The Women Hoping to Flip the Senate Are Running on Grit, Volunteer Support, and Orange La Croix

The women running to flip the Senate are unafraid. 

One woman is an Air Force veteran. She’s been waking up at 3 or 4 a.m., taking care of her young kids, bench-pressing weights, and then getting to work. That’s M.J. Hegar—she’s running for Senate in Texas.

One woman is a doctor and a former Republican, who switched parties in part because of the GOP’s stance on trans rights and its uncritical support of President Trump. (“My moral compass is saying, ‘I can’t do this anymore’…. I can’t be complicit, anymore,” she says.) That’s Barbara Bollier, the Kansan who would be the first woman doctor in the Senate, ever.

And there’s Theresa Greenfield in Iowa, a businesswoman raised on a pig farm who was widowed at 24 while pregnant. (She and her husband also had a one-year-old.) She can answer the question “What’s the break-even price for a bushel of corn in Iowa this week?” on live TV without breaking a sweat. As a self-proclaimed “scrappy farm kid,” 12- and 14-hour days on the campaign trail don’t bother her.

One week out from the election, the pressure is on for Hegar, Bollier, and Greenfield—three of the women whose races will determine whether power falls into Democratic hands or remains in the tight grip of the Republicans. If Democrats flip the Senate, their first orders of business will likely be passing a coronavirus relief package, expanding access to affordable health care coverage, restoring voting rights, and passing legislation that will help keep this planet inhabitable. 

But to do that, Democrats will need to maintain all of their current 47 seats and gain four more. According to forecasting by 538, Greenfield is slightly favored to win, Bollier’s chances are about 1 in 4, and Hegar's chances are the slimmest, at just over a 1 in 10 chance. She’s not fazed: “I eat pressure for breakfast,” she tells Glamour. (Other possible seat pickups for Democrats in the Senate include Captain Mark Kelly in Arizona, Jaime Harrison in South Carolina, and Sara Gideon in Maine.)

There is less than one week left to make their cases. For the next few hundred hours, Hegar, Bollier, and Greenfield will be doing everything they can to win. They’ll be up late writing policy, visiting polling lines to meet voters, and holding campaign events in open fields and backlots and over Zoom. “Don’t call me on November 4 because that’s when I’m going to sleep,” says Greenfield, with a laugh. “But between now and then, we’re going to be working our fingers to the bone.”

Over the course of the campaign, I have phone-banked for all three women—listening to Kansas union members talk about their excitement over Bollier, chatting with first-time Gen Z voters in Iowa about how badly we need the Affordable Care Act to stay in place, and talking about military service with Texans. Just days before the election, I called the three candidates to ask: How are you, really?

M.J. Hegar

Hegar was honorably discharged from the U.S. military after serving three tours in Afghanistan. Her platform focuses on expanding options for affordable, accessible health care, ending child separation at the border, raising wages and lowering housing costs, and funding public schools. During a recent Senate hearing, her opponent, incumbent John Cornyn, seemed to dispute the existence of systemic racism.

Glamour: How are you?

M.J. Hegar: I am juggling online kindergarten and making sure I’m focused on my kiddos and that they’re getting the attention from me that they need. I have to manage how much they’re exposed to, to make sure they don’t have anxiety over hearing me talk about climate change and gun violence and, you know, the pandemic. I keep telling people I’m kind of equal parts exhausted and exhilarated. I’m gonna need to take a really long nap after this election! But so exhilarated and inspired—I mean, there are people putting just as much time as I am into this, and it’s them that I think of when I want to take a break.

How much pressure are you feeling right now?

So much pressure to give it my best, zero pressure to win, you know? I used to be a combat rescue helicopter pilot and obviously was making life-and-death decisions all the time, and then I was working in health care, and health care is still a high-pressure environment. It’s less pressure, I would say, and more of a sense of duty. This race is me trying to fulfill the oath I took to support and defend our Constitution when I wore the uniform. I don’t think that taking off that uniform somehow relieves me from my oath that I took, my obligation. I love this country, and I love this state with all my heart, and I love my boys, and I just want them to grow up into a world where they can breathe the air and drink the water and practice whatever religion they want and love who they want. I see the things that I believe our country was founded on and the things that make us a great country under threat. And I’ve never been able to just stand idly by and watch a threat like that and not do something about it.

What’s your sleep schedule like these days?

It depends on if [my son] Daniel has a nightmare and climbs in bed with me. I would say usually three or four in the morning—that’s getting up. In a world where, you know, I was a normal person, I think I could go back to sleep, but my mind starts immediately racing and going: 545 kids don’t know where their parents are on the border. And: What do we need to do to get the pandemic under control? My mind starts just racing. Usually around six I roll out of bed and throw on some workout clothes and get a good workout in, and then start breakfast for the boys. The late nighttime is when I can kind of look at my schedule, square my head away for the next day, read the news, and just kind of focus. It’s also kind of the time of night that I spend trying to protect my marriage! Talking to my husband about his day—what about his job?

What do you hope folks will take away from your campaign?

I’m hoping that Texans hold their leaders to a higher bar and insist on holding them accountable, and insist on having voting rights, and call them out when they lie and when they fail and when they fumble a pandemic and lift them up, regardless of party, by the way. I believe I will be a much better senator than John Cornyn. His desire to do anything it takes to get reelected is why he votes in a way that actually gets people killed in Texas.

What snacks are getting you through this?

I love cranberry almond Kind bars. Those are the way I keep up my energy. And of course Halloween is here, so I’m constantly fighting to try not to eat [candy]. I am completely addicted to La Croix; my husband is stocking the fridge with La Croix right next to me. I like the orange in the morning, like it’s orange juice. [Laughs.] On the road, that’s a different story. On the road we basically plan our road trips by where the Buc-ee’s are.

Barbara Bollier

Bollier worked as an anesthesiologist before entering Kansas state politics in 2010. In her years as a moderate Republican, she voted consistently to expand access to health care and preserve women's rights to choose. While she’s spent the pandemic educating Kansans about the coronavirus and holding socially distanced campaign events, her Republican opponent, Roger Marshall, also a doctor, has shared debunked claims about COVID fatalities and campaigned indoors and maskless throughout the summer.

Glamour: How are you doing?

Barbara Bollier: I’m in really incredible shape after this campaign! It’s kind of fun. Everything about this is fun except for the politics. It’s been exciting to get to know the people of Kansas even better and to find out what their needs are and how we can serve them. We’re just going all the time—there’s always something going on.

What’s your sleep schedule like these days?

I wake up probably at 4:30 in the morning now, but I don’t get up until 6:30. I’m just ready to get to work for the people. And I make sure I get to bed on time. We work sometimes till eight or nine at night. It depends on the day.

How much pressure are you feeling right now?

I feel the opposite. I am feeling this huge draw of the need to serve. I so want to be able to serve the people so that they can live a good life and have jobs that matter and get paid a living wage and have access to health care. And I’m good at what I do. And I’m in it because I am a doctor: a servant that wants to improve people’s lives. The hardest thing right now is that so many people seem to take for granted that the people in politics aren’t honest. And I am different; I tell the truth. [Laughs.] I won’t even let them put mean pictures of my opponent because we can do better in this country and we should expect that! I’m very, very proud of the integrity of this campaign.

What snacks are getting you through this?

I am a very healthy eater! I always bring nuts. But I like chocolate-covered pretzels. And I like a McDonald’s hamburger. It’s a great snack.

Have you been listening to any music on the road? Bingeing any series?

I just had some of my staff watch Legends of the Fall. Just the whole—not only the music, the beauty, the Brad Pitt...you know! The whole movie. And yesterday [we were listening to] “I Will Survive.” Gloria Gaynor. I will survive! [Laughs.] That is definitely running through my mind a lot. ’Cause this is hard.

Theresa Greenfield

Greenfield, who depended on Social Security survivor benefits to stay out of poverty as a single mom, has campaigned on promises to expand affordable health care and lower health care costs, protect Social Security and Medicare, and support unions. Her Republican opponent, incumbent Senator Joni Ernst, calls herself “proudly pro-life.”

Glamour: How are you doing?

Theresa Greenfield: We are hustling! We’ve got days left to take this really close competitive race, which is a toss-up, and move it to a win. I cannot win alone—I have an army of grassroots supporters in all 99 counties and everybody is working hard. People are going to be working extra hours, probably not eating right, probably not exercising right, probably not calling home to talk to their moms. They are focused on the jobs in front of them and on getting out the vote because that’s how you win—we’ve got to get more Democrats to the polls.

What’s your sleep schedule like these days?

I’m a farm girl, and I've carried all of that farm tradition with me my whole life, so I’m a get-up-early-and-stay-up-late kind of person; I work pretty hard. So I’m usually up and at ’em by about 5:30 in the morning. I start my day with a lot of love with my dog Ringo and a cup of coffee, and try to get a walk in and give myself a little self-care. And then I get busy. Today I think we hit the road at about seven in the morning and I probably won’t wrap up until nine o’clock tonight, and there’ll be lots of things to do after that in preparation for tomorrow.

What do you hope folks will take away from your campaign?

I got into this race to put Iowans first and to really fight for hardworking families. Right now with haphazard trade and reckless tariffs, farm families are struggling again, which means our Main Streets are struggling and our manufacturers are struggling—we just need better decision makers.

What snacks are getting you through this?

Well, I hate to admit it, but I’m definitely eating too many Doritos. You know, I get up in the morning and we’re heading out and I pack oranges and almonds and cheese sticks, really healthy things. And then wouldn’t you know? The first time we stop to get gas, I cave and eat Doritos.

Jenny Singer is a staff writer for Glamour. You can follow her on Twitter.                                    

Originally Appeared on Glamour