Barbara Comstock, the Republican House candidate for Virginia’s diverse Tenth congressional district in the suburbs and exurbs of Washington, lost the first thing she ever ran for: a spot on her high school cheerleading team. “After that, I was like ‘I’m never doing anything again,’” she jokes.

Comstock, 55, says she spends a lot of time reflecting on her political career as a woman in a man’s world. She cites Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg’s feminist manifesto, Lean In, at least four times within 20 minutes.