Buffy Wicks is an assemblywoman for the state of California. She’s also a mother to a 3-year-old daughter and newborn baby girl.
And while most working parents try to keep their work-life and their home life separate, Wicks had a moment not too long ago where she had to cast her vote on the Assembly floor, while holding her newborn baby girl in her arms.
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On August 31, when the bill reached the floor, it was one Wicks believed in strongly and wanted to help push it through. However, because of COVID-19 concerns and due to the fact she is the mother to a newborn baby girl, Elly, who she just delivered via c-section in July, Wicks asked the Assembly speaker, Anthony Rendon, if she could vote by proxy, two weeks prior.
When the Assembly speaker denied her request, Wicks didn’t have any other options but to stop feeding her baby girl, put a blanket over her daughter’s head and rush down to the floor to cast her vote. While explaining why she was in favor of the bill in question, the mom of two told her colleagues, “I was actually in the middle of feeding my daughter when this bill came up, and I ran down on the floor today because I strongly believe we need to pass this bill.”
In fact, as People reports, Wicks was still on maternity leave when this particular bill made its way to the floor. And because she knew some of the bills could go either way, the assemblywoman knew it was important for her cast her ballot.
“She feeds every two to three hours and she needs me,” Wicks told People of Elly. “She’s been with me every moment of every day since the moment she was born.” And casting a vote in the state Capitol building wasn’t going to change that.
After she cast her vote, the video of her doing so went viral and was shared by prominent political figures such as Hillary Clinton. Nonetheless, despite her efforts, and proving that moms are the hardest working people on the planet, the bill wasn’t passed.
California Assemblywoman, Buffy Wicks, Brings Newborn Daughter on the Assembly Floor to Cast Vote
On Twitter, Wicks shared a statement as a result. “Absolutely devastated about #SB1120. Our housing crisis requires us to act, and tonight we failed to do that. But I promise you this: I will *always* show up for housing — no matter what.” Isn’t that the truth?
The good news is, is that another bill the mom of two also voted on that would expand family medical leave was passed by just one vote, according to People, and if signed by the governor could go into effect on January 1, 2021. The speaker has also apologized to Wicks saying his “intention was never to be inconsiderate toward her, her role as a legislator, or her role as a mother.” And Wicks has accepted that apology saying, “We’re all trying to figure this out in real-time.”
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And besides, this is how she wants her daughters to see her. She’s a woman who takes the bull by the horns, just as she wants them to do when they are older.
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