Mazie Hirono

As I walk to my office every morning, I know I stand on the shoulders of those who came before me.

Women are problem solvers, and often we don't get much credit for that because the typical image of a leader is someone who's loud, obnoxious, chest-pounding. That's not my vision of what true leadership is; true leaders are the ones who work with great commitment to get something done.

Protecting Medicare and Social Security, health care, workers' rights, and a woman's right to choose remain top priorities for me.

I am fighting kidney cancer. And I'm just so grateful that I had health insurance so that I could concentrate on the care that I needed rather than how the heck I was going to afford the care that was going to probably save my life.

Women feel we need to be much better prepared, that we need to have a lot of experience behind us before we run for office.

My friend Patsy Mink was a champion for social and economic justice, equality and civil rights for women and marginalized communities. She was a trailblazer who never backed down from a challenge and whose work in Hawaii and Congress brought positive change to the lives of women, children, and minorities in Hawaii and across the country.