Katie Fry Hester Cares To Be a Great Legislator--This Is How I Know

Katie Fry Hester (D-9) is advancing the purple cause in Annapolis as the Senator for Legislative District 9 in the Maryland General Assembly. Like the color itself, she seeks to blur the lines between ideological Republican Red and Democratic Blue, replacing them with what’s best for her constituents in 9. She said this at a fundraiser during 2018’s primary season, and I asked her to talk to me about how it’s going now that she’s been representing the Western Howard County and Southern Carroll County district for a couple months.

The Color Purple

That, as book lovers know, is the title of what is arguably Alice Walker’s most famous novel. It’s the story of one of my fictional heroines, Celie, and how an African-American woman triumphs over injustice in the early 20th-century United States South. The actual color purple became associated with royalty when monarchy was the predominant form of government because of its rarity and the painstaking process it took to make it, according to history.com. The U.S. military bestows the Purple Heart on service members wounded or killed in the service of country. Perhaps that’s why something Katie said struck me at a fundraiser she had at the Howard County Nature Conservancy in Woodstock in May.

“I’m really running a purple campaign, because we’re more alike than we are different,” she told a crowd of supporters. Her goal was, then, to serve the constituents of District 9. She wouldn’t do something only because either party pressured her to do so.

In advance of a chat we were set to have over the phone about her political philosophy, I got some lilacs. It took some hunting down at local flower shops during a Maryland February, believe me readers. But I wanted to set the mood properly. I closed my eyes and asked to be guided in fruitful chat that would lead to greater understanding and wisdom.

I dialed Katie’s number. During our talk that followed, I found out she’s sticking steadfastly to her promise to govern from the middle as the Maryland General Assembly’s legislative session ends its second month this February. April 8th is “sine die,” when the assembly adjourns for the year.

Priming the Purple Pump

“Hi, Colleen!” she said.

“Thank you so much for talking to me, Katie,” I said in a voice that I realized sounded overly solicitous.

“I’m the one who’s grateful–for your interest in me,” Katie said.

We talked, then, about her past.

Katie got her Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural and Biological Engineering from Cornell University in 1997. At a firm called SustAinability, Katie helped companies manage their triple-bottom line impact: environmental impact, social impact, and economic impact. She continued to work in agricultural, energy, and sustainability consulting for almost two decades. She told me all this as she and her husband and two grade-school age daughters drove back home from a weekend jaunt Western Maryland. Throughout the campaign and now as a senator, Katie’s kept her family close. I could hear them talking and laughing with their father, Bill Hester, a mutual fund manager who works in Howard County, too.

I asked Katie how she decided to run for office.

“I went to a town hall on education organized by Becca Niburg of Together We Will last year, and afterward I talked to some of the Howard County representatives who were there,” Katie said. Those HoCo-ans suggested she run for Senator in 9. She wanted to, and to be a strong, moderate voice in the Maryland General Assembly for the district, but she was still on the fence.

For six months after that town hall where the HoCo legislators asked her to join their political fray, Katie tried to find another centrist to run against Sen. Gail Bates (R-9). A speaker at a one-day, Taste of Emerge training event helped convince her she was the one to do that, though. Del. Pamela Queen (D-14) said that women who consider jobs do it from a less confident place than their male counterparts.

“A man might see a job description and that he qualifies for seven out of ten of the requirements and think, ‘I can do this,’ while a woman in the same situation might think that she’s not qualified for it,” Katie said, and I guessed she was turning to look at her daughters in the car, because her voice sounded momentarily farther away. “That really stuck with me.” Based on how much her daughters have been and are a part of this journey to the Senate for her and how I’ve come to know her over this past year, I know setting an example for her daughters of a woman who has agency, takes initiative, and stands up for what she believes in is a big part of it for her. In fact, she told me on the phone, her young ones will be coming to a Take Your Kids to Work Day at the General Assembly. Ten to 15 kids will get a tour of the area, participate in a mock hearing, and then stay to attend session, she said.

I heard wind blow past Katie’s phone microphone, and she said something to her daughters quietly. Then she went on.

After another town hall, Katie’s husband Bill told her he thought it was she who should run for Delegate in 9. She committed to it then and there.

The Campaign Commences

In the months that followed, Katie spread the word of the pragmatic– purple–approach to legislation that she intended to bring to Annapolis when she won the election. She did, as you know, readers, win.

“A Republican Senator told me once before the election that he hoped I didn’t win. But first day of session he came up to me and said it’s time to work together, so if I can help you in any way let me know,” Katie said with a lilt of wonder in her voice. “I thought it was amazing how people down there are really working together for the good of the state. I’ve become friends with some of the Republican Senators, too.”

She has, then, joined the ranks of Annapolis lawmakers who are interested in advancing legislation that will help their constituents rather than advance an ideological agenda.

Katie told me that her many years as an agricultural, energy, and sustainability consultant are the credentials that make her right for this job. Although she’s new to politics, she brings wide-ranging and long-standing skills, knowledge, and understanding in a wide variety of relevant areas. Even a long-time supporter like me felt a little jolt of excitement as she talked about it.

And: Robert talked to local politico Natalie Ziegler about her past in news reporting.

“I think people should expect great things from me, especially now that I’ve gotten my feet on the ground there. Just because I’m new doesn’t mean I’m inexperienced,” she said.

When I asked Katie what were some of the things she hoped she’d be able to do for District 9, local business came up a lot.

“I’ve been advocating on behalf of small businesses all my life, and I’m continuing to do that in Annapolis,” Katie told me.

If she could–and she may be able to if all goes well–Katie would get the water off Main Street in Ellicott City and figuring out how to give the ailing strip malls in Western HoCo what they need to come back to life.

“One of the things I’m really torn about right now is the ‘Fight for 15’ minimum wage bill. I can see both perspectives,” she said with an anguish I could hear even over a cellphone connection. She explained that on one side, a rapid raise in the minimum wage could really hurt small businesses, but on the other side, if people are not paid a living wage it’s impossible for them to survive! Even though this bill doesn’t fall under the purview of any of the committees she’s on, Katie’s looking for a solution.

“I’m looking for economic analysis that could point towards a compromise. Perhaps that’ll be in the speed of implementation or a tiered approach for small and medium sized businesses or different rates for different counties?” she told me as her voice rose with hope.

Purple Pride

When I attended a Senate hearing in Annapolis two weeks ago on a bill to strengthen Grace’s Law, which targets cyberbullying, I saw Katie at work. Her eyes were trained on the parents, educators, and youth advocates as they stood at the podium in the Judicial Proceedings Committee room–“JPR” for short. Even when the witnesses’ testimony moved her visibly, she never looked away. Her laptop was open in front of her, shining a faint, purple light on her. That was a Wednesday, the day the entire HoCo legislative team–Senators and Delegates–meets to make sure they work in concert to address the County’s lawmaking priorities.

“I’m trying really hard to make good choices on JPR,” Katie told me when I asked her how the 2019 legislative session was going so far. Katie’s also the Chair of the Joint Committee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Biotechnology and is a member of the Joint Audit Committee. That day in Annapolis she gave me a hug and posed for a selfie with me and my close friend, Becca. I could tell by her strong body language, her big smile, and her generally sanguine comportment that she felt fulfilled. The hard work she was doing was paying off–both for her constituents and for her.

“I left the non-profit Partnering Initiative in March of 2o18 to campaign full-time,” she said. I can tell you first-hand, dear readers, because RoCo volunteered for her campaign, that she canvassed tirelessly (including at RoCo’s home at the time), phone-banked constantly, and generally campaigned her heart out during the 2018 campaign year. She worked hard for her spot in the General Assembly.

I asked Katie what her proudest accomplishment had been so far as the Senator in 9.

I made my first amendment to a piece of legislation on the juvenile justice system, and that was something I’d never thought about before. The bill got a favorable report from our committee and it probably will become a law.” She said Sen. Bobby Zirkin (D-11), the Chair of JPR, called her on her way home and told that would make a big difference on behalf of a lot of children who are come in contact with the juvenile justice system.

Katie loved her work as an engineer who sought to make sustainability a viable and valid choice for the private sector. She saw an opening to run for 9, but she’s not sure she’ll run again in 2022.

“I just really want to do a good job now,” she said. “It’s freeing to not have an agenda for the next four years or beyond.”

Despite her focus on ideology-free pragmatism, Katie does, of course have opinions and knows that sometimes there’s a clear right and wrong, readers. I don’t doubt that. It’s just that she wants to hear what the various voices in District 9. She wan to be a good leader for thtse whole region. I believe in Katie and her ability to find the middle of the road in the middle of the road, so to speak.

You can’t meet Katie and not know that she gets this but that she won’t let it stop her from putting her moral foot down when it’s called for.

Passionate People

“Her experience bringing people together from diverse and often conflicting perspectives was especially important to me in the current climate of opposing just because of the ‘R’ or ‘D’ next to someone’s name,” Becca told me when I asked her why she’d supported Katie and then come on to her campaign in an official capacity as her field director.

Beth Connor, another friend of Robert and mine, worked closely with Katie on her campaign. President Donald Trump’s rise to power in 2016 left Beth–and Katie and me–feeling shocked. and more significantly, helpless.

“It was Katie’s sincerity, enthusiasm, intelligence, and her desire to make a change that impressed me. Being a volunteer for Katie gave me some sense that I could help make a difference. She gave me and others hope that our democracy could and would prevail,” Beth told me in an email exchange on why she’d worked as hard as she did to get Katie elected. She said she’d also wanted someone she believed in to replace the 16-year incumbent Republican Senator Gail Bates.

Another RoCo fave, Deanna Peel, Senator Guy Guzzone’s (D-13) Chief of Staff, took Beth to a meet-and-greet that Katie spoke at, Beth told me she felt that working to get Katie elected gave her back a sense of political agency. That meet-and-greet was where I, too, first met Katie. She teared up when she told the group gathered of her daughter’s coming to her with difficult questions after the 2016 presidential election. I knew then I wanted Katie in power. She was brave but also compassionate. That’s an ideal combination for right action.

Back on our phone call, I told Katie I’d taken up enough of her time and that I knew her family needed her.

“It’s been my pleasure. I really am so grateful for all your support,” she said, and I could tell she was smiling.

“How close to home are you?” I asked–my one last question.

“We’re about half way there,” she said.

“Oh, wow, half-way–that’s so…purple of you!”

We both laughed at that and said goodbye.

I got a text then from Robert that Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former “fixer,” was set to testify against him in public hearings before Congress. I thought how grateful I was that my representative in the Maryland General Assembly, Katie Fry Hester, didn’t care about advancing just herself or even just one other person, like Cohen did when he worked for Trump. She has only one agenda: what’s good for me and my fellow Niners.

Also: Local environmental advocate Chiara D’Amore spoke with me in advance of some exciting things in store for her non-profit.

Thanks for reading! Check back with us here at rocoinhoco.com every week as Robert, Colleen (and pup, Moses) get to know the many facets—one each week–of this prismatic place called Howard County. We want to take you along with us, so follow us on Twitter at @rocoinhoco, join our Facebook group, and follow us on Instagram at @rocoinhoco.