As Estefania Gruenstein campaigned to represent House District 85, she kept to a strict routine and an even stricter budget. Her son, Charlie, went to Montessori preschool part-time. As the campaign ramped up, she needed childcare for more time.
She door-knocked in the afternoons but took a break to be home with 2-year-old Charlie and filled in the gaps with babysitters for $15 to $20 an hour.
Family and friends helped out where they could. Other times, when there was no feasible childcare, she’d wind up bringing the toddler with her on the campaign trail.
Gruenstein, who didn’t prevail in the June primary, could have used campaign funds to defray some childcare costs thanks to a little-used provision aimed at eliminating barriers for candidates running for office.
The Oklahoma Ethics Commission in 2024 approved allowing candidates and officeholders to use campaign funds to cover the cost of dependent care following a request for opinion by former Sen. Jessica Garvin, R-Duncan. Only certain expenses, such as an hour with a babysitter so a candidate can attend a campaign event, for instance, qualifies. Regular dependent care, like daycare, that would be used regardless of campaign or office holder duties, does not.
Policies like these can help more women, who tend to be primary caregivers, seek public office. Women hold just 35 of 149 seats in the Oklahoma Legislature, according to the Center for American Women and Politics.
Gruenstein, whose campaign centered in part around electing a working mom to the seat representing parts of Nichols Hills and The Village, did not know of the option until she was contacted for this story.
Nationally, 40 states and Washington, D.C., allow campaign funds to be used for childcare to varying extents. But candidates spent just $700,000 in campaign funds for childcare between 2018 and 2025, according to a report by the Vote Mama Foundation, an organization that supports electing mothers to office.
Oklahoma candidates and representatives spent just over $3,200 in campaign funds through 2025.
They include Sen. Kristen Thompson, R-Edmond, who is running for re-election in Oklahoma’s 22nd District, and Kinsley Jordan, who won the June 16 primary election for District 40. Rep. Michelle McCane, who has represented District 72 in East Tulsa since 2024 and has two children, spent about $1,500 in childcare costs in 2025 and $320 in the first quarter of this year,
McCane said since being in office, she’s rarely if ever heard other representatives discuss it.
“Oklahoma's not really great, I feel, about people knowing how things work and what the requirements are,” she said.
But she was a librarian for years and was well-versed in how to research election finance laws, so she figured it out. And, she said, knowing about the ability to be reimbursed for childcare was at considerably higher stakes for her than many other candidates and representatives.
Most legislators with children have a spouse. She doesn’t.
That makes pick up and drop off for her younger child, who is 15, especially difficult. Prior to the change in election law, and cautious of the high price of car-ride programs, she’d work her schedule around her son’s: pick him up from school, drop him off at home and rush to an event in the evening. Now, she can sometimes pay for his ride so she can be more present to constituents.
Still, it doesn’t always work out. Her team is small and her campaign is grassroots. Sometimes she doesn’t have the campaign money to cover dependent care.
The childcare provision is a step in the right direction for accessibility, she said. McCane is the first woman to hold her seat in the House.
There are few working mothers in the Oklahoma Legislature, like other state houses around the country. As of February 2024, 7.9% of state legislators in the country were mothers to children 18 and under, Vote Mama Foundation reported. In Oklahoma, mothers’ representation was even smaller at less than 5%.
Being able to spend campaign funds on childcare can make a world of difference and level the playing field for people who historically have not held office, which in turn means better legislation for the diverse populations of Oklahoma, McCane said.
“Every bit of diversity or difference that we can get just helps everybody,” she said.
When her children were young, Trish Ranson was also taking care of her aging parents. Running a campaign would’ve been nearly impossible, she said. Ranson, now a state representative and state director for Women In Government, didn’t run for office until her children were older.
“It doesn't take the whole weight off of someone's shoulders, but it does help,” she said of the campaign fund provision. “And when you feel like you're having to do everything yourself, a little help can go a long way.”
Across the country, caregiving and family obligations are the third-most cited reason women leave legislative office, after running for higher office or retirement, a Vote Mama study reported. Gruenstein pointed to the mental load that mothers often take on as part of the reason why.
During her campaign, she’d knock doors, pick up and drop off groceries, then continue to door knock, and time laundry or her son’s nap time between shifts campaigning.
“That's just how it is having kids,” she said. “Campaigning is not just a nine-to-five. It's an all-day, every day kind of thing.”
Oklahoma Watch, at oklahomawatch.org, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that covers public-policy issues facing the state.
