Karen Brownlee is the newly elected Representative of District 28 (suburbs north of Cincinnati) in the Ohio House. Before running for office, Brownlee worked as a licensed independent social worker. With a Republican super-majority in the Ohio State House, the new State rep has her work cut out.
I sat down with Brownlee, and the following conversation was edited for brevity and clarity.
EGT: I understand that politics is a career change for you. Tell me about your prior career.
KB: I am a licensed independent social worker, and I worked in community mental health with kids and families. I also worked as a clinical trainer with the mental health agency, where I trained clinicians on how to work with kids. I also trained community members, such as parents and school staff, on how to have safer interactions with children.
EGT: How does it translate into what you’re doing now?
KB: Pieces of the job feel a lot like social work. Social workers are trained to look at systems and how we interact within them in order to hopefully create more functional systems, whether it is a family system, a school system, or even more broadly, state or federal government. As a social worker, we will look at a policy because we feel the effects of it on our clients. In that respect, it feels like a natural fit. I was also a therapist with kids and families, which was all about building trust with people to get the outcomes that they want. I would sell myself as the conduit for that change if they were motivated to make that change. So, I feel that all those skills apply to this new venture. I know that making policy will be something that I need to learn. In terms of listening to people and understanding what they want and need, and making change to get that, I think it’s pretty transferable.
EGT: So what prompted you to make the switch from therapist to run for public office?
KB: We have to go back to when I became a therapist a few years ago. I worked with an agency, and we would contract out to schools. I had just started the job when the new Federal Poverty Guidelines came out, and they had just been pushed down again. Over the years, they had gone down and down again. I was working at a school in Hamilton County that was one of the lowest performing schools with the poorest children and families. That’s when I connected the dots. I watched firsthand how extraordinarily impactful our policies are on the health and wellness of our community members. This was in the 20-teens when Welfare-to-Work had been pushed for the past twenty years. And we were starting to feel the trickle-down of that policy. And these policies were pushing families to maintain poverty to maintain their benefits because the ceiling is so low now. The social safety net in Ohio has contracted based on these poverty guidelines. It’s almost impossible now for families to get out of poverty and reach financial independence because that cliff is so quick.
EGT: What is your background, and how does being Jewish inform your politics?
KB: I’m a Reform Jew and a member at Wise Temple. I would say my focus with Judaism has always been Tikkun Olam (repairing the world). Tikkun Olam is, and has always been, the driving force for me in my Judaism and my Jewish practice. Just for a bit of context, our Jewish Caucus at the Statehouse grew very quickly. It was two people up until last year, and now we’re up to five members who are in the Democratic Caucus as legislators. We have one Jewish state senator as well.
And it’s not just Tikkun Olam. We can’t stand idly by while our democracy and our democratic values are under attack. The survival of Jews in the U.S…. So far, we’ve had a pretty good ride, but it has started to degrade and now we’re feeling
the impact of a significant increase in antisemitism. I think there’s some real existential fear.
EGT: The last year has brought a wave of virulent antisemitism from both the right and the left. What has been your experience with that?
KB: I think the antisemitism on the left has been growing for some time. The antisemitism on the right, I honestly feel more comfortable with. The domestic terrorism from Christian Nationalists has just been there for a while. It’s just…
EGT: It’s the devil we know.
KB: It is, although there has been an increase in the intensity of the radicalization of those organizations for a host of reasons. That would be a different interview. From the left, it’s also been growing in the UK and Europe. For me, working with young people, this backlash from the left tends to be with younger people. It seems that there is a lot of misinformation and also a lot of confusion or lack of separation between Israeli policy and being a Jew. I have three young adults that I have raised, and they are really questioning Israeli policy and what it is to be a Jew. It’s been very painful for me to go through that with them. We’ve had lots of heated discussions, but I think we need to listen and hear the concerns. There is a war going on, and people are being killed, many of them children. Everybody’s wrong at this point. The example that we’re giving to young people by using violence and anger is teaching them violence and anger. The responses that we’re seeing from young people on the left are very angry and trending towards violence.
EGT: With a Republican super-majority in the Ohio House, you’re going to have to reach across the aisle. Where do you see room for compromise?
KB: In lots of places. I ran in one of ten or twelve competitive districts in this entire state. Out of 90 state races, maybe ten were competitive. In the other 80, we already knew who was going to win before the election even happened. So, we have to remember that I’m in a 50/50 district, which is how we should look. We should represent who our voters are. There are definitely people who serve who may be very extreme, but we still agree on something. I have this mental health background. I care deeply about what happens to kids. They’re not the most popular demographic because they don’t vote, and they tend not to have a voice. I am very motivated to be that voice for young people and families. Obviously, people are feeling pinched economically. Property taxes are one place where I hope we can find some commonality. Other areas would be with the mental health services being maintained for our kids.
EGT: Ohio is turning into an anti-trans state. I understand that you have some skin in this game. Would you like to talk about that?
KB: Sure. So, I’ve got three young adult children. One identifies as non-binary. One identifies as hetero-cis, and one identifies as transgender. And I’m going to be real. Who really cares outside of them and their lives? They’re all living great lives. They’re happy people. They are healthy. When it comes to living your life, I don’t feel that bullying is a great way to go about creating a healthy community. With that, data shows that about 30% of Gen Z identify as LGBT+. So, from a practical standpoint, why would we tell them who they are is wrong and
expect them to stay in this state? From a workforce standpoint, do we want to keep a workforce or scare them away? From a personal standpoint, I’m just against adults bullying children in any way shape or form. All that does is teach them bullying behavior and make them sick. Why would we want to push someone toward higher suicide rates? I simply don’t understand that. As a mental health provider, I have been asked by the state to reduce suicide rates. So this seems very antithetical to that.
EGT: How would the current bills directly affect your kids?
KB: One is this bathroom bill. Back when North Carolina did their No-Trans bathroom bill -whatever they called it- it was blanket. Businesses had to modify or manage that. Ohio’s only covers schools, so it’s very targeted just to kids. I don’t think most people care. I know the toilets don’t care. Many schools have gender-neutral bathrooms, so I don’t see how it will affect them.
EGT: How do you respond to parents who argue that they don’t want boys in their daughter’s locker room?
KB: If a kid identifies as a girl, they identify as a girl. If they identify as a boy, they identify as a boy. I think this is being confused with sexuality somehow. I grew up in public school, and I never saw any sexualized behavior in the bathroom. I’m not saying it couldn’t happen, but it doesn’t seem to be a grave concern. But what is the parents’ concern? I would have to ask the question.
EGT: Thank you so much for speaking to me. Karen, I wish you the best of luck on your new venture.
KB: Thank you.
