Life

This Political Candidate Breastfeeding Her Baby In A Campaign Ad Will Make Moms Say "Hell Yeah"

by Casey Suglia

Never underestimate the power of a mom. Moms are the queens of multitasking — taking on dozens of jobs and tasks at once all while taking care of their children and many people don't understand that enough. So it should be required that everyone watch this political candidate's campaign ad in which she breastfeeds her child to provide further proof of how strong moms really are.

Krish Vignarajah is running in the 2018 gubernatorial primary election in the state of Maryland with the hopes of being the Democrat candidate for governor of Maryland. The election isn't until November, but that gives Vignarajah plenty of time to let voters know who she is. Her first campaign video, released on Wednesday, gives voters in the state of Maryland (and beyond) a perfect impression of just that— and being a mom to a young daughter, Alana, is a huge part of that.

Because the average breastfed baby feeds eight to 12 times every day, according to TODAY, it shouldn't come as a surprise that Vignarajah included this very important part of her life into her campaign video. In the video, Vignarajah introduces voters to what she sees for the state of Maryland — better health care, better employment rates, and lower rates of incarceration — all while breastfeeding her daughter and giving voters a glimpse into her personal life, too.

You need to watch the video to see how powerful Vignarajah is.

From the very beginning of the video, voters see Vignarajah breastfeeding Alana and speaking about the importance of a woman in office (and how there is a serious lack of women in Maryland state politics). Can I get an amen? Vignarajah told The Cut that she put herself breastfeeding her daughter in the video for a reason — to show people who she really is. Vignarajah said:

I wanted to be true to my experience and message and why I'm running and at the core of that is my daughter. Part of that is also me breastfeeding. I know sometimes people shirk away from that part of it and I just thought, "why?"

Her campaign message, stated at the end of the video — "I'm a mom. I'm a woman. And I want to be your next governor." — shows that being a mom is a huge part of Vignarajah's identity and that is something that every voter should get behind. Moms get stuff done, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that families and education are two major parts of Vignarajah's campaign platform. By being open about her experiences as a working mom who actively breastfeeds (especially on the campaign trail), Vignarajah told The Cut that she hopes that she can "change what the norm is" and this video can certainly help do that.

There have been plenty of breastfeeding politicians to come before Vignarajah. In Australia last year, Larissa Waters became the first member of parliament to breastfeed her infant daughter in the nation's parliament, in front of other members, according to the BBC. And just this month, Kelda Roys, another gubernatorial hopeful (this time from the state of Wisconsin) debuted her campaign earlier this month with a video in which she breastfed her daughter, according to Glamour. Roys told NBC 15 Wisconsin that her video touched other women, who had reached out to her thanking her for putting breastfeeding front and center. Roys was happy with this response, telling NBC 15, "I think women and all parents should have the right to take care of their babies without getting harassed or shamed."

The sad fact of the matter is that there is still a huge stigma surrounding breastfeeding in public, even if more than eight in 10 mothers in the United States breastfeed, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Vignarajah's campaign video does a great job in setting the wheels in motion to end this stigma while speaking truth to voters.

Check out Romper's new video series, Bearing The Motherload, where disagreeing parents from different sides of an issue sit down with a mediator and talk about how to support (and not judge) each other’s parenting perspectives. New episodes air Mondays on Facebook.