Senate, wants to keep doing it so he’s out working hard every day to convince the voters to send him back.” Holton added that “it’s just been a great privilege for him and me both to be running with so many great congressional candidates, almost all women…and they’re just some really extraordinary candidates.”
On the importance of voting, Holton said “people sometimes think my vote doesn’t matter, and that’s an easy thing to answer in Virginia right now, because we had that race last year…Shelly Simonds’ race, that got decided by a coin toss…and really what happened in the presidential race last time, which was really quite quite close in a number of states that would have made have made a difference in where we are in the country, so I think there are good answers to why it matters to vote.” And she emphasized the importance of reaching out to young people…
Finally, Susan Platt and Anne Holton ended with an enthusiastic “ROAR” – check it out!
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