One of the new faces in Ohio’s 133rd General Assembly made history just by being sworn in. 

“Asian -Americans, Asian-American women at that, we don’t have much voice in the General Assembly let alone in the state of Ohio in terms of elected officials,” says Senator Tina Maharath.  

The Whitehall native says she’s always experienced feeling like the other. Her parents came as refugees from Laos. In her youth, she spent time living in France.  

“[In France] I was bullied for being American, and in America I was bullied for being Asian,” says Maharath, who now represents Ohio’s 3rd Senate district comprised of parts of Columbus and the eastern suburbs.  “So, I never found medium ground of who I am or where I’m supposed to be at in terms of ethnicity, but now I’m the first Asian-American woman in the General Assembly.” 

The analyst turned politician says the election cycle wasn’t easy. This was her first public office, but reports indicate she volunteered in campaigns and worked with voter engagement in Asian-American communities. She wasn’t the choice of the Democratic party, either, winning despite her lack of endorsement and party financial backing. 

“It made me feel whole-hearted, and it made me stand up stronger,” says Maharath. “Because we have to have a spoken voice of the unspoken to stand up, and I’m that girl.” 

Republicans launched a massive spend against the newcomer, putting some of her past indiscretions like a bankruptcy and a 2007 accident where she hit a man who was deceased in the road into public discourse. 

“It was definitely a bad and hard time for me, especially going through a million dollar smear ad,” said Maharath. “But what hurt me more was the people in my life or who have experienced life with me through all these years going through it, too.”

Maharath apologized during the campaign for the accident, which happened at age 16, and hopes constituents will look beyond the past and forward to her work. 

“What I can do now is move forward as a legislator and prove that I’m not that person the smear ads said I am,” says Maharath.  

That work includes trying to reduce stigma around mental health and get more resources for people battling mental health issues, especially fellow Asian-Americans. She says some in her community, many of whom escaped war as refugees, have untreated PTSD causing a host of other issues like addiction, abuse and neglect. Maharath 

“I was that at-risk youth who did go through mental health issues,” says Maharath who experienced her own trauma at a young age, losing her mother and siblings in a car crash, according to reports.  “And, unfortunately, I did not have the resources provided for me to get through.  But I did prevail to get through all of my mental health issues to become a state senator because I made that my American dream.”

The mother of a young son says that helping people to take care of their mental health will benefit other issues Ohioans face, such as addiction. She also wants to focus on healthcare, where she says more women’s voices are needed to combat the majority male legislature.

“They know nothing about periods, they know nothing about menopause, they know nothing about childbirth,” says Maharath. “But they want to pass these heartbeat abortion bans, and they want to go against the pink tax but they have no idea what it means to choose between purchasing tampons and purchasing a gallon of milk.” 

The first-term senator introduced her first two pieces of legislation this week around health care - one bill to ensure more transparency with pharmacy benefit managers and prescription costs, and the other requiring pharmacies to give patients a safe way to dispose of unused opiates. 

 “Drug addiction starts at home, it all starts in the medicine cabinet,” says Maharath. 

The OU bobcat says she also hopes to make changes in education, including exploring how to make school funding more equitable. 

 “Right now we are funding charter schools and e-schools that do not need the funding, the formula is so corrupt,” says Maharath. “Instead of benefitting the public schools, it’s benefitting the charter schools and, of course, their investors.” 

Maharath says that she does see charter schools as an option for parent choice, but would rather funds be used to build up poor performing districts instead. 

“We need to make it more fair for both a wealthy school district and a poor income school district because right now there’s a large wealth gap that is very transparent,” says Maharath. 

Now that she’s sworn in, and the campaign drama is behind her, she has a message for Ohioans.

“As a senator, I am your person, I am a fighter, I’ve prevailed through a lot in life,” says Maharath.  “Ohio is home, Ohio is my family. And, I take care of my family, and I will fight for my family, too, which includes Ohio.”