 Good evening, my name is Jessica Weaver and on behalf of the future forum I want to thank you all for joining us for our discussion on women and leadership tonight The future form is an organization that brings together individuals with different backgrounds Experiences and points of view to discuss the most important issues that affect us all our goal is to create informed Civil and bipartisan discourse, which is perhaps needed now more than ever The future forms events are made possible by our incredible members and sponsors If you are not a member of the future forum I strongly encourage you to sign up before you leave tonight or at the very least visit lbjfutureforum.org to learn more Tonight's discussion is part of our annual series on women and leadership Which has explored a variety of topics including building diverse and inclusive teams the competing professional and personal demands Women may face and most recently a conversation on women and government featuring Madeleine Albright I'm incredibly excited to begin tonight's discussion focusing on the historic mobilization of women in politics Please keep in mind there will be time for questions at the end of the panel And I hope you'll all join us after to continue the conversation and enjoy the reception And now I'll turn it over to my colleague Alexa who covers politics and demographics for the Texas Tribune to introduce our guests and moderate our discussion Hi, everyone Can everyone hear me? I don't know if it's there we go. Thanks for coming. My name is Alexa Uda I'm a demographics reporter for the Texas Tribune as Jessica mentioned We've got about 40 to 45 minutes of conversation and then I'll open it up to questions So enjoy your drinks and get your questions ready toward the end of the panel. We've got a great Panel I'll set up for you who have very different experiences in the political world to my left We have Gina Ortiz Jones. She is the Democratic candidate for Congressional District 23 a Massive district that runs from San Antonio down to the border and up to the El Paso area She is a former Air Force intelligence officer Next to her is MJ Hager. She is the Democratic candidate for Congressional District 31 Which runs from Round Rock up to Temple. She is also a former Air Force She is also a member of the Air Force. She was a combat search and rescue helicopter pilot Next to her is Brandon Steinhauser. She is a GOP political consultant who is a co-founder and partner of Steinhauser strategies Which specializes in PR and communications and last but not least we have Cheryl Cole She is a Democratic candidate for House District 46 here in Austin She previously served as mayor pro tem for the city of Austin and was the first African-American woman elected to Austin City Council Thank you much for being here So when it comes to under representation I'm often sort of the Debbie Downer of the office when I start looking at the numbers And I know there's been a lot of talk this year about the intense mobilization of women in politics Particularly among women looking to run for office But according to the tribune's number crunching both the Republican and Democratic ballots heading into November will be dominated by men and Even if every woman running for state and federal office were to win in 2018 Texas women would still fall short of equal representation in their government at the Capitol For example women make up only 20% of the legislature and nationally we rank 35th when it comes to representation So I'm curious when when you look out to this landscape of under representation and really how far behind Texas is What is it about our state in your opinion that's that's left women so far behind? So the easy questions have started I mean, I think we can we can look at some of the obvious things, right? I mean we could look at some of the things like gerrymandering We can look at some of the things like voter suppression all of these things that I think Lead people to sometimes question, you know, sometimes the effect of their vote Well, what does it matter? And I think that disproportionately affects districts like this one as you mentioned This is a district that runs from San Antonio to El Paso 538 miles across 70% of the voting age population lives in San Antonio so while it is large it is quite compact But you can imagine, you know, what was the intent of the person that drew that line? Right on what planet could one person feasibly do a good job of serving a district that this is the largest congressional district That is not its own state, right? Yeah, exactly 40% of the US borders in the district and a majority minority district So you have to look at again the effect that this Disproportionately has on I think the future of this state already a majority minority state Yeah, I think it's a lot of things. I think it's a combination of things I think that people have a very short memory and when we say things like we are the state of Ann Richards still We do need to elect more women on both sides of the aisle to office to show And give give role models and and build that next generation of leaders But I believe that we need to be focusing on removing the barriers that women face to run I don't know about these ladies, but I've had a lot of experiences facing some discrimination which I'm not New to because I wasn't a male-dominated career field in the military as well But I definitely think that I have a responsibility as a female candidate to stand up and stomp out Aggressively anything that I see that is misogyny and discrimination not because of how it impacts my race But because of how it impacts other women who would run for office who see that and say that's a good reason not to run We need to do more and do better about Affordable child care When you run at the congressional level, it's very difficult to do if you don't quit your job And not a lot of people are in that position to be able to do that. That's a barrier so I think that what that's what we need to do is focus on electing more women and especially women of color and You know remove barriers Yeah, I would just add that I don't think Texas is unique in this I think it's a national issue that we see less women running for office This year perhaps more than ever we've seen that momentum increase for women running for office I'm specifically on the Democrat side But I would just say you know as a mother of three that that seems really daunting to me to just put everything aside and run For office as women we often see ourselves as problem-solvers But at the same time we sometimes have to be asked to run for office and that's something we hear a lot from candidates I served as the chairperson of an organization called Maggie's List Which is sort of the conservative response to Annie's list and oftentimes women that we would approach about running for office It just seems so daunting. How do I fundraise? You know, where do I begin and I think that whether it's a man or a woman and specifically in this case for women a lot of It begins with just resources and education and identifying those people who are interested in running for office and providing that encouragement. I Agree with you that it's I don't think it's a Texas thing. It's just women in office is It's just a big challenge, but I think the the major challenge is the I Have a family I have kids how do I do this challenge and I've given kind of mentoring in the speech over and over again Excuse me. Did you say you were married? Yes. Did you say you had children? Yes That means you know what generations to come means that means you have an obligation to run I would echo that because yeah, please I would just add to you know while this is not a Texas issue the fact that it is a Texas issue Disproportionately affects the future of the country and we could talk about this have the same issue in Wyoming But I mean one in ten kids in this country don't school go to school in Wyoming One in ten kids in the country go to school in Texas, right? The fact that we've got 36 people honored to call themselves representatives in Washington representing the great state of Texas Only three of them are women only two of them are Democratic women now granted They're both women of color But the last time we sent a new woman to Congress was over 20 years ago, right? So when we look at some of the health statistics when we look at you know, some of our rates of educational outcomes I think all of those you can tie a direct line between our representation in Austin and in Washington So I think you know while it's not unique to Texas I think Texas does bear a lot of the response of Responsibility moving forward just because of the disproportionate number of young people in this country that live and go to school in Texas And I think that we don't do a good enough job of not just saying run for office because you're a woman Run for office because you're needed. It's like have you ever Do you have a church secretary? Yes, does she have a business kind of background? Yes That's why because you bring a whole new perspective that is missing from our country So you can't go home Turn on the news and complain and not give your talents because the what you know That's not there is part of the problem And I always give this example. I was a PTA president Was a bit more thinking about office. They recruited me Got on the PTA and The first thing I said is Where are the other working moms and there was this big friction between the working moms and the non-working moms? And I was like the first PTA president that had been a working mom So I just went after all the working moms. I don't have time. I don't have time Well, you know what? She's not gonna be you know, the golden girl Sally. Okay, okay, okay Sure, and then once they started doing it. It just changed the entire school The entire school it changed it for the kids. It changed it for the boys. It changed it for the teachers It just it changed the entire school something that simple Well, and you know, I think in the past when I've talked to groups that are working to recruit women and helping them run for office I've heard what you know what you mentioned We and in a lot of times people are hesitant to have to fundraise or you know There's this sort of notion that women have to be asked to run more than men might be and I'm curious for Regina MJ is considering that you're sort of in that wave of first-time candidates in this surge Of democratic can women running for office Did you feel a sort of sense of urgency that outweighed some of those traditional bears? I mean did those did you consider those things or was was there something else that? Encourage you to run beyond some of the typical barriers. It's certainly factored into my decision I don't personally nor professionally come from wealth But anyone who has started this process knows for some of the kind of decision-makers that would be in this process That's always the first question is can you raise X hundred thousand of dollars right? And so it's it's very daunting and they and yes, they tell you you know like well map out your network educationally professionally socially And look I have been in public service for 14 years and again I was raised by a single mother right there was not a lot of money for for education much less a rainy day So I knew this was not going to come from from my network but I frankly the most motivating thing was you know, I Knew exactly how my country and my community invested in me that allowed me to do everything that I've done in and out of Uniform for our country and so I had to think about you know everything that was done for me to allow me to go on to do What I've done and and the the need to want to protect those same opportunities That allowed me to grow up healthy get an education and serve my country the desire to protect those opportunities outweighed my fear About can I do this? It was more of I will do this I will figure this out just like I figured everything else like just like MJ's been quite successful a number of things that she's done Because you know, this was not it for as an as a member of the LGBT community as a veteran as a woman as a first-generation American it was just clear that we were going to have to stop assuming that somebody was going to come to save us We'd have to save ourselves Yeah, I've always had this really irritating personality disorder where I see something that I think is wrong or unjust and I just Just attack it it ruined my military career because I sued the Secretary of Defense and there's no coming back from that So, you know, I think a lot of the things about politics were just making me irritated I was irritated at the apathy. I was irritated at the lack of women I was irritated at the importance of money and while I had successfully avoided sales my whole career I was on an executive track at Dell and was you know told by my mentors You have to do a stint in sales if you want to go anywhere and I said, I think I'm okay I'm not that ambitious. I'll be fine here at this level because I don't want to do sales And then I gave up my paycheck and gave up my ambition and I finally found myself as the VP of sales of my campaign By accident and I think if I had known that I don't know I would have maybe hesitated to do this But I really think I set out to do those things and a lot of women will say that you know They're kids they want to focus on their kids and I have small kids And that was something that I've faced some discrimination about as people inferring that I'm not a good mom because I'm running for Congress while having small kids and Really, I never saw it that way. I never even for a second thought. Well, I won't be here for them I actually bring them to most things I'm surprised. I didn't bring them to this. I usually I mean that this would would really interrupt bath time so but I do bring them to most things and You know, I'm doing this for them not just for their future But I was at a meeting And I was speaking and I sat down and it was another candidate's turn to speak and my three-year-old was Uncharacteristically being loud and I was like, what do you need? What can mommy do to get you to be quiet? And he said it's my turn to speak. I want the microphone and I was so proud. I was like, that's my kind of guy That's right. Don't you let anyone silence you now go in the parking lot and tell daddy all about it So I think the things that normally traditionally stop us are the things that motivated me And and I think that comes from having a history of great examples to follow and I'm cognizant of that as I know These other ladies are that we are Examples and and the more that we do things like this and events like this No matter how far the drive no matter how what time is it's bath time? We it's important to do these things for that specific reason, you know And on the separate panel earlier this year I spoke with state representative Helen Giddings who is retiring in And we talked about what seems like a lack of progress in getting women elected to the state legislature in particular You know during her first legislative session in 1993 there were 27 women so being in the Texas house during her last legislative session 24 years later that number went all the way up to 29 and you know, I Sat down with her and I wondered you know given Given everything we know about how hard it is to run for office and 24 years later The the idea that only two more women were at the Capitol, you know What is is the under-representation of women a retention problem or a recruitment problem? Which one do you attack first? Well, we work very closely with a lot of the members in the legislature Including a number of female senators as well as members of the house And I have definitely heard from more than one of them that it is quite lonely To be a woman whether you're a Republican or a Democrat in the state legislature in that there is a Strength in numbers and that sometimes you just need to vent to another woman about the day at the Capitol And I think that there's a lot of frustration I mean if you've spent any time in the Capitol, you know that that is not a cheery place where you want to spend You're a lot of time and so I think that You know that you do have to find strength in other females that are in that same position And since there's not a lot of them it can be somewhat discouraging I see it as more of a recruitment problem as opposed to a retention problem because if you recruit people The right people they will stay and I think the recruitment in where we fall short is really not communicating your value and your need and Just talking about it in terms of the same way we would talk to a male that doesn't Resonate with us So when you say Yeah, I mean man just like oh power or what that type of thing I mean, I don't think we Groove to that same type of thing, but when you say No one else understands a autistic Child and so if you don't go I mean well that well I guess maybe I've heard from one person all session that came in and they are trying to start a club and do this and that and this It's just it's it's not happening and you have one and so is your brother So if you bow out It's gone. Everybody understands cancer. I think also it depends on finding the issues that you're passionate about to kind of build on that I mean, you know So often we hear about women's issues, but women's issues include the economy and foreign policy and you know Health care reform and all of these ideas that we have discussions with our girlfriends or our friends about and you know taking that and Corresponding that with you can have an impact You can change policy and it doesn't just have to be a dinner table conversation You can actually take action to be a voice on that issue in a way that you care about I think just putting that perspective out there and saying what are you passionate about? You can make a difference is really empowering You know, I think an interesting dynamic that I haven't heard discussed a lot is the idea of and I've said it myself Don't just run because you're a woman. Don't just vote for someone because they're a woman When for hundreds of years if not longer, we've been voting for and supporting people because they're men When when when faced with a choice and I think when when good strong female candidates on both sides Run for the state legislature I don't think that it's a negative thing when you agree with, you know Both people's issues in a primary maybe or you're kind of torn between the two I don't think it's a negative thing to say we are underrepresented by women and this is a good opportunity for me to shout out to Meg Well, she's running for Senate in my area in my district and I think that we need to seek them out and support them And I don't think there's anything wrong with that Well, you know, I I think we we know women of color have historically been Underrepresented in Texas politics though Democrats have been moderately successful on that front but the under-representation is even worse for women who are part of the LGBT community and Unsurprisingly some of the challenges that come with being a member of a marginalized group transfer over to politics if not in worse ways Sometimes and Gina. I was at a Democratic candidate forum earlier this year during one of your primary opponents pretty blatantly went after you After your sexual orientation and you know, I'm curious what it's been like to navigate these sort of the taxes as a candidate and as a Woman who's part of the LGBT community? Yeah, I must I was surprised myself, right? I had to pinch myself and say I am at a Democratic primary, right? Democratic primary forum, but yeah, I mean this it shows you that it's it's just surprised that there are still people like that That they can they can be part of our party. I mean our 10 is big, but it ain't that big, right? And so what I what I have done though, and I think why why the team why we've been successful is I've been very open I mean, yeah, you would think that there are you know, have I gotten the question, you know What's it like to run as a openly LGBT woman in Texas and I say look I bring my full self to this, right? I'm running in a district that is has 4,000 dreamers in it We have between Texas and California. We've got 50% of this nearly 50% of our country's dreamers And so what I talk about to show you them that I know a little bit of what it's like And why we need to fix this issue is when I had my ROTC scholarship that took me from John J. High School in San Antonio to Boston University as a four-year Air Force ROTC scholarship Don't ask don't tell applied to me. And so I tell folks, you know, I live in I knew I know exactly what it's like To live in fear that an opportunity that you worked hard for opportunity to get an education opportunity to serve your country that that Could be taken away from you through no fault of your own So while I'm not a dreamer, you know I have to empathize with our dreamers at the University of Texas at San Antonio Sol Ros State and Alpine University of Texas at El Paso these dreamers that are doing everything that we want them to do And live in fear because folks can't keep a promise that we made to 800,000 young people So, you know, I You know if you're gonna come after me for being LGBT in 2018 I think it probably says more about you than it does about me Yeah But it's been important to you to turn around some of the experiences you've experienced in order to empathize with some of your Constitution it has been and I mean and I say look I'd be honored to be the first out member of Congress from Texas But it is more important that I'm not the last Speaking of under representation in the legislature women are particularly underrepresented among the Republican Party The underrepresented under representation only worsens when you look at just Republican women of color by my count There's only one and in the legislature and when you look at the house for example You've got 95 Republicans only one of which is a woman of color And I'll preface this by acknowledging Brandon that you don't speak for all Republicans But I'm wondering you know given your experience within the party Do you feel that the party is doing enough to elect women particularly women of color? Yeah, I think it's an important conversation And I know it's an important topic that has been had at the state level of the party as well as within the legislative body You know, I think we also need to represent or recognize Eva Guzman who's on the Supreme Court as a Latina GOP woman But you know at the end of the day I think that it comes down to the issues that we talk about in the way that we talk about them in the Rhetoric and how we talk about issues that we care about I'm a conservative first and foremost and the Republican Party is a vehicle for the ideas that I care about And so if we're talking about recruiting candidates I think that we have to be very mindful of our rhetoric and how we approach topics ranging from everything from immigration to health care to Education and so, you know, I think we probably could do a better job of recruiting candidates into minority communities So I think that there's a lot of room for improvement there But I know that the party has done a significant amount of work Reaching into Hispanic communities and African-American communities and every Juneteenth Festival in Texas We try and have a GOP booth at we try and connect in these communities and we're I think we're doing a good job But there's certainly room for improvement You know, I I'm not sure we can have a conversation about the underrepresentation of women in politics or the mobilization of women in politics Without really addressing the the me too movement and sort of the sexual harassment that's rampant in the political field You know, I'm curious what your experiences have been either as elected officials or candidates or working in the political arena With either sexual harassment or even more generally sort of the boys club that persists in politics How have you had to deal with that in your different areas? Yeah, I think that the movement is probably Helping in this environment because it's making some women. I've been the victim of sexual assault And sexual harassment and discrimination I think that it's making someone and almost who hasn't right been a victim of something Making us feel safer in being able to engage in the boys club and being able to come in these environments and feeling like We're gonna be believed when we stand up and say something but what I have found is interesting is The that it's still not where you would think it would be in 2018 It's still far back and that goes for both parties I mean, I've experienced it with with some of the the members of a member of Congress actually who I had an awkward Interaction with and then I mentioned to a team member of mine and she said yeah We're aware we're working with him on it and I'm like what is 2018 you're aware and you're working with him on it And his this is still happening. So I mean, I think we have a long way to go But I'm glad that we're talking about it this forum. I'm glad that that people are talking about it on social media I'm glad that we're talking about the You know the backlog of rape kits and just the culture and it's not just the backlog of rape kits It's what culture allows something like that to happen And I think that while we're addressing these things It's an important first step to women in leadership positions either in politics also with board members and CEOs We're so far behind the rest of the industrialized world. I mean we have at one point I'm not sure if these statistics are still accurate, but I think it by 2014 and I'm pretty sure it is still accurate We had fewer women representing us percentage-wise than Afghanistan did in their government So I think we have a long way to go as a country and as a world But I think that we're moving in the right direction. I think that the me-too movement has been overall a really eye-opening Experience and I think it's been very positive for those individuals Like you said pretty much every female has probably had that experience I certainly know that I have professionally and I think that in more ways than one It's emboldened us to say no, I'm not here to take notes. I'm here to lead the meeting So sit down and let's get to work, right? And I think that that mentality has allowed us to say You know whether you're a young woman an older woman a Republican a Democrat we have done a really good job of fighting for our seat at the table and I think that this movement has just allowed for us to Capitalize on the leadership opportunities that we're all capable of taking over The angle that I find interesting and of course I support the movement and think we really just can't do enough on These issues my only concern sometimes is that we talk about it too much in terms of I don't know a sexual issue as opposed to a power issue and then we sort of miss the whole point You know being Americans, you know, and so I Definitely would like to see that because I really can't say that I've experienced a lot of that I mean, of course experience discrimination, but not sort of the sexual harassment Avenue of it and I think it's because it's a it's a power issue And so if we don't really hone in on what's going on with the women then we don't really address the problem So that's that's one focusing on that and then the second thing I've noticed is males kind of want to tell me secretly about the women who you know throw themselves at them and and And I believe them but it's kind of like well, that's not what we're talking about but but But but but it happens so frequently it makes me think that maybe we should stop just Dismissing that because that might be what is stopping us from moving Forward so let's just get that out there Perhaps also thinking about it from the perspective of women running for office You know, there's been several times I served on the state Republican executive committee Which is the sort of governing body of the Republican Party in Texas And I was actually the youngest female ever elected to serve on the body And that was an endeavor to recognize the the need for a younger voice on the kind of board of directors for the party For the Republican Party of Texas And I remember when I first kind of explored the idea of running that there was sort of a and I'm sure some of You probably have experiences, but that's cute that yeah, that's good good idea You should do that, you know go for it And I think that when you really put your mind to something especially I think as women if we're gonna work for something We're gonna work really hard and we're gonna win and I remember someone asking me like, you know Kind of why are you running? Well? I'm running to win if I'm gonna run and I'm gonna represent this position I'm you know I want to win and I think that oftentimes we fall into this Not doesn't necessarily fit into the me-too conversation, but it sometimes does fall into this well good luck, you know Kind of that just talking the condensation. I think we This is why I think it's important when we talk about not only this movement But then the importance of having representation that'll act on that right it's senator Jellibrand Actually that I want to say task the Department of Labor to really study You know the effect on the economy of sexual harassment and because it disproportionately happens obviously to young women, right? And so when that disproportionately happens to women at a certain point in their career at the time in your career We are supposed to be moving up the ladder and you're actually only moving horizontally because you're jumping from job to job to job every six Months right because you're being harassed Then that affects you in the long term that affects your contribution to the economy that affects obviously at the entire workplace But again, it took somebody like her to say, you know This is a moment in time where we can ask this question and really try to fully understand the economic effects of this Let alone the the social as well as the justice issues around it Yeah, I mean, I think it's interesting when we've been reporting about the response to reports of sexual harassment at the Capitol There was this sort of effort to both have women lead the conversation and lead the Resolution and also the say say the sort of saying of this is why we need more women And I couldn't sort of not think about whether that sort of comes very close to having women have to clean up After other people and sort of putting pressure on them to have to find the solution for a problem They didn't necessarily create and I'm wondering if if as you approach either running for office or working in politics if if that's something that you have to think about as a woman about the Priorities that you might have to take on whether you feel any pressure from outside movements about what you have to prioritize That a male colleague might not have to I've never thought of myself as a woman first honestly and maybe that came from growing up in a male-dominated field I was never a female pilot. I was never a female soldier. I was just pilot So I maybe I should feel that pressure But I I think I'm gonna feel the pressure of making sure my district has jobs Making sure we have a strong economy making sure our kids are healthy and taking care of making sure people have access to Infrastructure and quality affordable health care and those are the things I'm gonna feel pressure to fix I mean I think you know I Would feel a little bit guilty if I didn't go there with this mentality of you know what? I'm gonna do all that I can do given my background, right? So yes, let's talk about the economy, right? I the last portfolio that I led was at the office of the US trade representative in the executive office of the president And we looked at the intersection of economic and national security issues, right? So yes, I'm very much looking forward to helping bring this you know potential trade war to an end Right because this disproportionately affects again certain parts of our country that are already disproportionately affected by By flawed domestic policies or Frank and frankly, you know being part of helping inform the conversation as veterans that have been to war And know the human cost of war and you can't just tweet recklessly and put men and women's lives in danger without knowing again What we what we're doing and the full ramifications of that. So yes I'm I frankly am not shying away from this idea of yes I'm gonna go help clean this up because that's exactly what I aim to do I Think it goes back to the experiences of not just being a woman, but your life experiences And I think you know personally I feel like I have a complete and utter obligation to be unabashedly pro-life That's something for me as a mother that is a non-negotiable But I also work quite a bit in education and for me that is something that I'm very passionate about and so Whether it's just coming at it from a woman perspective But I think it also just goes back to those individual experiences of what do you care about and then being the voice of those issues and Hopefully doing it quite effectively so that the first thing they don't think of when they see that spokesperson is oh, she's a woman It's oh, she's effective right that's way more important to me at the end of the day Is that I'm an effective spokesperson for these issues that I care about and not just a woman who cares about them There's no such thing as a woman's issue Reproductive rights. I mean really that I mean just how do you education that affects both? I don't There's just I don't believe that Refuse to just embrace it. I mean these divisions that there's no such thing I mean what Officer involved shootings or those African-American issues. I mean as soon as we get into the business of Making a Issue or problem with our country just belong to one gender or one race We've lost I wanted to talk about the mobilization of women in politics who aren't running for office Many of whom examples of which are in this room, you know I think we're in an era where Despite the sort of voter apathy that we see at the that we've seen at the polls election after election There seems to be you know some sort of movement engagement mobilization of people that we haven't necessarily seen before and I'm Curious for for those of you who have worked both on the local level and now running for higher office and worked all You know different levels of government. What your advice is to women who want to become engaged I mean the I think the idea of running for Congress is a little scary for most folks But I mean what is a easy way in for people at the local level? I mean, what's your best advice and sort of the political atmosphere that we're living in now? To show up like literally right go to your County Democratic meeting Literally, I mean if you're not running you should be helping a woman run for office, right? And there are a lot of women running as you just mentioned But there are also these wonderful groups the indivisible group in in Texas 23 and throughout Bayer County They've been quite effective So literally I think it is just a matter of first showing up seeing that it's really not as daunting as you think And you're gonna make a huge difference for that candidate and certainly for the community Yeah, I think you know, I was an activist for women's rights, although I called myself a human rights activist because that's how I felt Advocating to open jobs for women in the military because it was silly that we had 238,000 jobs closed to women for ground combat just because we were women when we were in ground combat all the time And I was medevacking women off the battlefield You know, but I didn't feel like I was being political It wasn't until my Congress said they were gonna legislate the band back in place after my Pentagon repealed it that I got political in a hurry but I encourage people to You know, and I want you to volunteer and get involved in my campaign But I will say that, you know, a lot of times when you get involved in politics something happens and you lose You you take a hit your candidate loses or your candidate has a scandal or you know Something happens that makes you feel deflated and I think yes support candidates But support the issues that you're advocating for and those things don't have to necessarily be politics I was fighting to open jobs for women and to make our military stronger And then it turned political because it was about a law So I would encourage people to just stay active and engaged in the issues that drive them find the candidates that share their values and call them and with low expectations and say How can I help and maybe what you really can do to help is knock on some doors do some phone banking? I have volunteers all the time that are like, yeah, but I really want to feel like I'm making a difference I'm like, we can't do this without you. You are making a difference So stay involved try to not think that you're going to change the world with your fur I mean all of us together working in unison locking arms. That's what changes the world Yeah, I totally agree with that. I mean, I think you know, sometimes a Disadvantage of having a two-party system is that you don't always fit into one box or one camp And so if you are really passionate about the immigration situation that we're facing right now and the border security Find an organization that's working on that topic and inevitably it will become more political But if you if you get involved in politics because you like politics then something's probably wrong with you, right? Like no one really likes politics We care about issues and so all of us on this stage got involved because we're passionate about issues And we're passionate about causes and we have a philosophy as I mentioned earlier the Republican Party or the Democrat Party It's a vehicle, right at the end of the day We have an ideology we have a philosophy and that's driven by the causes and the issues that we care about And so if you get involved in those issues and those causes Inevitably you will find out which legislators are carrying a bill that supports that cause and maybe you can volunteer in their office Or volunteer to knock on doors for them, but you know start with the causes that you're passionate about as opposed to Politics for politics sake. I couldn't agree more follow your passion or you just won't be able to do it. I mean It's got to be a flame Well, we're close to running out of time And so I want to close with with a question to each of you is you know, obviously people are excited There is a surge of women running for office despite my Debbie Downer statistics Women continue to pack into your statistics. There are statistics But you know women continue to pack into these workshops of how to run for office how to become engaged But in the past when I've written about this issue inevitably I get a Reader email or a tweet from people who say, you know, why do you make this about gender? Why should I care if my representative is a man or a woman? And you know, I think it's probably a little bit more complicated than like then, you know Strictly like that, but I wonder for each of you, you know, what is your response to those individuals? What is your case for electing more women into office? So I had a male candidate say to me I do think we need to have more women in office But I think I should be elected because I will go and fight for your rights And that was well-intentioned and I have no doubt he would vote the way I would want him to vote But it was condescending to hear someone say I understand your struggle. I understand the the obstacles that you've faced I understand the Solutions that you've seen that have been tried that didn't work or that have worked Because he didn't say tell me how to best advocate for you. He said I will best advocate for you And I am cognizant of that when I'm talking to communities of color And I think I'm not going to go out and patronize and say I will represent you I come and say join me unless represent you together and let's be solution oriented on some of these things that we Can do to to do some good So, you know, I think that we absolutely need more people of color women of color women veterans We just need our our legislature on both sides to look more like our population more like the electorate Because as well-intentioned as you are you cannot effectively 100% effectively you can try Advocate for and represent people when you haven't lived their lives and walked in their shoes In case whether I see what what's the case either for electing women or having engaging women in politics? I Think she said it and I think that's exactly right you you want people that understand your experience and You know, I think recognizing that women inherently are problem solvers I would argue and I love surrounding myself with strong women I love finding younger women that I can mentor and bring up and that's one of the I think the highlights of my Career is honestly having mentors and having mentees and recognizing that there's these generational differences between women that We can really build off of and I think at the end of the day if the gender was switched in Congress We might not be in the situation where we are today And and I just think that there's something to be said about more women running for office for public inner Democrat at the End of the day you have to take the step to do it and find your passion find your calling And I think we would see some really strong results from women being able to work together Putting games of thrones aside I Don't know a woman that's ever started a war. Oh hell enough Troy. Sorry. Okay, maybe one I mean wait, we just belong as a part of the system because We are the system and you just can't have half of them there and Complaint, I mean if we need part-time government because we have to work and do childcare Then that's what we need to do, but the idea of us being out should not even be acceptable And I don't know if that's an African-American sort of view of the world because I do notice it when I talk to Anglo women that I find very interesting just even the premise that well, how could we possibly not be there? Why are we still with this this fight? It just it doesn't it doesn't work. We're here. We have to be at the table Let me let me I'll ask you a question I'm guessing that some of these Questions about you know, well, why does it have to be about a woman? Are these primarily from men by the way? You know what I mean? Yes, they are because I'm just I'm just any doubt Yeah, as I look at the old questions of my on the questions and comments on my own Facebook page, right? campaign page, but I mean I think I think being very Critical and very honest about again who MJ said it quite well I mean I will echo that in terms of you know, who is gonna find who gets the issue Who is going to advocate for you? Who's gonna go to the mat on the issues that you care about right? Who literally and these times who is gonna go to the mat on the issue that you care about? And I think for those of us that have that have served in a different ways and have different identities But we look that we don't necessarily see at the table and see that as a deficiency in the conversation You know, I forget who said it originally, but if you're not at the table, you're on the menu, right? So we've just got to remember that moving forward We're gonna go ahead and open it up to questions. We've got a mic going around I think we're gonna start up here in the front and then I'll get to as many of you as possible My one request is please end your question with a question mark I really don't want to cut anyone off, but I will if I have to We will start up here. Yeah before we open it up Excuse me to the larger group I'd like to take a moment to recognize one of our longtime future form members who is running for Texas House District 47 Just West of Austin so Vicki Goodwin Thank you Thank you all for running and I have a Unique question, so I've been running as well And I know myself that it's a little bit of a slog on a daily basis having to make all those fundraising phone calls So I just wanted to go around and ask you if you can give us a bright moment along the campaign trail And as an example this last Saturday a woman held an event for us In her backyard. She wanted to make it family family-friendly. So she had a foam pit and and It was Saturday and so as she was introducing me She was talking about the current event of the family separation Which of course is a very hard topic very sad and you know She was she was being the Debbie Downer and then all of a sudden some of this foam from the foam pit Came flying up through the air and went behind her and it just gave us a little bit of levity at the party So I thought it would be fun to hear from you some maybe a bright spot spot along your campaign You know, I receive this wonderful letter So I yes, I empathize with these these calls right that we have to make But I remember it being late one night and I'm getting the mail and this there's wonderful letter from a young man from Del Rio Because this the district includes Del Rio and he's talking about You know how he was very excited to support my campaign and he talks about his life history how he was also raised in a household that is Minority and they was raised by a single mother and up until he was 12 when he was able to get on chip His health insurance plan was essentially the emergency room, right? And then he remembers watching his grandparents kind of struggled to pay the bills and and cutting pills in half and whatnot He was so proud though. He was the first in his family to go to college But what is unfortunately now faced with making a decision about deferring law school because he faced a medical a medical emergency and now was having to To pay for that and that wouldn't sound like a bright spot But for me the bright spot was this this young man reached out to me and he saw himself Or somebody that could advocate for him and his family in a way that he hadn't seen otherwise And so to me that was very encouraging after you know, you think you've got it tough And then somebody you know shows you that you know what you've actually got it pretty good So it's things like that that just reminds you of what's at stake In in this election and the good folks that are out there that are willing to support you if you've got the courage to run Yeah, I think we're sobered and Confronted every day with the gravity of what we're trying to do here and the amount of people's literally lives that are in our hands And being no stranger necessarily to that being veterans I you know, I kind of bounce from low to high to be honest with you And I and I have a poster in my office that I wrote on why I'm doing this because there's moments when I have to look up at it And read and remember why I'm doing this And I go from you know having my son in the emergency room because he bit through his tongue and just being Devastated and scared to death to see blood coming from my one-year-old's mouth and just being freaking out about that and yet hearing a Three-month-old coughing like in a way that would make me nervous if my husband coughed that way And listening to her parents talk about when they're not they could afford to be there That was a low point and in my you know with that was also a this is why I have to keep doing this To you know going and feeling like I miss the camaraderie of the military I miss the mission of medevac and feeling like I'm saving people's lives and pulling them off the battlefield I am pulling people off the battlefield And and having a mom come and talk to me and say the things that you talk about about national security She's got emotional as I am Saying that her son was in Afghanistan and when I talk about the dismantling of the State Department the Relationships with our allies the handling of nuclear powers the things that we're doing that the enemies were creating now That we're gonna have to fight in 20 years She says she prays every day that her son is gonna come home alive and that she has faith She's placing her faith in me. She's gonna give me twenty five dollars twenty six if she can afford it That is such a responsibility when someone says I'm gonna vote for you. I was unprepared for that burden That's huge or I'm gonna donate to you Because I think you might help save my son's life. So those are my like low to high points Yeah, I'm not running for office But I think being a political consultant in Texas and I started our company Steinhauser strategies when I was 25 I was raised by a very strong hard-working single mother and I think now being the mother of three daughters it's super exciting for me to be able to be a woman-owned business and For me to be able to be a role model for three young girls that are gonna be able to see Their mom be passionate about issues that she cares about and be able to do that for a living I think that's a really high point my baby boy youngest son is he just graduated but he came home at the launch and You know in the campaign you're always talking about dollars and cents and I remember somebody saying well, you know Your son took some t-shirts or something and then it was months later And he started sending me these text messages and they were his friends and his fraternity with my shirt on And he's in Philadelphia and my campaign was so pissed that he took all these shirts, you know And so we have these kids from New York and all these places in these shirts and so anyway, I just want y'all to know It gets better You really they really do start to get into it. Yeah We'll take another question. We've got one up here in the front and then we'll go over here See, can you hear me? Yeah, okay So I recently spoke to my 17 year old niece and asked her she was excited to turn 18 and have the opportunity to sign up to vote And she answered me with a resounding no And it was disheartening to hear that somebody at a very idealistic age had already made up her mind Not to participate in the process What advice would you give me to encourage her to? Find a Way to help her connect with the issues facing our country. So I feel like I keep jumping in first. I'm sorry You know, I I would I would argue that I would need to know her better and know what drives her and what inspires her and what makes her Passionate so for me. I'm a student of history. I love the Revolutionary War I love the Constitution and for me when I need to to get my faith back in the system and in my vote and remember why it's important You know, I used to be the voter rep in the military I would sign people up to vote and I had somebody say to me a woman. Oh, no, no, no my husband votes for our family and I almost lost it But I said, you know what? That's your right. Okay, that's your right but I Stay engaged and I am an active voter because I feel like we don't have to fight another American Revolution Because our forefathers gave us the weapons with which to fight our Revolution It is our voice in our vote and that Excites me and makes me passionate because I'm a nerd and I like studying the Constitution and stuff like that so I think of it like I'm taking up arms and I am Changing our government by going and voting and dragging other people with me But I would say find what it is that drives her and makes her passionate either an issue or an analogy or something like that I talk to people all the time that say I don't want to talk to you and I say oh they say you're a combat veteran I don't want to talk to you and I say oh, but I'm a Democrat because most combat veterans Republicans and they say doesn't matter. I don't care either party I'm seeing more and more in that on the campaign trail. People don't care what party you're from They don't want to talk about politics. They don't want to talk. They think that both parties suck They don't want any part of it and I say all right if you're that frustrated with the hyper and toxic partisanship find the people who you think won't be like that and support them, you know, it's no Coincidence that we have record low veteran representation of people who have to Jump into a melting pot and work with people who we're unfamiliar with or work with people We disagree with and keep the mission at the forefront We have record low participation and record high hyper toxic partisanship So a lot of people not just your niece are disenfranchised and we've got to find what makes them excited and talk to them about that I think Exactly, you've got to find the issue. I always like to use the analogy though And I think it works sometimes with with younger people better You know when you were younger and your mother said well if you don't eat this you're not eating dinner You're just like all right fine because you know you're gonna eat essentially 12 hours later, right? You can you can you can Tough tough through it This is not like that, right? You will eat something You will have a representative that determines whether or not you have access to safe reproductive services You have you will have a representative that votes on whether or not the quality of the of the results of your search engine Is based on the type of data plan that you have right which then again just proportionally affects certain communities You will have somebody that votes on whether or not you can have assault weapons or whether you cannot right? So this is this is a time where somebody will advocate on your behalf now It's just a matter of what is that person who is what drives that person? What is that person who does that person hold themselves accountable to right? Does it actually the constituents or maybe is it maybe just some some very narrow frankly nefarious? Special interest so putting it that way I think is is is can be helpful for folks that think that they have the privilege of not being part of this process. I Would ask does she have a job? Okay, tell her to look at her paycheck and circle FICA and Circle all the taxes that she pays and help her understand that those dollars go to a government that represents her Maybe show her the process bring her to the capital or if she can't come to the capital pull up a YouTube video of a hearing I mean, I think that it's important for especially You know I got involved in politics at a young age because I had a paycheck And I wanted to know where were these dollars going and why were they spending my money? You know being a strong fiscal conservative that was important to me But maybe just showing her the process and in allowing her to be a part of that is really important There's some great programs at the Texas capital if you are a high school student or a college student to be a page or an intern It sounds kind of geeky, but it might be something that she ends up enjoying Make sure you circle social security too and ask her if she wants that money back. I Think we really have to be careful because the the issues with the young 18 To before you own a house. I think are very different than the People who are frustrated now by partisan politics. So young people That is always a tough nut to crack until you actually have bought a house or significantly paying taxes and I Actually didn't get engaged until until that happened But but I still think you should do all the other things that were suggested But what we're seeing now is interesting because like with the Bernie Sanders and that is you either have the young people Totally engaged or apathy. There's no in between And so I just think we could talk forever about that difference And then where we are as a country is at a new low because we're just we're so mad We're just doing nothing. I have a 17 year old daughter Yeah, I just want to add that I have a 17 year old daughter And I encourage her to engage with me in conversations even where she disagrees And I'm not that's gonna make me sound awful There are times when doing this all day every day It's the last thing I want to do when I get home and having a discussion Her information level is here, especially when she's grounded from her phone like she is now And and it's frustrating it can be frustrating for me because I'm so informed and I'm just like and I want that Equal in that conversation and then I remember wait a minute I'm not having this conversation with her so that I can win or something like that I'm doing it to stoke. Whatever ember is making her ask me this question And I want to fan that and even if she disagrees with me I just want that interest and that curiosity and that wonder We'll go I think ma'am you had a question I'm not sure what we're doing we're doing on time But I'll get to you back there if we've got the time we might we'll squeeze you it Sure, I have a whole bunch, but I'll pick one And the one I'll pick is what do you think women bring to the table that men do not? I mean other than anatomy, right? That's hard, I mean I wouldn't even want to Get into making blanket statements because I would be frankly very offended if someone were to blanketly say that women don't bring This to the table because I just I just don't accept the premise of the question So I'm not going to answer that one. I think I also I just want to add that I think it's important as we have this discussion about women and getting involved in the system that there are some really Awesome men my husband included who's constantly pushing me and constantly saying you can do this you got it You're gonna win you're the best and I think what it's important in this discussion to recognize that There are some really empowering men out there that are constantly pushing for women to run for office or women to start a business Or women to be in charge and I think that they they deserve some credit to Yeah, I Am gonna answer the question because it came up in the context of my race Because there if I would not be still in the running for the seat There would no longer be an African-American representative for the central Texas region so the question of well How is he gonna vote different than you and why come he can't represent This district I mean what's so special about being black and that's kind of the what's so special about being a woman and and the answer is Just different experiences It's just different experiences and bringing those experiences to bear on different problems. Just helps. It's a salad So I do a lot of college football analogies Okay, so bear with me and and I often ask people What's the most important position on the football team that my brother played college ball and he would have disagreed with me But let's just say for argument's sake It's the quarterback who would want to take a team of quarterbacks to the Super Bowl not me And I think that what you could say is that women do bring in and other groups There's plenty of them to choose from we could list them all night Bring strength because they're not there now and we bring diversity of thought and a team is Stronger when you have people with different experiences and different skill sets and different strengths and different weaknesses And I put the brakes on with my team when everybody agrees and everyone's nodding I say okay wait a minute. No because we need to have a better conversation about this. So we bring that and You know, I think that there is something to be said at least in combat Because the question often was asked what do women bring to combat? There's there's a great study With the UN on how women in combat roles and then women later in military combat leadership impact the War crimes and things like that and it's not just what women bring to the table It's what what happens to the team dynamic and the room when women are in the room So that's something that I would talk to you about offline We're gonna go back there and is this our This will be our last question, but I encourage you all to continue the conversation We'll have a reception immediately following. So thank you So my question is actually kind of related to what you were just talking about I feel like one of the Arguments that I've read a lot, you know on Twitter and elsewhere Recently is that if we elect a bunch of women, they'll be a lot more collaborative They'll be better at bipartisanship, and I'm just curious as to whether you think that's a valid Statement if we think that's if you think that's true, or if it's just kind of another brand of sexism I find that to be a compliment Right, I mean if I mean I think if you've got a bunch of people that are going there to get something done And not going there for a title. I mean that is how that's how we get to where we need to be as a country on national Security on these domestic policies if you're talking about, you know the long-term strength of the country Then yeah, we've got to talk about immigration and healthcare and this and that So I mean for somebody to say if we if a bunch of women go up there and try to solve this and then try to work Together and get something done. I'm like, yeah, that sounds about right Yeah, you know I Went into combat with men that I wouldn't turn my back on Or men that I would take a bullet for and I went into combat with women who I wouldn't trust and women that I would take a Bullet for and I and I think that that's important that I carry with me into this That I'm not gonna say I disagree though Not because I would say if I were to pick a random set of women We're gonna do better than a random set of men. I don't I think that's a false equivalency I think there may be something to the type of woman who runs for office and then succeeds getting there and the type of You know that it would be a problem with the data if we were just looking at the fact that they're women You know if that makes any sense Yeah, I would say that I would see it as a compliment and I also think that our country is so Divided right now and it's so polarized and it's so one party versus another that I believe and I hope That if there is a new wave of women coming into office from either side that we would see it as an opportunity to Find areas of common ground. We're not gonna agree on everything and we're probably not gonna agree on very much But one of our clients is congressman Michael McCall and he just introduced him past a bill on childhood cancer Pediatric cancer bill and this was a bipartisan bill He's the co-founder of the pediatric cancer caucus and for for this bill to pass one of the only bills that can be bipartisan past right now is Childhood cancer bill and I think that there's examples like that that are very meaningful Where you can find common ground and you know I would hope that if there's a wave of women who come into office that we could find areas of Improvement such as that where we could work together Cheryl give you the final word Guys say let's send our women and see what happens Well on that note books. Thank you so much for coming. Let's give our panel a round of applause