 Good evening, and welcome to the William G. McGowan Theater here at the National Archives. I'm David Ferriero, the Archivist of the United States, and I'm pleased you could join us for this evening's program, whether you're here in the theater or joining us on Facebook or YouTube. We're looking forward to a lively discussion on the topic women in leadership, the impact of women on the U.S. Congress, with our special guests, United States Senators Shelley Moore Capito and Tammy Baldwin, and United States Representative Brenda Lawrence and our moderator, Brooke Baldwin from CNN. Unfortunately, Representative Deborah Lesko is unable to join us. She is stuck in a hearing that expects to go on all night, so she will not be able to join us. Tonight's program is made possible in part by the National Archives Foundation through the generous support of BMO Financial Group, and we thank them. Before we begin our discussion, I'd like to tell you about two other programs coming up soon here in the McGowan Theater. On Friday, November 1st, at noon, historian H. W. Brands will be here to discuss his latest book, Dreams of El Dorado, the History of the American West. And next Thursday, November 7th at 7 p.m. in commemoration of Veterans Day, filmmaker Ron Osgood will be here to screen his recent documentary, Just Like Me, Vietnam War Stories from All Sides. During the screening, Osgood will be joined by historian Mark Leapson to discuss the film and answer audience questions. To keep more informed about events throughout the year, check our website, archives.gov. We're signed up at the table outside to get email updates. You'll get information about other National Archives programs and activities. And another way to get more involved in the National Archives is to become a member of the National Archives Foundation. The Foundation supports all of our education and outreach activities. Check out their website, archivesfoundation.org, to learn more about them and join online. And a little known secret that I keep telling everyone, no one has ever been turned down for membership in the National Archives Foundation. And I'm pleased to introduce Jim Blanchard, who is the President of the National Archives Foundation. Thank you for being here. And his lovely wife, Janet, welcome. And I should also point out a very important person from BMO in the audience sitting in the front row, David Jacobson, former ambassador to Canada. But before that, he was working on appointments for President Obama. And he's the one who appointed me as archivist. Tonight's discussion is part of a series of programs related to our recently opened exhibit, rightfully hers, American Women and the Vote. Rightfully hers commemorates the centennial of the 19th Amendment and tells the story of women's struggles for voting rights as a critical step towards equal citizenship. The exhibit explores how American women across the spectrum of race, ethnicity and class advance the cause of suffrage and follows the struggle for voting rights beyond 1920. The decades-long fight for the vote in the 19th and early 20th centuries engaged large numbers of women in the political process. Once the national vote was won, women continued their civic engagement by running for seats on county boards, state houses, and the United States Congress. The number of women serving today in the House of Representatives and Senate is at an all-time high, but the total is still only about 25 percent of each House. Our distinguished guests bring their own experiences as current members of the House and Senate to our exploration of how an increasing number of women can change Congress. Now I'd like to introduce Daniella O'Leary-Gill, the Executive Vice President and U.S. Chief Operating Officer of BMO Financial Group, where she oversees effective government across BMO U.S. operations. Daniella is active in furthering causes that foster equitable opportunity and is a long-time champion for diversity and inclusion. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Daniella O'Leary-Gill. Thank you, David, and thank you, everyone, for being here tonight. I'd like to start by acknowledging David Ferriero and the team at the National Archives. It is amazing that you've spent a decade as the nation's 10th archivist, advancing open government and advancing an understanding of this great country's heritage and the importance of engaging in democracy. So David and the staff of the archives, thank you so much. Tens of thousands of BMO employees across the world, and especially those who are here with us tonight, are passionate about boldly growing the good in business and in life. And so tonight we are so happy to support this event and the archives, which is such a very special place. One of the things that we've learned at BMO, and one of the things that I think every successful business has learned, is that when you bring women into senior leadership positions, you get better decisions. And that's not just soft sentiment. Here are some proof points. First teams, double employee engagement. Inclusive work teams feel encouraged to speak up more and are 80% more innovative. And with greater diversity and inclusion, you get 30% better customer loyalty outcomes. So it's no surprise that one of the great impacts of the 19th Amendment, more women in Congress, has had the same benefits on that special workplace. Tonight we're going to hear through the powerful voices of our panelists, how diversity is impacting Congress and our country and how we are better for it. But briefly before I turn it back to David, so that we can hear about that, I have to mention someone who is greatly missed and who would have enjoyed this evening, I think. I never got to know her personally, but she has been a long time personal role model of mine and that is Koki Roberts, who passed away last month. In addition to her distinguished career as a journalist, Koki was a long time board member, vice chair and supporter at the Archives Foundation. She was so well known for her advocacy of civic engagement and the role of women in society. I'm told that Koki would often bring groups of school kids through the rotunda and looking across the famous murals would ask, what's weird about these pictures? There was a little back and forth usually, but inevitably someone would say they're all white men. But thanks to all of those who fought so hard for the 19th amendment, it's not like that anymore. And thanks to people like Koki Roberts, it's not like that anymore. And thanks to the distinguished panelists and so many of their congressional colleagues, it's just not like that anymore. Thank you and back over to David. Thank you, Daniela. Now it's my pleasure to introduce our moderator for this evening, Brooke Baldwin. Brooke is a PBD award finalist who anchors the afternoon edition of CNN Newsroom. She's also the creator and host of the CNN digital series American Woman, which focuses on the stories of trailblazing women who have broken barriers in their respective fields and are now helping other women do the same. Baldwin came to CNN in 2008 and is often sent into the field to the biggest breaking stories in the United States and around the world. She played a key role in covering the historic 2016 presidential election and is pivotal to the network's coverage of America's choice 2020. Please welcome Brooke Baldwin and our panel to the stage. Good evening. Good evening, Manimo. Good evening, good evening. Before I introduce these incredible three women to my right, I flew down from New York this morning and I realized there was some other thing happening right now for this city. So an extra thanks to you. The good news is there's no seventh inning stretch situation here. And while, of course, we want to cheer on our men, can we just take a moment to cheer on our women tonight? A round of applause. All right, let me start in the red. Senator Shelley Moore Capito. The national's red. National's red. Who, by the way, also we just learned backstage that she ran her first and last marathon on Sunday. So she is from West Virginia. She was elected to the Senate in 2014. She is the first female U.S. Senator in West Virginia's history and was elected with the largest margin of victory for a Republican in state history. Prior to her time in the Senate, she served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 14 years for West Virginia's second congressional district. Senator Capito started a program in 2015 called West Virginia Girls Rise Up where she travels around schools across West Virginia inspiring young girls to pursue their dreams. So Senator Capito. Thank you. Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence represents Michigan's 14th congressional district and was elected to the U.S. House in 2014. Prior to her time in Congress, Congresswoman Lawrence was elected mayor of the city of Southfield, becoming both the first woman and the first African American to serve as mayor there. She currently serves as the co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues, along with Congresswoman Lesko, who we're missing tonight. She's a little bit busy up on the hill where they work together to support the needs of women and families. And we share the same name, not related. Senator Tammy Baldwin. She was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2012. She is Wisconsin's first woman to serve in the Senate and is the first openly gay member elected to the Senate. She, yes, she authored the legislation that created the Women's Suffrage Centennial Commission, which was co-sponsored by every woman in the Senate at the time. Prior to her time in the Senate, she represented Wisconsin's second congressional district in the House from 99 to 2013 and became the first openly gay woman and first openly LGBTQ non-incumbent elected to Congress, as well as the first woman elected to represent Wisconsin in Congress. So a lot of firsts on this day. Before we get rolling tonight, let me remind all of you that there are note cards. Hopefully, are you seeing note cards floating around within your seats? Yes. So I'll ask these ladies, great. I'll ask these ladies questions and then we'll, I don't get them all to myself. I will share. You get to write questions down on note cards and then they'll answer your questions during the Q&A. All right. So it is truly an honor to be with every single one of you and I just, I really am genuinely blown away by who you are and what you do. And I have focused a lot on women. It's just near and dear to my heart as a woman, women helping women. I heard this quote recently, empowered women, empower women and that really resonated with me. So just to start with, I know you all know the numbers, but just to remind you all, the 116th Congress this year, record number of women, 102 women in the house, 25 in the Senate, so that's nearly a fourth of Congress, nearly a fourth. We'll roll through a lot of the positives, but I'm also just really curious to start us off, Senator Baldwin, first to you, just on how often are you aware of your gender on Capitol Hill? Ah, woo, let's go. Well, I think always. I mean, I believe that as women in powerful positions, policy-making positions, that we always have our life experience with us. And I often say, you don't check it at the door, like at a coat check, and then pick it up when you leave. It informs everything you do and how you participate in policy debates. And it informs your votes, and that means that having a seat at the table or being in the room matters. If you're not in the room, the conversation is about you. If you're in the room, the conversation is with you. And again, we bring our life experiences. So I think it's transformative in that regard. I will say that at the very beginning of my time in public service, I started at the very local level. How local? Well, I was elected to the county board, and I represented 10,000 people in downtown Madison. I served briefly on the city council, actually filling a vacancy. But I remember the first debate that I was in where I realized how important women's voices were. And it's this small issue, but they were debating about adding a bus stop to bring people to a new campus of our local technical college. And I heard the men participating in the debate. There's all this finger pointing. It's like, well, the technical college board should have thought of funding this. Why are they coming to us at the last minute? And a lot of arguments in that direction. And then all of a sudden, I heard the voices of the women on the city council saying, the nearest bus stop is down a very dark street with no sidewalks. Lots of women have to take night school because of either jobs or child responsibilities in the daytime, talking about personal safety issues, and all of a sudden, the debate just turned like that. And I was like, oh, now I see. And I've seen it throughout my career. That's incredible. When you think of Congresswoman Lawrence, when you think of the statistics, though, one in four members of Congress is a woman. And obviously, of course, you're aware of your gender. You don't check it at the door. What then in you said, you know what? And even before, that's today. So what in you said, I can do this. Was there a certain person who you admired, who paved the way for you? Who was that? I think the way we educate and raise our girls is very powerful. I was raised by my grandmother. My mother died when I was three. And she was a woman who lived through Jim Crow and all those things. And she instilled in me. I remember so vividly, Brenda, there is no door you do not deserve to walk through. There is no table that you cannot have a seat at. And she just constantly drilled in me. She said, even with racism and being a girl, she said, Brenda, you're going to spend the majority of your life educating people and forgiving people for sexism, for racism, because all of these isms are based on ignorance. And she said, but if you encounter it, don't consume it and make it a part of you because it consumes your greatness. It suppresses it. So here was a woman who was just fearless, a very spiritual woman who just thought her girls could do anything. And so there is times I would be shaking in my shoes and I'm nervous, but I had this ability to find strength because I deserve to be in that room. And I can't tell you how many times as you elevate and you go into your power, and every woman in this room should find her power, you'll find fewer women as you go through that journey. And you'll find that so often you don't have your girlfriend or your best friend to encourage you, so you have to have that within you. And I'm just so grateful I had a grandmother that gave me that. Finding your power. Senator Capito, how did you find your power? Well, I had a different path. I was raised in a political family. I live in West Virginia, a state that has great challenges. And Brooke was my- Three years West Virginia. Yes, she was on my TV for three years in West Virginia, in Huntington, West Virginia. And as I was a little bit older, I had had three children. And I kept looking around and I said just exactly what you said. At the state legislature, I said, I can do at least as good as that. And so I was obviously interested in it. And it's a lot of what you said. It's how you were raised. I had a very strong father, who was the political one, but a very strong mother, too, who just kept saying, you can do whatever you want to do. You just keep believing in yourself. And I was very, very lucky, I think, about kids today that don't have that every day in their lives or maybe even a couple times a week. It's really, really tough. But I had that. So I had the advantage. And I ran for local office. But the funny story was I didn't realize it at the time. But I was in Kroger's grocery shopping. And I ran into a friend. And I said, you know, I'm really thinking about running for the House of Deligates. And she goes, you've been talking about that for three years. Why don't you just go ahead and do it? And I didn't realize I'd been talking about it for three years. So it was almost like running that marathon. I'm going to run a marathon someday. And I just sort of went, OK, I'm going to do it. And I did it. I barely won. But being raised in politics and observing somebody who'd been successful in politics, the very first time I went out by myself, I thought, this is a lot harder than it looks when you're sort of putting yourself out there. And you do have to have that inner strength. And you do have to be able to say, well, today was a bad day. And I got to get up tomorrow, campaign, and try to make it a good day. So I had a lot of role models. Between both of my parents, they were very influential on me in terms of making a difference with the people that I live with. When I hear your stories, obviously we know the famous Shirley Chisholm quote, right? If they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair. I was in LA a couple of weeks ago. It's an incredible quote. But I was in LA a couple of weeks ago interviewing some folks at Hello Sunshine. It's Reese Witherspoon's production company out in LA. And I'm actually writing a book. And I'm writing about women and how we don't lean in as much anymore, but lean on. And this conversation we were having with the CEO of this company said to me, love the Shirley Chisholm quote, but she was saying, you know what, instead of bringing a folding chair, she goes, we just need to build our own table and make it really big. And so I love that. And I'm just wondering from any of you where we are in 2019, do you feel like you have a folding chair or are you building a table? Go ahead, Senator Capito. I see. I absolutely incontent that my voice is just as powerful as any man's voice of the 100 people that we serve with. You know that. Oh, absolutely. I mean, there's various, I guess there's various levels of power. I mean, I'm not in leadership or anything like that. So that's a different thing. But I feel like I can, if I find the right partner, Tammy and I have partnered on more than a few pieces of legislation, very successfully. And there are studies out there that show that when women co-sponsor legislation with another woman, particularly if you can do it across party lines, that we're more successful in getting our bills over the line in a lot of ways. I think Rutgers has done a study on how successful we can be. So, you know, I am who I am and I am just gonna push forward. I'm not gonna let this stop me and wonder, am I not getting called on because I'm a woman? Well, you know, then do something about it. And that's sort of how I approach it. And so I think, no, I don't need a new table. I'm at the table and I have to make the most of it myself. And I'll say lastly, you get a lot of life lessons from your children and my son, I'll make this short, but my middle son was causing me some problems. When I was, he was 18 and I was in Congress and he was challenging me and I said, well, you know, I'm a powerful woman. I am in the US Congress. And he goes, mom, you don't have power if you don't use it. And I mean, that really stuck with me. Cause I think it's true. You can say you have power and you can think you have power, but to really exert it, you really have to use it effectively and you know, we got a lot of great people to look up to that can do that. Do you think you mentioned, you all, the two senators have worked together in a bipartisan fashion. Do you think women are better at that than men? The bipartisan thing? Yes? Well, I do. And part of the reason is that we intentionally create opportunities to do that and I'm not sure that our male counterparts do. I think a tradition started long before I was elected to the US Senate, the senior women on a bipartisan basis brought all the women together, probably at first more mentorship than conspiring to pass bills or sponsor bills. Now, all 25 of us tried to do this, I would say once every six weeks or so. And we take turns hosting, sometimes it's totally social. Sometimes we're in the middle of some conflict in the Senate or in the Congress and we're talking about, well, here's how I would solve it. Oh, that's a really good idea. Maybe we should do that tomorrow and so we create spaces for that to happen. And I found more times than not, it really does produce something. I think about that you were mentioning the centennial celebration of the 19th Amendment and that commission. It was a dinner. We were talking about what are we gonna do to recognize such an incredible milestone and not too long after that, we had a measure that we ultimately all endorsed. Right. I wanna talk about building the table. I serve on the Women's Caucus. I serve on the Democratic Working Group. I'm conscious all the time of what I do will either break a ceiling or close a door. And for me, my mental objective is to always create a path for women to follow. And so often people forget their legacy. Yes. And so if I, you know, even the way we handle our emotions, I'm one that will stand on the table and choke you if you are online. However, I have learned in my journey of creating paths and cracking ceilings for the next group of women, I'm so conscious of those women who went before me. I'm constantly watching women in leadership, how they handle certain situations. I wanna give you one. It was a freshman. And we were in a committee meeting and she had a disagreement with one of our colleagues and she let him have it. And so after she finished, I just kind of pulled her to the side. I said, wow, you were really upset with him. She said, yeah, I'm not gonna take it from him. And I said, you know, everyone in this room, some had their first time meeting you and you just giving them a definition of you and you're a brilliant woman. You could have handled that a different way. And I said, always be conscious of what you're presenting. I'm not one to tell any woman to not express herself and use her power. But we, I feel almost a burden to make sure that my legacy will be that there's a whole rush of women that can take the path that I've broken through and it won't be as hard for them. In Congress, often when, I'll give you an example, health care. Health care with pre-existing conditions, men didn't think about that. That was women in the room. Child care, women, maternal mortality. In America, do you know that women in the United States of America, we are leading as the highest developed country and women dying from childbirth. The men weren't talking about that. That's unacceptable. And so the things that we see because we are concerned about our family, our environment, our environment, if you talk to most women, it's not about the pollutants in the air. It's like I want my children to live. I want to give earth to this next generation of place like our forefathers did, where our children can exist in our family. I want education because I want my children and families to have an opportunity to be their best with it. So I think sometimes we speak and we look out of a different window, but we're all moving the country forward. And Lord help us if we were not there at the table to guide this shit. And I'm disappointed it's only 25% of us where 51% of the population should be 51% of us in Congress. Yes, yes. Two things on that. One, I think how you handled that younger congresswoman was elegant of you. And two, to your point on health care, I was up on Capitol Hill a bunch of months ago interviewing for another project, five freshman congresswomen in NatSec veterans. And we're maybe over some wine and some MMMs having this very frank conversation about how they're getting together really, they mentioned health care specifically and especially for women veterans. So I'm curious, bipartisan or not, how are women coming together on Capitol Hill to help create policies for women? How does electing more women help bring about more legislation, more policies for women, women of color, LGBTQ members of society? How is that helpful to any of you? If I could just quote a very ignorant man who happens to be a member of Congress, we were talking about reproductive health and we were debating that issue. And he made the comment, if it wasn't for rape and incest, half of us would not even be here today. I wanted to jump across the room and that's one time I want to be on the table. But as women, when we talk about the health care of women, I'm wearing purple today in this ribbon for domestic violence. So many countries, not only America, that is the number one thing that suppress women, lack of education, lack of reproductive health options and domestic violence. And we come together on those issues. Debbie Lusko and I fight for reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act. It may not be an important or a high priority, but setting that priority for these issues that are important and often, because I travel all over the country and interact with different governments on women issues, I went to a refugee camp and it was a 19 year old girl who was having her fifth child because there was no, and she was married. Where were you? I was in Jordan. Okay. I was, she was married young, you know, 14. So she was on her fifth child. No access to birth control. You just think about that. I mean, I don't know how they did it back in the day, but women have so many options when she can have birth control and, you know, control over her body. But we are going to have to, as women, men don't often get, God bless them. They're intelligent, but they challenge sometimes. But when we put our collective passion with our brilliance and our power, it's life-changing. Yeah? No, I think sometimes too, that we talk a lot about women's issues and that are directly related to women, like domestic violence or access to reproductive health services. But I think really in the big picture, when I look at how I see women's issues, now everything's a woman's issue. If you think about the military, you think about the military and now we've got 20 to 25% are women. We've had a problem in the military with sexual assault in us just with women, but, you know, so there are other, women's issues that may, maybe you would have this issue in your civilian life, but now it's over here in the military. So if you look at national security issues, these are women's issues. Women want to have a safe country for their children to grow in and be safe. I look at my own personal life experience of having two parents who died from Alzheimer's. We're the caregivers. We're taking care of the kids and the parents when you're in that squeeze kind of situation. So that's not necessarily a woman's issue, but it ends up a lot of times falling on a woman's plate and making those decisions are what happens in a family. And so I think that for us to be, in my view, this is totally me, I think in order for us to be as effective as we possibly can, every issue becomes our issue, whether it's more STEM for women, whether it's more community and technical education, whether it's more women engineers, whether it's our NASA astronaut that's now gonna be going to the moon, the first woman that's going to the moon in the Artemis project. I mean, these are all really exciting things that women haven't really participated in, but we want our girls to know this is where you're gonna go. And so I look at all the things that I'm involved in in my committees or something of that. We just had the Boeing executive in front of our committee yesterday and is that a man's issue? No, that's a everybody issue. It's just as much a woman's issue as it is, as it is a man's issue. So I think I put a different lens on it, maybe from life experiences or the way I look at it or how maybe Tammy and I might look at, we did it, the issue that we actually did was a veteran's issue for too many opioids being prescribed in our VA. So that's not necessarily a woman's issue, but it really hit I think both of our hearts. And so I think along with what you've said, I think the whole spectrum for us to be as effective as we can, we have to say all these issues are our issues. We can really laser focus and talk from life experience on particular women issues and kind of clear the path. So that's sort of how I look at it. I would add with great agreement of what you've just said, but also the extent to which I see things that are classically defined as women's issues being a real concern of men. So equal pay is a really good example of that. They should really care. Pardon? They should really care. They should really care. And oftentimes it's talking about their household income. And if their spouse is not being compensated fairly and if sexism is and racism because it's even worse for women of color in the workforce and the comparison, that that obviously affects the whole family and the whole community. Two observations. In terms of women who have power impacting the next generation, I think it's important to think both about the substance of our work but also the symbolism of our being there. And sometimes we say, oh, symbolism, that's an unimportant thing. I remember as a young person, I came, I graduated from college the same year that Geraldine Ferraro was nominated to be vice president on the Democratic ticket. And I had yet to land my first job and start graduate school. And I was watching the convention on a tiny little television that I had on the shelf in the, is a one room apartment, my first apartment too. And I watched her across the stage. And I don't, I'm a tough woman. I don't usually get choked up but I had tears in my eyes because for that moment that symbolized to me, oh my God, I can do anything. I mean, I can do anything watching her. And so we have to realize, and I wanna say that of all of you in the audience also, we're all leaders, we're all owning our power, I hope. And we often get the letters from people who say, oh, you're my role model. And I wanna, but know that even if you don't get the note that there are young women and young men who watch you and say, you are showing me that I can follow the same path. And then the substance of our work, well of course, we are all passionate about a lot of issues. And so every so often the young person will say, I'm so pleased that you're standing up for caregivers. I'm in the sandwich generation. And that can be inspiring and empowering also but never underrate the symbolism. People are watching and you give them inspiration. For sure, for sure. We're also here, of course, because of the amazing 19th Amendment exhibit here at the National Archives and I know Congresswoman Lawrence, you wanna make a really important point which is let me just tell a quick story. I was shooting my women's series. This was in the run-up to 18. I was down in Montgomery, Alabama because to me a huge part of course is the 19th Amendment but it's also, but did all women really get to vote back then? And they didn't. And I'll never forget meeting this woman, Marion, and she had our whole crew in her home and she still had her poll tax from the 60s. She had to take the test and then had the poll tax and she sat there with her three daughters, an African-American woman, sat there with her three daughters because they will have the living, you know what, beaten out of them if they don't vote because she paved the way for them. And so as we sit here and of course, we honor the 100 years, it was until 1965 in the Voting Rights Act. I think it's significant when we talk about the suffrage movement and which was amazing. Thank God the women had the courage to stand up. Can you imagine not having the right to vote, no one in the house that, no women, no one to advocate for you on the inside and you're out there screaming and hollering, chaining yourself defenses. But 1920 was the amazing year that we passed the 19th Amendment. But these are some statistics that I want you all to understand. It wasn't until 1947 that Native American women, it wasn't until 1952 that Asian women received the right to vote. 1965 with the Voting Rights Act that African-American women received the right to vote. In 1975 for Hispanic women, where we passed laws that would remove any barriers from women having the right to vote. And if I can say anything, sitting here is an African-American woman who often is at the top or the bottom, however you're evaluating in so many things in this country. I just learned a new statistic. Do you know black women have the largest bulk of student debt in America? And African-American women are the largest group of poverty in America. And so you start looking at all these statistics and then to say we celebrate and some women become offended because it's not recognized. And as we're so proud of the 19th Amendment, we have to be conscious of the fact that our country, and if I could just say this, I say this in speeches, I love America. I love her even though at times she didn't love me back. She didn't love me because I was an African-American. She didn't love me because I was a woman. But we have an amazing democracy. And so when you see us sitting here as women who are elected to this amazing federal government body, it is significant for us to recognize there was a time when these women weren't sitting in these seats and they fought for us to have the right to vote. And that's extremely powerful. But we have to understand that just like the equal pay, white women become equal earlier in the year than African-American women or Hispanic women. And so we have to stay together in our journey of fighting for rights for women. Never give up on each other. We have some challenges, but this country is only great when we stick together. You mentioned equal pay and instantly I was out, I got to cover the ticker tape parade for the US women's national team, the soccer team after they came home from France. And they're coming down, drinking a little champagne on those floats, coming down Broadway. And I tapped my boss. I said, you got to send me out into the field. I've got to cover this. And I know we've come a little bit of a ways when I have a seven-year-old boy on live television explaining to me what equal pay is. All right, all right. I've heard stories of women who are running for office who show up to the campaign events and the guy taps her on the shoulder and says, so where's the candidate? Have you had any experiences like that? From any of all your years? My experience is that when I walk into a room, not in my home state, but if I'm walking in a room and the senator's coming and I'm with my husband, they always look at him. And they always, they call him the senator and he's like, not me. And the funniest thing that happened was somehow a reporter thought this was going to be really funny to, you know how the members on the house walk across, I guess that's independence to go vote. And it was big vote. So if you want to catch a lot of members, that's a good place to catch them. And they were, this guy was going to see if the members could sing or either was either recite the Pledge of Allegiance or sing the National Anthem and knew all the words. I think this was on follow up where somebody forgot some words and they, so they were going to like sort of a gotcha moment. So I'm walking across the street with my husband and this reporter comes up to us and I see what's happening and I just keep walking and she looks at him and she goes, can you recount the Pledge of Allegiance congressman? And he goes, not me, her. And by that way it's like, boo, see ya. So that happens all the, you gotta have a sense of humor. I mean, this happened to me, it happens a lot when I'm with him. They just assume it's him. And, you know, I don't get all offended about it. He and I laugh about it. And, you know, quite honestly, I love him to death, but if he had to make the decisions and live under the stress I live on, he'd fold like a chief set up, chief set up. He knows it, he knows it. But so that's when I get it, I get it the most and my staff's in here and they can laugh because they've seen it happen and it is, I just laugh because, you know, but like my son said, I'm the one with the power. Do you have any stories? I do, a couple that I can think of but so I do parades sometimes, sometimes as a candidate for office, sometimes just to celebrate community festivals, yes, et cetera. And I remember when I was just beginning to run for Senate, I had represented a small part of Wisconsin and I wanted to get out more around the state and there was this parade in Milwaukee that was only, you were only allowed to march in it if you were elected in that area. So I called up my friend the mayor, Tom Barrett, and said, can I join your delegation and march with you in the parade? Well, he was up for reelection that spring in April and I'm marching down with the group and I have all these people yelling, we love your husband. So Chris Barrett is about my height, blonde sort of, you know, whatever and all of a sudden we realized that of course they recognized him, I'm not from the area immediately so they didn't recognize him. The assumption was because I was hanging out with the mayor that I was his wife. So then I just decided I wasn't breaking the rules, he did invite me to be in the parade but if I kind of lagged behind maybe by a couple of blocks they would stop confusing the issue. That stays with you, that stays with me. Oh yes, indeed. Congresswoman, what do you have? I just have issues with being called congressman Brenda Lawrence. You would not say congresswoman if it was a man standing there. So I constantly correct, they say, and we're so glad to have congressman Brenda Lawrence, I said congresswoman and so now at least at home people are sensitive to the fact that it's a, you know, I'm a woman standing there and I'm not a congressman. Congressman Brenda, that happens. And it happens a lot. We're so glad to have congressman, it's like that's the term for a person in Congress, a congressman. Tell me the story, Senator Capito, of when you were first, I read a bit about, when you were a congresswoman and when you went to vote there were no restrooms on the floor of the house. Oh, oh, yeah. What did you do about that? My dad was a member of Congress from 1956 to 68. So then when I was sworn in in 2000, you're allowed to, former members are allowed to come on the floor of the house. And that swearing in day, as you know, is so long and so crazy, because there's 435. You gotta go? Yeah, well, when you gotta go, you gotta go. So I said to my dad as we were waiting for my name to get called or, however we were doing it, there's lots of going on. I said, dad, do you remember where the ladies room is around here? He goes, honey, there were only six of you. You had to knock at the men's room door. And, I mean, this is the kind of humor I was raised in and it was funny, it was funny. So we did have the Lindy Boggs room. Lindy Boggs was a pioneer for us and it's a very humorous story. Those of you know where the ladies, it's right off Statuary's Hall, where the women's kind of relaxation room and restroom and everything is. But it became apparent, this is such a non-story, but as you look at the speaker on the right was the men's room. And the ladies, we had to walk out into Statuary Hall out, you know, among other people. If you were in a rush, if you were voting, it was inconvenient. So it was interesting when Speaker Pelosi went in in 2007. The power of a woman. Very powerful. We all thought that she would get us another bathroom. Because she's a woman. And she would did not do it because I think, Tammy remind me, I think the reason she didn't do it is because it was gonna be like a $7 million renovation to the room. And she just didn't want to be saying, oh, you know, and so that's what I always heard that that was sort of her hesitation to do it. So. We have it now. Well, yeah, I was on the committee. To get the new bathroom. And it was a buy. It was a Linda Sanchez was on there with me. But when, so when then it changes over and it's John Boehner is the speaker. And the first thing he does is he comes to me and he goes, we're gonna put a lady's bathroom over by the, you know, the speaker's lobby. And I was like, really? And he said, but anyway, they formed a little committee. And now it's so much more convenient. And it's such a little thing, but it's so it was so symbolizing. It's a base and it's total symbolism. And of course, the funny thing about it too is, so I'm on this committee. And then I, somebody from one of the network news shows wants to do a slice of life kind of thing of Congress. And they go, well, we're going to put you in and you're going to talk about the lady's bathroom. And I said, oh yeah, that's great. And so I get on there. And then I get this stuff in my mail from my constituents, really in charge of the bathroom. Way to go, Shelly. And he said, you can't win, you can't win this one. But that's how that bathroom got there. That used to be the parliamentarian's room. Yes, it is a godsend. It's a good story, it's a good story. And it was formulated in mind, because when I went in, in 2001, there was 56, I think, women, only eight women had children under the age of 18 of which I was one. Nobody had babies. Now you've got like Kathy McMorris Rogers had her three babies, Linda Sanchez has had a baby, Gillibrand's had babies, Tammy Duckworth has had the first baby on the Senate. And so they formulated the lady's room to accommodate those kinds of things. Yeah, and John Boehner's like, I need to talk to you about this. No, no, you just do what you think and that'll be fine with me. Gotta go play golf. Yeah. Okay. How, speaking of men, past and present, how we need our men. We need our men to help us out. And you mentioned equal pay and how that should be a men's issue too. Can you give me examples of maybe certain men on Capitol Hill who group together with you all to help you push through what you need to achieve? Today is Domestic Violence Day and so we went to the Rayburn Room to take a photo and it was probably more men standing with us with their ribbon on. And as we look at maternal mortality, signing people up for that bill to fund the research, we are seeing that the men are really stepping up. And sometimes I feel the women give them the cover to they bring the issues forward and they know it's the right thing to do. But when it comes to veterans issues because there is just this inherent responsibility we have for our veterans when we talk about women's issues with the veterans and men, they sign on. And also when I passed in the house, the commemoration for the 100th year, every single man I went to signed on. And it's enlightening and I have to say when I first wanted to run for public office, I was on school board and I was a PTA mom and I was just frustrated because every time we wanted to do something we had to go to this board and they didn't know what the heck they were doing. I said, I wanna be on that board because you all aren't doing a job. And so someone said, you have to run for office. Ooh, wait a minute, because I had no political anything in my family. And I go like, whoa, how does that work? And it was a man who said, Brenda, I said, I'm not qualified. That's for big shots. He said, Brenda, you care about children. You're willing to do the work. I see you doing it. You should run and encourage me. So I'm not a man hater. I tell men when strong women sometimes you'll hear men get a little intimidated. I said, man, we're not trying to leave you behind. Just grab our arm and walk with us. But we have so many opportunities where, I've been married for 47 years and I tell people, I do not have the time or the patience to train another one. So I will remain and so I have no hate for men, believe me. I have no hate for men, believe me, I love them. You know, I look at this in fact, linking to the rightfully hers exhibit here, the effort to achieve a constitutional amendment, the 19th amendment was hard fought, women obviously in the lead as activists, but all those legislatures that passed them were filled with men, right? So I've also been throughout my life a part of the LGBTQ civil rights movement. And again, out LGBTQ representatives are limited in number, they're growing, it's been exciting to see over my career. But you can't win any legislative battle without allies, right, so you have to do that sort of organizing. And what was so interesting to me to look at the exhibit and especially through the eyes of a legislator was all these sort of backstories that you're like, I could see that happening today. The Wisconsin, by the way, was the first state to ratify the 19th amendment, I just wanna. Yeah, Wisconsin. But there's this great set of documents in the exhibit. What happened is Illinois passed it in the legislature about an hour and a half before Wisconsin did, but there was some sort of clerical or enrollment error and so Wisconsin was able to get it delivered back to Washington, D.C. and filed before Illinois. So there's this great exchange of letters between the leaders of the movement in Illinois and the leaders of the movement in Wisconsin, sort of like, it has that tone you might think of. Well, we were really first, anyhow. And then Tennessee was the last state. And there, going through the exhibit, there's a famous story of a legislator who was against, was planning on voting against the amendment and it ended up tied in the legislature. And then he gets a note passed in from his mother, who admonishes him to do the right thing. And so they're describing the debate and they said, so it passed by one vote when he changed the vote. And then we look at the papers, because that's what the archives has, it's like old papers. And so we're looking at it and the final vote was actually, say they had 100 members, it was 52 to 48, not 51 to 49. And it's like, well, you're just telling me it passed by one vote when this went. I said, I know what happened. The speaker of the house changed his vote so that he could launch a motion to reconsider. Like only we would get that when we're reading the document. It was really, really fascinating. But, so you don't have to get as excited as I do. I'm explaining why it passed by two votes, not one. But that said, yeah, I mean, we have to figure out how to build a majority or in some cases in the Senate, how to build 60 vote margin in order to advance. And that takes a lot of allies and a lot of persuading. And yes, I have many colleagues who stand up not because it necessarily is something that has been their central issue, but they know it's important to move our country forward. Sure, I appreciate the nerding out on procedure. That's very cool. Yes. I have another number, record 36 women newly elected to Congress in the 2018 midterms, only one was a Republican. And I'm just wondering Senator Capito, why aren't there more women with you? And she was from West Virginia and it wasn't me. It's Carol Miller. Where are the Republican women? This is a question I get asked all the time and I wonder, and it's really quite embarrassing as a Republican woman that we can't grow our numbers. And I don't know if it's, I mean, I'm gonna throw some things out here because I've thought about it and been asked about it quite a bit, is that the Democrat women have done such a good job at growing, you were saying you started at the school board and soon encouraged to run at the school board and then maybe to the county commission or then you went to mayor. And so growing the pipeline of elected officials for women, I think is part of it. But I'll go back to what Tammy said in the beginning, the symbolism of having a woman leader in your party is, and then once you all have started to grow your numbers, then this last election was just incredible. Incredible. And I think it was just a really good concentrated my hats off effort by the Democrat party to say maybe 10, 15 years ago, we're gonna start here and grow our women within the party and we haven't done that. And so I don't know. I mean, it's like I said, it's not a badge we wear proudly. I mean, in the Senate, we have 25 women, we have eight Republicans, which is actually up from when I first joined several years ago, it was just five. But the numbers in the house side are shrinking and we have a couple of retirements coming up too with Susan Brooks and Martha are leaving and probably I think one other. So you know what? I don't know. I'm doing my part. I'm trying to work and be a good role model and inspire young women. And I'm a proud Republican. I mean, I have, I was raised Republican, but I mean, I'm a proud Republican. So it's not, I'm not shirking my party on this, but I think we've done just a really bad job of growing and growing our attractiveness to a lot of different segments of the population. It's not just women. Sure. So I wanna get back to what my colleague said about symbolism. The more you see women in a certain role, it nurtures that community that I too can do this. Having Nancy Pelosi to be the speaker of the house is extreme symbol to women and to, and it happens to be my party, I'm a proud Democrat. And one of the things you mentioned earlier, we make a concerted effort, I under women's caucus, and make sure when they're doing press conferences, we make sure those women are there, do you have a woman speaking? We make sure that when there are committees and assignments that we have women present on there, because we're changing a culture. And so when you're changing a culture, you can't do it unless you're present. And so I remember being a freshman and the senior women, when they were press conferences, pulling me up, get up front, come on, they have to see us. And so now when there's press conferences, I'm yanking some friends, you know, and to encourage them to step up for different things and help them with legislation. And so that's something we're doing internally because that symbolism of women being in power and women being there is actually growing in numbers. And then now we do a great job because they send us out to the field to find another one, find a candidate to run, go out and encourage this woman to run. We need someone to run. And so we make a concerted effort, those of us who are women, to recruit, to support. You know, we'll be in our caucus and they'll say there's a woman running in Wisconsin or West Virginia, she needs help, let's go out there and help her. And it's, I mean, the results of this last election was bigger than what I ever thought. And the women are getting younger, but we had one of the oldest members, she was a former secretary under President Obama, Shalala, who was elected. So, you know, we often say young women, we just need good women. We don't care if you're young or old to come and represent our country. On that note, this is my last question and we'll go to you all. But who knows who could be sitting here and listening very, very carefully to you. I mean, I've never seen such engagement of women in politics in my life. I've been a journalist for 20 years, I've just turned a magic number of four zero. And, you know, I just think it's incredible what I've witnessed covering you all. And so what would you say to women here watching who are considering this, who want to find their voice? Maybe they're not having the, you know, produce aisle three in the Kroger and Charleston moment to run for the House delegates. If they're lucky, they will. What would you tell them, starting with you, Senator? Jump right in and volunteer. So I had studied in college, I was a double major in mathematics and political science. So I'd, you know, done the, oh, I get how government and democracy works. And then I was back in my hometown of Madison, Wisconsin. And I just started rolling up my sleeves. I started volunteering for everything. All these organizations that were working on issues that I felt passionately about started working on some local campaigns. And that was fascinating because they were so understaffed, meaning no staff, it was like they were only volunteer that I took the title of campaign manager is the second day I showed up, right? To my candidate's kitchen, which was running for a school board, right? You know, he was like, oh, I can, and I think that really exposed me to things that reading the books about how it works just would never expose me to. And then in terms of actually running, you know, I was 23 when I put my hat in the ring to run for the Dane County Board of Supervisors, which was my first elective office. And I think I had as a volunteer shown up at every organization known to the downtown area of Madison where I was running. And it's like, oh yeah, you were helpful. And so I already had folks I had worked with even at that tender age that, you know, they helped me. Congresswoman. So to anyone that has, who's looking at it, I use this term, you have to have that burning in the belly. That means that you have such a desire to change things and this political process is the way that you wanna do it because it is not easy. Being in politics, we may look relaxed and poised up here. We have a lot of scars that we have gained in this fight to win political office, to keep it, to maintain the rigor. I encourage anyone, and there's so many women I see, I say, oh my goodness, she would be amazing. Walking the halls of Congress, you have to have courage because when you step out here, you put a bull's eye on your back. They're gonna call you every name, but the one your mother named you. You'll get criticized, like you said, you can't win. But it's that burning in the belly that tells you every day to get up and try to make a difference. And we get some wins. We talk about legislation. We wear that as a bad diviner because we actually made a difference past a lot of violence against women. That's huge. That's gonna transform and protect women in America. When we talk about laws that protects our veterans, housing, you all live in Washington, DC, you know housing is gonna become a major, it is a major issue in America in every large metropolitan area. We have so many things to fight for. And I'll tell any woman, for me, it's about the dash in the middle. Everybody gets the big end date and everybody gets the end date. But what's different in an individual about all of us is that dash in the middle. What is your legacy? I tell women all the time, you're writing your legacy, you're writing your eulogy. Make sure it says something. And so many times women suppress their power. And sometimes it's just when you, oh I wish I could say it, I just feel it, say it, dang on it, speak up. And when you speak it, sometimes that releases that latch that gives you that power and that surge to do something. And you know, the one thing that women struggle with is acceptance. You know, we want everyone to like it. Sometimes we're raised that way to be pretty and people will like you. One thing my grandmother did, she stripped me of that. She said, I don't care how pretty you are. If you're not doing something that's going to help someone and if you're not a kind and good person, I don't care what it looks like. And I said, you're not a beautiful person. Your beauty comes from the inside. And I tell women that, because sometimes they get so caught up. I had a young lady running for office and she must spend 10 hours before she would go out to campaign. I go like, honey, no one's going to vote for you because you're beautiful. They're going to vote for you because you're going to help them. They have to feel that you're going to fight for them. And so if you're here, it gets a little messed up. It's okay. You know, if one nail is broke, that's all right. Break the rest of them and keep it moving. So I just really would encourage any woman and you don't always have to be the politician. She mentioned running a campaign. We need people to run campaigns. That's a powerful position. We need people to raise money. That's a very powerful position. We need policy people and committee people on the hill that's helping us write laws, staffers. So it's a wide range, but just get in there and do it. Our country needs you. Let's start with their question, shall we? The question is, can women lead a bipartisan effort to restore civility in Congress? Any of you? Well, it's tough. I mean, it's tough right now for, as you all know, living in D.C., you're living in it's probably closer and more intimately than most of the people around the country. And the incivility has, I think since I've been in office, probably reached, if not the worst point, it's pretty close. And it's frustrating for those of us who are trying to do it the right way and garner respect with our colleagues and with the constituents that we represent and conduct ourselves the way I've tried to teach my kids to conduct themselves with respect for individuals and particularly for those who don't have the advantages that you have had to show compassion for them. It is very frustrating. When I was in the house, I was on the rules committee, which is the horrible committee. And, but David Dreyer, does anybody remember David Dreyer? He was in California. California, he was chair of the, so this was from 2004 to six. And he asked me if I would begin an effort to create a civility caucus in the house. And I said yes. And I got a partner, Emmanuel Cleaver was my partner. He's still there, sweetest, nicest, most gentleman and very firm in his beliefs. And he and I had a lot of differences in how we felt like we could solve problems. So we conducted what we called civil debates. We did a couple op-eds together. We would get the time after we were out of session and he would argue healthcare from his point of view and I would argue it from my point of view, but we wouldn't get mad at one another. We would, you know, and we tried to recruit some people into the civility caucus, which grew at a rapid pace to about 16. The wine caucus had 189 people. So we didn't really make much progress on the civility caucus. And you know, I think honestly social media, the 24 hour news cycle, the behavior of leaders, it just, it's just out of control. And I think the biggest thing that pulls us together, and this was my first year I was ever in, the most together we ever were in civil to one another was in the year 2001 on 9-12. And from those years, probably two or three years, I would say when you say Tammy, that we really did a lot of good work together. We kind of realized how vulnerable we were as a nation, but I don't wanna see us have to go to a crisis position before we have to all of a sudden wake up and go, whoa, we're all in this together. And so it is very frustrating, particularly for those, I think particularly for me personally, because I try hard to be, express my beliefs in a firm and affirmative way without disrespecting the other person. And if I go to a dinner and talk about this, I mean, I don't get a whole lot of, I'm not like you, I don't get a lot of applause lines, but I always get an applause line when I start talking about this, because people are sick of it, they're sick of it. And young people, they just turn it off. They're not watching it anymore. And then what's that happen? They disengage from the process. They quit voting, they quit addressing their opinion, they stopped running for office, they stopped supporting people, they stopped caring, and then you end up with a really lethargic constituent electorate and look at some countries that have 17, 80% voting, what do we have? 35, if we're lucky, those are just a few of my views on it. I don't have the solution, but I'm just as frustrated with it as many others are. Let me jump in with the next one, it comes out of that. So here's a question. I'm currently reading John Dean's book, Blind Ambition, about the Nixon Watergate impeachment. Given the number of women in the House and Senate currently, how have you seen elected women impact this process, or how do you expect the women to impact this process? The process of impeachment. We're gonna turn for the House members. I don't know what everyone's like. Congresswoman Lawrence? So I'm gonna say the impeachment word. This has been an investigative, patient process. And the holding someone accountable or getting to the facts has been something that I'm watching the women and watching the freshman members, it has been something that they're very engaged in. That whole concept of accountability for what you do, I think women have a greater sense of that because we parent, we hold our kids accountable. I don't know, but I see women at every level that's really engaged. And I just wanna invoke a name of a great man who just passed Elijah Cummings. I served on government oversight. And I can't tell you someone who had probably one of the most contentious committees to cheer it in a way that he always tried to bring it back to civility. And I just think he was a great role model. And just to leave you all with how he, when he had the really bad days and it was just out of control and he had to use his gavel over two seconds, he would say we're better than this. And that was kind of like our rally call, okay, you guys have gone out of control. Let's bring it back down to civility. We're better than this. Here's a question that says in big capital letters, prejudice and disrespect. In my view, results of presidential elections in 2008, 2012 and 2016 are evidence that prejudice and disrespect for women is stronger than for members of minority racial groups. Can a woman be elected in 2020? Question mark or ever question mark? Well, yes. Yes, yes, full stop. I do want to reflect on the power of, they're not just being one who's running, but to see in this case it's a democratic primary, but to see on a stage numerous women. As I was talking about the time I saw one woman, Geraldine Ferraro, for me that was like, oh, the whole world has changed. But the fact that we haven't had a woman president yet, I think still sends that message that this isn't something that I should aim for or try. But to see multiple women standing there, I just think that no matter what the outcome of 2020, that there's a whole generation who will think to themselves, well, what do women do? Well, some of them run for president. And I think that's really transformative regardless of the outcome. Next one, we see that domestic violence can be expressed as revenge porn by intimate partners who are using the internet to punish and shame former lovers. I think we continue to have double standards for these kinds of attacks blaming victims. Obviously this is in reference of former Congresswoman Katie Hill, do you agree? The internet has transformed so many things in our environment and our culture. I think of human trafficking. The social media has become a major caveat for social media sucking in vulnerable young people, boys and girls. And when you look at domestic disputes, and now you can destroy someone's reputation with the internet by sending photos that were taken in private, we are struggling with so many, the dark side of the internet. And obviously you become a victim in that situation. And I know California has enacted some very strong laws on that. And we as a country are gonna have to look at how the internet is used to pray and to attack in ways that is transferred especially on women, some of the challenges we have. Good questions from you all. How different is it to negotiate on congressional legislation with women assisting from negotiating with the men? Any of you? Well, I think I kind of alluded to this earlier that some of the studies show that we are more likely to co-sponsor across party lines, our own legislation together. But that's not an exclusive kind of way to get things moving. I don't really, when I think of it, when somebody comes to me, okay, for instance, this is how, and those of you who worked on the Hill know that the staff will come to you on Monday morning and say, Senator Baldwin came to you and she has a bill that she's really interested in and she'd like you to co-sponsor. And then we talk about the substance of the bill. And then let's just say they said Senator Brown from Ohio comes to you from a man and comes to you and he has a bill and this is a substance of it. It's really not so much who you're co-sponsoring. It's really about the subject of what the legislation is. So I don't make my judgments on how I'm gonna work or whether I'm gonna work on a particular issue. It's really more issue-driven for me. And I'm assuming it's the same with you guys. There are people, you know, because you're on certain committees with people, that's how you get synergies, whether you're from the same state. I work with a Senator Manchin on a lot of things, cross-party lines, you know, and he's a guy. And so I think it's more issue-driven for me than, so I would say it's equal working for a man or a woman as long as you're compassionate about the issue that you're going through. That's how I feel, yeah. I'd argue there's a range among men, some are very easy to negotiate with, some are not, and there's a range among women and some of them are, so pretty broad range. It's more specific personalities and how close you are to agreement on an issue. Yeah. We hit on a little bit of this in terms of the message for women running, but how can we get more young women running for office? You know, I think there's many strategies. Earlier, Shelly was talking about the pipeline, and I think that many studies over time have shown that young men at the certain age of their careers or family lives are just much more likely to jump in that women tend to have a number of concerns, whether it's young children that they don't believe they should seek public office until they're older or even let's take a typical career path for somebody who goes into politics. Law, not everyone, but a lot. And so a young associate, a big law firm, female might say, oh my gosh, the boss is gonna see me on the phone too much, not doing business or out of the office too much. And a young male associate might say, in the same situation, oh, they'll see that I'm meeting all these important and powerful people that I could generate more business through my activities in the community. And we have the different messages that we've gotten over our time that lead to different choices. So we have to recognize that, name that, and provide support and encouragement. And one organization that works with democratic women is called Emily's List. And they've reflected through their own research that oftentimes women have to be asked repeatedly. Shelly, it sounds like, you know, at progress. It's like three years, was it? Thinking about it. It's just sort of urged to run. And if I think about my own career, the only time somebody didn't encourage me to think about a different level of office was the first time I ran and when I ran for Senate. But somebody said, the incumbent in the state assembly seat said, I'm about to retire from the assembly. You should think about running for my seat. I'm like, me, me? But then these organizations that can provide the sort of support and training that you need, you might watch any one of us on television doing a standup interview and say, gosh, you were great. And it's probably because we practiced. I don't know, for me, that's not at all instinctive. And so I've had training over the years. I've had training in understanding the intricate workings of a field operation and what to take from polling and all of that sort of thing. These aren't innate skills necessarily. Sometimes they are. But the type of training and support and asking, you find a bright male woman who's passionate about an issue, say, you should run for office and encourage. Why do you think it took you three years? Well, I think it was more where I was in my own life and personal situations. But I'll say one thing. My West Virginia Girls Rise Up program that I go around to schools. I have successful women that come with me. We had Peggy Whitson, who's a NASA astronaut. We had Shannon Bream came to the southern cold fields of West Virginia with me. She's a Fox personality, I guess you would call it, or a news person. And the whole reason I'm doing this is because of my experience growing up in a political family, then as my parents age and I started getting into it, I had all these people come up to me and say, your dad helped us get the Little League field. Your dad helped my mother when my brother was in Vietnam and he wouldn't write home. We didn't know if he was still alive and your dad was congressman and he got that. And I had these really nice anecdotal small stories of how he had impacted people's lives. And sometimes that's the most gratifying part of serving. The big issues are great. When you get, I helped a family adopt a child from, I can't even remember the country, a Guatemala or something back in the day. And then now, just the other day, she sent me a picture, he graduated from high school. And I mean, these are the kinds of things that really kind of get you going and thinking you're making a very large impact. So I decided, what could I do to write my legacy? And my legacy would be that someday a girl that I saw in fifth grade that I was trying to inspire, I'm that person who's, I'm in the Senate, so you can be this. And let's talk about women leaders and running for president and all these things that she would come up to my daughter one day and say, you know, well, she's running for president of the United States and say to my daughter, you know what, your mother came to my class and she was in the United States Senate. And I thought, wow, I wanna do that. So I think it goes back to the original statement that you made, it's seeing people. And so that's kind of my contribution to get, try to get young girls more into and sort of demystify. You know, a lot of times you see the pictures or you see us on TV and you're like, wow, she doesn't wanna talk to me. I'm not, I'm not important. And when you say to a fifth grade girl, when I was in fifth grade, I was afraid to even raise my hand in class. And now I speak on C-SPAN and 30 million bored people watch it. But I don't say bored to them, I make it sound. But I mean, you know, to tell them I had the same insecurities at that age, some of the same things that they have. And we talk about that. And then to get like an astronaut who's done 10 walks to have her talk about where were you, what were you worried about? And you know, she was like, I was afraid of dogs or something like that. You know, those kinds of identifiers with young girls to hopefully inspire the next generation. That's what I'm trying to do. We'll close it with whatever you are about to say. One of the things that a lot of young women who are in college don't recognize our internships in our office. I can't tell you how all of us have interns. I really try to keep girls in my office who are aspiring toward political science, toward policy. And to just get them a taste of life in politics and on the hill. And I've had some amazing stories of young ladies and running to them again because I tried to bring them in from my district. And so I just want any young lady or if you're a parent of a young lady in their interest in politics, send them to a congressional office in your district, which would be at home or you can send them to DC. We would love to have them and give them that experience and teach them some of the skills and they get to see a sweat every day. Round of applause for the ladies. Good job. Who has a NAPS score? Does anyone pay attention? NAPS? 1-0 Astros. 1-0 Astros, bottom of the second inning. Okay. All right. Thanks everyone, you can do what you wanna do.