Back stories: legislators bring a variety of interesting experiences to their statehouse jobs.

• Author: Freeman, Duranya
• Position: LEGISLATORS

Political science majors, attorneys, business owners, town commissioners and organization leaders ... for many, the road to the state capitol is a linear one. Some have had an interest in politics since way before they ran for office. A few may even have begun their journeys during student council elections in middle school.

Yet for others, interest in government came years, if not decades, after their first field trip to the Capitol. These legislators took more unusual routes to the statehouse. And those experiences have influenced their priorities in their legislative work. Just like their peers, they have worked their way into public office because they care about the people in their district, state and country. But how they got there and why, may surprise you.

Oklahoma Senator Ervin Yen

From Taiwan to Politics

When you hear Oklahoma Senator Ervin Yen speak, you may be surprised by his strong Okie accent. Many people are startled, he says with a chuckle, not just by his accent but by the fact that he is so definitively Oklahoman. Yen is a doctor, an immigrant and the first Asian-American in the Oklahoma Legislature, but, he says firmly, "I see myself as an Oklahoman first."

Fearing a communist takeover, his family moved from Taiwan to Oklahoma City when Yen was 4 years old. Five years later, he and his family became naturalized citizens. Both his parents worked, but he was especially inspired by his mother, a lab technician who frequently took him to her office, sparking his interest in medicine. He worked to put himself through the University of Oklahoma and has been a cardiac and general anesthesiologist since 1984.

Yen's interest in state government grew from his frustrations with the state and federal health care systems. "I wanted to be in the chamber when there were health care issues being discussed to give senators the ramifications," he says. "This country needs physicians who know the health care system to deal with health care issues."

One of his role models has been Dr. Tom Coburn, a former U.S. senator from Oklahoma, an obstetrician by training and, like Yen, a conservative.

Yen, whose only "political" experience had been in the State Society of Anesthesiologists, decided to run for an open Senate seat in 2014 and won. It was a challenging task, working at the hospital until 3 in the afternoon, then knocking on doors until sundown. But it was worth it, he says, to ensure that "my children and grandchildren will have the same...