This State Senate Candidate Gave Her Convention Speech While in Labor

Mamas are the real superheroes and Minnesota state senate candidate Erin Maye Quade is proving it.

Quade—who’s hoping to be the state’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party’s nominee—was supposed to speak at a convention this past weekend, with the goal of getting enough delegate endorsements over her opponent, Justin Emmerich. However, Quade went into labor the morning of her speech. She requested the convention leaders move the endorsement process to earlier in the day, and opted to push through for as long as she could.

“She had a contraction every 15 to 30 minutes,” Mitchell Walstad, Quade’s campaign manager, told TODAY Parents on her behalf. “She would go into a private room each time, then back out to speak to delegates.”

Though she kept going for as long as she could, Quade ultimately decided to withdraw herself from the convention. “She realized she couldn’t meaningfully engage with delegates and completely advocate for herself,” Walstad told the outlet. “Erin hasn’t decided whether she will continue running the primary. It all depends on the support she has.”

Quade welcomed a daughter named Harriet with her wife Alyse on Sunday, April 24. If elected, Quade, according to her website, would be the first Black and out lesbian to serve in Minnesota.