Sheila Kuehl
Kuehl was elected to the California State Assembly in 1994, becoming the first openly gay person elected to the California legislature. While running for office Kuehl found she was able to offset some negative stereotypes people had about lesbians thanks to their familiarity with her role as Zelda. She told an interviewer "When people know gay people personally, they tend to feel differently about the whole community. And all of a sudden, here's a person that they knew very well that they found out was lesbian."
Emily J. Reynolds
Reynolds began her career in politics in 1980 as a special assistant to Senator Howard Baker. In 1985 she worked on the successful Senate campaign of then-Governor Kit Bond of Missouri. Subsequently Reynolds worked in seven statewide campaigns in six states, including the Senate campaigns of John Danforth, John Heinz, and Kay Bailey Hutchison. She joined the Bush/Quayle presidential campaign in 1992 as deputy director of national coalitions.