Minnesota state senate candidate gives convention speech while in labor
A Minnesota State Senate candidate is receiving support after giving a speech at a political convention on Saturday while in labor.
Erin Maye Quade went into labor early the morning of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party convention where she was set to appear to secure her party's nomination. She still attended to speak.
A video of her speech was posted to Twitter by a woman named Ashley Fairbanks who was in attendance as Maye Quade spoke to the crowd before taking a pause while experiencing labor pains. "Excuse me," Maye Quade is heard saying while leaning over before people begin to cheer her on.
Today in Minnesota, @ErinMayeQuade gave a convention speech while in active labor. And her opponent didn’t think to ask to postpone the convention as she, you know, had to go to the hospital to deliver her baby. What the hell. pic.twitter.com/Wmu5fh40I6
— ashley fairbanks (@ziibiing) April 24, 2022
While the cheers are in support of Maye Quade, Fairbanks expressed her upset over the candidate having to attend the convention at all while in labor.
"Her opponent didn’t think to ask to postpone the convention as she, you know, had to go to the hospital to deliver her baby," Fairbanks wrote. "What the hell."
Neither Maye Quade nor her campaign manager Mitchell Walstad immediately responded to Yahoo Life's request for comment. However, Walstad told CBS News that Maye Quade had to withdraw from the race because she no longer could stay at the convention.
"After the first round of balloting, Erin was at the point where she could not stay anymore, and she chose to withdraw," Walstad told the publication. "She was not forced out, but she chose to [leave] because with endorsing process, there's often a lot of change that can happen between one ballot and the next, and a lot of persuasion can happen if there's no decided candidate after that first round."
While there were options to have the balloting suspended, Maye Quade's opponent Justin Emmerich ended up winning the nomination after she left.
Maye Quade's wife Alyse ended up announcing the birth of the couple's baby girl on Sunday, nearly 24 hours after the politician first went into labor.
"Mom did awesome, even in the moments that got a little intense, and especially when it came to pushing baby girl out," Alyse wrote about her wife. "Actually seeing the power and determination, push after push - I'll never look at my wife the same again, she is so powerful."
Supporters of Maye Quade continue to share their thoughts on social media about the way that the convention played out.
We know this process was not designed to be inclusionary of women, people of color, or mothers. And yet, @ErinMayeQuade persevered and showed up, as she always does, for community. Sending the Maye Quade family all the love in the world today!
— Emma McBride (@E_McB) April 23, 2022
The auntie in me just jumped out of my chair watching this… about rushed the dang stage from my house just now.
I can’t imagine what she must’ve been going through physically, mentally, and emotionally under that kind of pressure.
Sending love and light to Erin and Alyse ??— Jackie Craig (she, her) (@JackieCraigMN) April 24, 2022
A fellow DFL candidate for a separate district, Clare Oumou Verbeten, took to Facebook to share that it had been an example of racial inequities in the healthcare system.
"It hurts me to see this very public display of a Black woman pushing through pain, especially when the blatant disregard and dismissal of our pain has led to alarming rates of us dying during childbirth," Verbeten wrote. "Black women are always expected to be so strong. We deserve tenderness, care, and rest. Get some rest, sis. Congrats on becoming a mama."
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