KY State Treasurer says biggest treasure is her new baby

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - In a predominately male environment, women are making their voices heard and their presence known in politics. One state official is hoping to bring change with something no elected official has done in the history of the Commonwealth.

State Treasurer Allison Ball was elected in 2015. She is the 38th State Treasurer and the youngest statewide female elected official in the country.

Now, she’s taken on an additional role in life, that of a working mom.

“Baby Levi is doing great,” Treasurer Ball said. “He’s almost three and a half months right now. He’s at this great stage right now where all you have to do is talk to him and he just smiles and laughs.”

Ball is 37 years old and is the first Kentucky Constitutional officer to give birth while in office.

“This is a new role right now for women having this type of experience and being in these kind of roles,” Ball said. “So, a lot of men are adjusting to having little babies around.”

Ball says she didn’t have a traditional maternity leave because of the nature of the job. She’s back at work now, juggling a lot. She and her husband, Asa are going through what many new parents do.

“We are not sleeping well,” Ball said. “And if there is any great challenge about being a new mom or dad, that’s been the greatest challenge.”

Sometimes Levi comes to work with mom.

“I want him to appreciate the work that we are doing, and I think it’s going to make him a better citizen,” Ball said. “Something I think is wonderful right now is that we are seeing a lot of women who are in my position who have small children, who are pregnant, doing these things. And it’s encouraging the next generation coming up that that you can do these things.”

While being the State Treasurer, a wife and a role model, being a mother is perhaps the most life changing.

"You are doing this for a reason," Ball said. "You take on these roles these responsibilities for a reason and the reason really is for the next generation."

Ball says she and her husband want to have more kids in the future.

More baby news, Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes and her husband are expecting their first child, a baby boy due in December.

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