Erica's Story
Who is Erica Watkins?
Erica Watkins has been called loud, defiant, stubborn, and argumentative for most of her life. What people often meant was that she asked questions. She challenged authority. She refused to accept “that’s how it’s always been,” especially when it didn’t make sense and especially when it wasn’t fair.
"What people really meant was that I questioned authority."
Growing Up in Oklahoma
“My kids, and all children in the younger generations deserve a better world than the one we’re living in now.”
Raised in Sapulpa, Oklahoma, in a conservative Christian environment with rigid expectations for women, Erica learned early how power polices women’s bodies, voices, and ambition. Long before she had language for it, she understood what it meant to be told to shrink herself.
Erica is an unapologetically strong woman, a leader, and a community builder. Her leadership is rooted in empathy, not control.
Erica’s life has been shaped by love as much as resistance. She has been married to her partner, Rick, for 15 years. Together, they are raising two young boys in Oklahoma public schools.
Richard and Samuel are sharp, curious, and strong-willed. They ask hard questions and refuse easy answers. Erica believes they — and all children — deserve a future defined by dignity, safety, and possibility, not scarcity and fear.
“Survival wasn’t individual then. It was collective.”
One of Erica’s earliest lessons in real community came far from Oklahoma. As a child, she spent a year living in Kauaʻi, Hawaiʻi, and survived Hurricane Iniki. After the storm, families crowded together under one roof because survival was collective.
Living in a majority Indigenous community stood in stark contrast to the idea that everyone should look out only for themselves. People showed up for one another because that was simply what community looked like.
Erica never forgot that.
Service & Leadership
Erica served for ten years in the Oklahoma Army National Guard, including a deployment to Afghanistan as a Female Engagement Team leader. She spent time in remote villages listening to women and families whose lives were shaped by decisions made thousands of miles away, without their consent.
During her service, Erica learned what she had always sensed: women were held to different standards, often justified by policies that didn’t hold up. She asked why. When the answers failed, she pushed back. She protected the people under her command—even when it came at a personal cost.
To Erica, leadership is not about compliance. It is about responsibility, accountability, and doing what is right, even when it is uncomfortable.
“I protected my people, even when it cost me. Leadership, to me, is not about compliance."
Erica did everything she was told would lead to stability. She served her country. She earned two degrees. She worked hard. And like millions of Americans, she learned the truth: the American Dream is not broken—it’s rigged.
The systems we live under are working exactly as designed. They prioritize profit over people, wealth over well-being, and power over truth.
That is why Erica became an organizer in Oklahoma. She has fought for public education, challenged extremist interference, and stood up to systems that treat working people, families, and marginalized communities as disposable.
That is why she is running for Congress.
Service & Leadership
Erica served for ten years in the Oklahoma Army National Guard, including a deployment to Afghanistan as a Female Engagement Team leader. She spent time in remote villages listening to women and families whose lives were shaped by decisions made thousands of miles away, without their consent.
During her service, Erica learned what she had always sensed: women were held to different standards, often justified by policies that didn’t hold up. She asked why. When the answers failed, she pushed back. She protected the people under her command—even when it came at a personal cost.
To Erica, leadership is not about compliance. It is about responsibility, accountability, and doing what is right, even when it is uncomfortable.
“I protected my people, even when it cost me. Leadership, to me, is not about compliance."
Erica did everything she was told would lead to stability. She served her country. She earned two degrees. She worked hard. And like millions of Americans, she learned the truth: the American Dream is not broken—it’s rigged.
The systems we live under are working exactly as designed. They prioritize profit over people, wealth over well-being, and power over truth.
That is why Erica became an organizer in Oklahoma. She has fought for public education, challenged extremist interference, and stood up to systems that treat working people, families, and marginalized communities as disposable.
That is why she is running for Congress.