Tag: women in politics

The Faces of America’s Diverse New Leadership

Posted on by robbie

It’s a watershed moment and a season of firsts in U.S. politics. London Breed was just elected as San Francisco’s first African-American woman to serve as mayor. Hoboken, New Jersey, mayor Ravinder Bhalla is the nation’s first Sikh to hold that position. Danica Roem is the first transgender woman elected to the Virginia House of Delegates. And there is a record-breaking number of female candidates — more than 300 and counting — who are currently running for seats in the House.  
Here are four up-and-coming candidates who, if elected, will upend the status quo and make history in the process.

Stacey Abrams

In May, former state House minority leader Stacey Abrams secured the Democratic nomination for governor of Georgia. Abrams is the first black woman to be chosen as a major party’s nominee for governor, and if elected, she would be the first black woman to ever govern over a state in the nation’s history.
“I am humbled by the opportunity to, you know, sort of tile this ground for folks. But I’m also excited about what it means for everyone who has yet to see themselves reflected in leadership in America,” Abrams told the New York Times after her win against former state Democratic Rep. Stacey Evans. “My goal is to make certain everyone has a seat at the table and that folks can see themselves and their values reflected in our government.”
One of Abrams’ biggest challenges is the state’s Medicaid expansion.
Georgia was one of 19 states that didn’t expand Medicaid services offered through Obamacare. A recent report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation suggests that if the state were to expand Medicaid in the near future, it could provide health insurance to 473,000 more residents in 2019.
“Medicaid expansion is transformative for our state,” Abrams told the Times. “It will help every facet, every community, and I’m just deeply saddened and ashamed that we haven’t done so already.”

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New Mexico congressional candidate Deb Haaland could make history as the first Native American woman to serve in Congress.

Deb Haaland

“So tonight we made history,” Deb Haaland told a crowd of supporters on June 6, after winning the primary for New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District. If Haaland wins — as she is expected to — she will be the first Native American woman ever elected to Congress.
But it’s not just a win for diversity. One of Haaland’s top priorities, she says, will be environmental protection. “I’m concerned that if we don’t do more to protect our open spaces and reduce climate change, there will be devastating and lasting impacts on us and future generations,” Haaland wrote on the Daily Kos. “Ignoring climate change sets up our students and workforce for failure by not educating them about the needs of the future.”
New Mexico has recently experienced an oil boom, with Exxon and other companies investing billions in oil production. This also means that the state currently ranks third in the nation for crude oil production, which runs counter to the idea of reducing carbon emissions. Despite this fact, Haaland, a former Democratic state party leader, has proposed to make New Mexico the “clean energy leader” in the nation. “I will fight special interests in Washington who exploit Native, rural, and low income communities,” she wrote, “for the purpose of fracking and drilling that pollutes our environment.”

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Congressional candidate Dan Koh is focusing on improving Massachusetts’ education system.

Dan Koh

Dan Koh was Arianna Huffington’s chief of staff and the first general manager of Huffpost Live before being chosen as Mayor Marty Walsh’s chief of staff in 2014 — all before Koh turned 30.
At 33, Koh is taking on a congressional race for Massachusetts’ 3rd District — and he’s raised $2.5 million in less than a year. If Koh wins, he will be the first Korean-American Democrat in Congress.
A product of a Massachusetts education, with two degrees from Harvard, one of Koh’s primary positions is a better education for everyone in the Bay State. “Massachusetts has one of the best education systems in the country, yet too many of our students are being left behind, especially in under-resourced neighborhoods,” reads his website.
It’s true that Massachusetts has some of the highest-ranked schools in the country, even when compared to other nations. But with Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’ focus on voucher programs, which Koh argues guts public school funding, there are fears about the future of the state’s education system.
Koh proposes a three-pronged approach to helping education flourish in the state: invest in tuition-free community college; support funding for teacher development and recruitment; and provide universal pre-K for all students.

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As the daughter of immigrants, Lupe Valdez says, “It is my goal to make sure that young Texans don’t face the same inhumane treatment I witnessed firsthand growing up.”

Lupe Valdez

After securing the Democratic primary nomination in late May, Lupe Valdez is the first openly gay Latina to run for governor of Texas.
A former Dallas County sheriff and a hardline progressive, Valdez could be a major player in the immigration debate by leading a state that is in the middle of a heated partisan battle on how to secure the nation’s borders.
A challenge Valdez faces in protecting immigrants is the state’s SB4 law — similar to Arizona’s “show me your papers” law — which allows police officers to act like immigration law enforcement and ask for proof of citizenship during, for example, a routine traffic stop.
“Standing up for immigrant communities has been a staple of my life,” Valdez writes on her website. “It is my goal to make sure that young Texans don’t face the same inhumane treatment I witnessed firsthand growing up.”
Valdez has said she grew up in the poorest zip code in San Antonio, with migrant parents who had eight kids. But through military training and access to good public education, she was able to thrive despite these odds. “I’m the candidate of the everyday working Texan, and I’m going to be their voice,” she says.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Dan Koh was running in Boston; he is, in fact, running for Massachusetts’ 3rd District, which is just north of Boston.

7 Ways to Be an Effective 21st-Century Political Activist

Posted on by robbie

Earlier this year, Erin Schrode, a 25-year-old Californian, ran to be America’s youngest female Congresswoman. The New York University graduate and founder of the environmental nonprofit, Turning Green, waged an underdog fight against fellow Democratic incumbent, Jared Huffman. The opponents were in agreement about the issues facing the state’s liberal North Coast (which stretches from the Golden Gate Bridge to the forested Oregon border), but Schrode argued it was time for young people to take the reins in Washington. Although she came in a distant third in the June primary, Schrode brought a youthful energy to staid Congressional politics and believes she switched up the dynamics of the race.
NationSwell spoke to her recently while she was on a visit to New York City about the lessons she’s learned about political organizing in the era of hashtag activism.
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This School Encourages Women to Join the World of Politics

Posted on by robbie

For the most part, politics is still a man’s thing. And the numbers from the National Women’s Political Caucus support that (disappointing) claim: Of the 535 Congressional seats, only 18.5 percent, or 99 members, are women. Adding to that, in 2013, only 24.1 percent of the 7,383 state legislators were female.
These statistics are exactly what the Women’s Campaign School is trying to change. Since 1994, this nonprofit has been teaching women the skills needed to run a successful political campaign.
So how did the school start? Well, it can be all traced back to 1992, which was dubbed the “Year of Women” due to the record number of female candidates. But the momentum couldn’t be sustained, and the following year saw a staggering decline in the number of female candidates.
So a number of powerful women —  Patricia Russo, head of the Commission on the Status of Women; Conn. Rep. Rosa DeLauro; former Conn. Rep. Nancy Johnson; former Yale Law School Dean Guido Calabresi and others — held a meeting to discuss the future of women in politics. Prior to the gathering, Russo had spoken to New York Times reporter Andree Aleion Brooks who offered a solution to the problem: a campaign training camp for women.
Russo took that idea to the meeting, and with the full support of Calabresi, the Women’s Campaign School emerged.
Through the years, it’s more than proven its worth.  In 20 years, the school has trained 1,400 women (about 70 to 80 per year) and boasts graduates such as Sen. Kristen Gillibrand of New York and former Ariz. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.
Most important to the school, though, is its emphasis on being non-partisan and issue neutral. The school wasn’t designed as a forum to debate the hot social topics, but rather, to educate women on how to run successful campaigns in real time. So class topics include organizing, budgeting, polling, fundraising, public speaking, staffing, and working with consultants.
And it appears to be working — many graduates are holding local level positions, such as sitting on municipal or education boards, while looking to expand into the state legislature.
While funding remains one of the biggest challenges facing female candidates, the school is providing these women with a chance to do something different: nonpartisan compromise.
Through the school, women are able to communicate across party lines and know each other as individuals, not as a party color. And women are bringing this practice into the workplace also, as shown through the efforts of Maine Sen. Susan Collins and Wash. Sen. Patty Murray during the last sequester.
“Susan Collins approached Patty Murray, saying, ‘I can’t sit through another meeting where nothing is going to be resolved. Will you sit with me, and let’s put a plan together. At least put something on the table for the others to consider,’ and that became the deal that ended the sequester. So that’s the power of women in public office, and there’s a reason why we need more women running and women winning,” says Russo when describing the situation to Fast Company.
And that’s just one example. If the Women’s Campaign School keeps churning out candidates, who knows what a little touch of femininity can bring to our government.
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