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."
Sheila Frahm
She was appointed by Governor Bill Graves to the Senate on June 11, 1996 to replace Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, who resigned from the Senate to devote all of his time to his Presidential campaign. During her time in the Senate, Frahm voted with the Republican party 92.9% of the time. The Senate average was 87.5%. Frahm ran in the special election to succeed him, but she was defeated for the Republican nomination by Sam Brownback. Brownback went on to win the November 1996 election, and immediately took office.