Sheila Kuehl
When Kuehl was elected as a Democrat to the California Assembly in 1994 a Republican majority was seated for the first time in 20 years. This was due largely as an out-flowing of the enthusiasm stoked up by Newt Gingrich's strategy supporting Republicans for the Federal Legislature. Kuehl recalled "The Republican majority was quite a different kind of Republican, not a moderate, not a Rockefeller Republican. They were primarily Bible-thumpers and very right-wing. So it was not the most welcoming Republican group, though they loved Zelda Gilroy, and it was very difficult for them because they already liked me so much…. And to their surprise, we all got along very well. ...The Republicans were pretty horrible about LGBT stuff. They all virtually said stuff like, 'Well, they're all spawn of the devil, oh, but not you, Sheila….'"
Johanna Tesch
Following the birth of her youngest son, Carl, in 1902, Johanna began to engage in political activities, initially at a local level. Her political focus lay with the Social Democratic Party (SPD) which according to some sources she joined in 1902, although others contend that women were not permitted to join political parties in Germany till 1908, and she actually joined the SPD only in 1909. She campaigned for better educational opportunities for working class women and girls: she was co-founder in 1902, together with Lina Heiden and Henriette Fürth, of the "Education Association for Working Class Women and Girls" ("Bildungsvereins für Frauen und Mädchen der Arbeiterklasse”") From 1904 she also worked as a cashier at the Trades Union Office that had recently opened in Frankfurt's "All Saints Street" (""Allerheiligenstraße"") to provide organisational support for union activities and to operate as a labour exchange.