Katie Hunter

Katie Hunter is not afraid to give someone a shove. 

The junior legislative assistant for Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) was in Washington at her first heavy metal concert (with the band Mastodon) when she started getting pushed and prodded. 

{mosads} “I grew up in the South. Guys would never even think about doing that to a lady,” she says. “So this girl was like, ‘You have to shove them back,’ so I was like, ‘OK, I’ll give them a little shove. I’m kind of scrawny, but I’ll give it a try.’ ”

After growing up in rural Georgia and Virginia and moving around as her father, a pastor, rotated through churches, she wanted to give the city a try, too. 

At Virginia Tech, she spent a summer interning for Griffith’s House of Delegates race. Then he was elected to Congress in 2010, just in time for Hunter to land a job after graduating in 2011. 

The preacher’s daughter stereotypes can stick with her, though. 

“Some people think I’m going to be really wild and rebellious or I’m going to be like the good girl,” she says.
Do either of them fit?
“I’ve got a little bit of both, I think,” Hunter says. “I’m the middle child, so I’m naturally a little bit rebellious. There’s lots of good country songs out there about preacher’s daughters, so I kind of fall into maybe some of it.”

As a teenager she started wearing black with black nail polish and a studded belt, thinking she’d get in trouble, but when her parents were supportive, “I was like, ‘Well this isn’t fun anymore.’ ”
Nowadays, fun is working on the weekends as a wine pourer at the Barrel Oak Winery in Virginia and taking ballet and other dance classes. She danced growing up and “it helps keep me in shape, because I can’t even run a mile.”

The rebellious streak still shines through, though. 

“I’ve toned down, but I like to keep the mood with the edgy nail polish or my edgy, hippy clothes,” she says. “Because, why not?”

— Peter Sullivan