Good morning and welcome. Im anna palmer, coauthor of the politico playbook and director of women rule. Its amazing to see so many of you in the audience this morning for what is sure to be a full day of powerful conversations. I have unique opportunity to speak to female leaders across Different Industries and with varying perspectives and create a forum where different viewpoints can be heard. But the one idea that unites all of us is the notion that when women run, when women lead, when women earn, and when women build, we rule. Today, there are more women in elected office, more women leading corporations, and more women championing causes. There are more women rising to the top. We have reached a Tipping Point and its critical we harness this momentum to continue propelling this generational shift forward. Stage i will be joined on by my colleagues and leaders in the womens role community to examine how women are running, leading, earning, and building across sectors and party lines alike. Here is my ask of all of you today. Focus on how you can create lasting impact. Which is why today we are honoring four women of impact, who are bringing their bold vision to life. These women are the believers and the doers, leading with conviction while also working in the trenches. We are going to hear from trailblazers this morning, stock leaders, executives, policymakers, including speaker of the house nancy pelosi, actress isabella gomez, female leaders, and chef amy br andwine. You will get the chance to connect with fellow women role community members, including both are fabulous ambassadors who are sitting at your tables at lunch today, and a powerful marketplace entrepreneurs whose companies were proud to feature future as you meet throughout the day and also go shopping which i plan to do. I now would like to take a moment to thank the people who make today possible. We have our founding partners, without whom women rule would not be what is today. I want to give a special thank you to chevron for their tremendous partnership over the past three years. And a thank you to our summit sponsors johnson johnson, and target. And finally to our stage makeup sponsor loreal. And thank you also to our 2019 impact partners. Our consortium of organizations dedicated to empowering women to become public leaders in our community. They include running start, the women in Public Service project, she should run, the association for womens business centers, google arts and culture, the smithsonian, and im excited about our newest impact partner, the james beard foundation. A special thank you to the female quotient, who we will be partnering with at their equality lounge in switzerland next month. We hope you will be informed and empowered with actionable takeaways that you yourself can take and elevate women everywhere. I hope you will share with what share what we talk about today and social media. You can share your questions about the day with her moderates using the hashtag rule with us. Lastly, the summit Agenda Program can be found in the women rule summit app, which is new this year. You can find that on the app store and google play by live. Ng politico we urge you to log in and connect with the people around you. For our first segment of the day, running. Im delighted to bring to the stage three members of congress to discuss the impact our new wave of women on hill have had to date. Panelists, please join me on the stage. [applause] [cheering] alright, yeah. Get some energy in the room. Im thrilled to kick off todays summit with the conversation bringing together democratic and republican women lawmakers, which is been a hallmark of what women rule is. Im joined by Indiana Republican representative susan brooks was who also was the recruiting chair of the nrcc, democratic representative Lauren Underwood of illinois [cheering] Stephanie Murphy democrat , a from florida and cochair of the blue dog coalition. Veronica escobar was supposed to join us, but im not sure if you checked the news this morning. Shes a little busy, and she is a member of the judiciary committee, so unfortunately she was unable to join us. I want to start here. More than 100 women were swung sworn into the house in 2019, shattering the record that was set a decade ago. Were talking about this summit, what we really wanted to think about. Part of it was, what changed . We talk about so often it so important for women to be in position of power, for women to be elected in office, and i wanted to ask the question both to representative brooks and representative murphy because you been congress for a little been in congress for a little longer. What have you seen in congress, either socially or structurally with more women . Have you seen that all retarding have you seen that retarding or does it take longer than a year or two . Well, ill start up. Clearly i can office in 2013, i came into office in 2013, and while we have seen a historic number, which is an awesome thing, we quite frankly have a very long way to go. It was more than 100 ago that Jeanette Rankin from montana was the first woman to serve in congress, and i think she really wouldve thought that we would have been farther along than we are right now. But i think when we have women who are serving, who are role models for young girls and women of all ages, people often think, well, i think i can do that, too. Weve got to share our story, share our experiences that are so diverse and different as to how we all came here. And i had never run for office before but i had been in public offices, appointed offices. I have been an attorney since the mid1980s, and realized i was actually the one who was approached about running for office. I was asked. I was not one that just raised my hand. What we are seeing now more women on the road are raising their hands than even a decade ago. But i still think if you asked most women in congress, most of them were asked to run. Most of them didnt just raise their hand. First, let me just say im so grateful to be here. What a way to start out my day, with a bunch of powerful, strong women, amazing. And the men who support them. Always. Always important. But i think in a couple of ways things are palpably different. I think it was in women rule maybe a couple of days ago where there was a survey that said that with this historic election diversity to congress, it is actually giving women in america across the country more hope. When they were surveyed, you could see after 2018 that women looked at the world more optimistically than men did. I think that was in large part being able to see they were represented by the diversity that makes this country so strong. Is,i think the other one its nice to be serving with a lot of other women, younger women as well, because i get mistaken for an intern a little less. [laughing] you have to show your credentials prominently in the hallways . I was in an awkward conversation with one of my colleagues where he was like, who do you work for . And i thought, the people of floridas 7th . [laughter] i appreciate you being here today. She was one of our first events of this year, you came. I want to ask you this question. You are the youngest africanamerican member of congress, took a seat that was longtime republican held in illinois. What do you think youre bringing that may be different from your colleagues, male or female . It has become very apparent to me that there is a certain responsibility that comes with being the first and being the only. So im the youngest black woman to ever serve in the congress which means in the entire history of this country, there has never been a young black woman at that table. Whether we are talking about economic issues, health care issues, housing, climate change, whatever, we have millions of people across the country who now have a voice. And i feel that responsibility. While i am so grateful and honored to be able to represent my community, the illinois 14th also recognize the need to offer representation that other way. So when congresswoman alma adams and i founded the black internal health caucus, we knew this would be an opportunity to be able to lift up an issue that happened to receive attention here in washington for 30 years. The statistics have remained stagnant that black women are four times more likely to die as a result of childbirth in this country, and it has remained unchanged in my entire lifetime. In a few months with this partnership, weve been able to grow this caucus to nearly 100 members bipartisan. We had real wins in terms of standalone legislation, we are on the verge of getting the first Medicaid Expansion through the house since the aca passed. So women on medicaid get a full year of coverage postpartum, things like that. That doesnt just happen. You have to have a represented the recognizes the problem and are willing to leverage the political capital. Were in this really powerful exciting point right now to do that with this issue. [applause] i want to get kudos to lauren and to the women particularly the women, particularly the younger women, in congress who talk about maternal mortality. Jamie butler has had her third child while serving in congress. Her first child has significant medical complications, and i think what they have done, what when when i came to congress, i was way past childbearing years, but these women who are having babies while in congress and the amount of women who are focused on maternal mortality, i dont think our country realized what they horrible problem it was, and particularly for women of color. I am on energy and commerce. You have had lots of hearings about this. Anna eshoo has led those hearings. I do believe it is because women in Congress Like lauren and jamie have raised at this issue. Raised up this issue. We are really not any good place in the world, and who would have guessed that with a medical innovation and all the healthcare we have in this country, that still far too Many American women are dying. I want to go back to something you said when you started talking about this , you are theis first. How do you deal with that . There are a lot of women trying to work their way up the ladder. I was the first woman to lead playbook. Talk a bit how you deal with that pressure. So many of us do not seek out to be the first. We want to do the job. We want to have impact, we want to get some things done. If we just happen to be the first, i think thats fine. I think there is a responsibility because we want to make sure there are more women and others coming after us quickly. I dont want to be the only. Being the first is fine. Thats first, you are first, too. Thats cute, you are first, too. I get the first woman to represent your district . I am. [cheers and applause] but the point is that we should not be the only. What can we do everyday to make it easier for those who want to come behind us . What i think is we have made leaps and bounds inroads in just a year. And so im excited about what lies ahead. I spoke with a roundtable of members, current and former the , fourth Politico Magazine which is online. Casanova,senator hayes from connecticut. We have had a frank conversation about whats changed, what hasnt changed, what needs to change. We were going back in history about there wasnt bathrooms for women on the house floor until very recently thanks to john boehner. There you go. That was Speaker Boehner who moved the womens restroom right off the floor, by the way. Give us a little bit of the behindthescenes. Are there nursing rooms . Are there other practical issues that come up from your perspective, whether you are a woman or not, that still needs to move forward to make Congress Move forward . I happen to serve on the select committee on the modernization of congress. Yes, there is such a committee. It was last constituted in 19941995. I have to say, you are giving me something to go take back and consider. Its a completely bipartisan committee. I have loved being on this committee. I wouldnt say that weve had a huge focus specifically on women. So i will go back and with suzan delbene, go back and talk about what we might interjected there with respect to modernization. But i know one of the things we certainly talk about is is we need more space within the capital. This is for bipartisan discussions to take place. Believe it or not, except in our members offices, there are very few places where we can come together and have private conversations and get to know each other very well. We are talking about how to change the space. But i think things like actually lactation rooms, again, i am past that point, although i have not asked or looked to see if we have them in congress. Jamie would know. She comes to the floor all the time with her little baby, you know, with her. But i think its just something that we have to continue to focus on. Anything else . I would say now that there are more women serving, and when you serve, it is sort of a family affair. Everybody has to be all hands on deck. There are a lot of women with small children who are serving now, so i think taking that into account with the scheduling as well as with the orientation is really important. I remember when my husband, when i got elected and he was goingth through orientation, they tried to give him a vera bradley bag [laughter] so did my husband. With lipstick and nail polish in it. Yeah. And so i think there are all these little ways in which we, even though we have more women serving, women with children and families serving and those responsibilities to balance, we havent yet oriented our process and procedures towards that. We are working in scheduling. That is a chunk because we know the schedule doesnt work very well for families. We always take august off. The traditional august recess. Im not saying thats definitely going away but yet so many schools start early now and so now when we are off, kids are going back to school that first, second week of so a lot of august. Members, we took suggestions from members. They are just saying the schedule does not work. And if we dont make it more familyfriendly, we will not attract more women. Because it has to work in their life, and stephanie has done an amazing job with your kids. My more older. Mine were 18 and 21 when i went off to congress. Messing with the august recess. Causing controversy this morning. Stay tuned. Well see what we recommend. Susan brooks, there was a women dominated by democrats. There was only one woman from West Virginia who was elected in the house in the midterms. What needs to be done . What can republicans do . We have had this conversation so many times, and it just does not seem like republicans are able to get over the Tipping Point. Kudos to the democrats for their efforts this last election cycle. I am the recruitment chair for the rncc and proud to be doing that. We actually had 52 women on the general election ballot last cycle. Now, quite frankly, only 13 of us made it through, with carol miller being the only freshman. And shes awesome, by the way. I love having carol in congress. This congress we have continued to focus. Im very proud to say that as of today, and i checked, 178 republican women have filed for office, more than in any other time. [applause] i think we had 130 last time in congress and filing hasnt ended. We also have about 140 people of color. And that is, again, something that is, you know, people have seen the diversity of congress and how its changed. So thats caused republicans across the country to say, i to run for office. I want to run for office. And so, i think were going to see, hopefully, weve got to get the women and people of color through primaries. Thats my next question. Thats always a challenge, but we have groups. Elise stefanik has led the way through her pac. Other groups are supporting women in unprecedented ways. And what ive seen, which i didnt notice as much last time, and it could be ive been frank with our caucus and ive shared with the caucus when ive talked with them that political at political conferences, guys, love you, but we had enough of you. I need you to help the women who are running, and they are. A lot more men and a lot more republican men are engaging in helping the women in their states and we go to those delegations in the states and ask them to really support the women who are running and im seeing that. Thats the question, i think, truly is when will republicans start pushing some of these republican women in these state districts. Youre having a historic number of republicans retiring, but getting some of these republicans in the seats instead of the very rplus one, rplus six moderate districts. I think thats exactly right. We have a lot of retirements, particularly out of texas and a lot of strong women running. In texas. St texas women are strong, everyone in texas is tough, but i think youll see a lot of incredible women of all ages, all backgrounds stepping up. Im really excited about it. I want to talk to you a little bit. You come from the more moderate democratic side of the party, a cochair of the blue dawn. A lot of the freshman men and women elected are much more liberal, arent necessarily tied to the Party Establishment in ways that historically democrats have, whether it is talking about socialism or other issues that have flared up. Has that made it harder for democrats to come to a consensus . I dont know. I feel like its a door bell, alll. I dont think so. I would challenge the notion that the women that have come in are progressives. I think we have a nice, you know, spread across the ideological spectrum within our democratic caucus, and there are actually quite a few women who are in the moderate center left kind of states. Kind of space. But are some voices amplified more than others . Sure. But i think one of the things that women always bring to the table, whether its in the car pool line, at the boardroom or wherever else we show up, is that we show up and we listen. And then we find ways to civilly engage with one another, and i think that that has been at the heart of what has been beneficial. And so, you can disagree on policy, perhaps, but find through conversation and dialog the ability to find Common Ground, and ive seen a lot of that. And one thing to remember is that we have not traditionally seen the loudest, boldest most boldest most powerful voices , out of capitol hill be women, and thats what we have right now from the speaker to stephanie as the chair of the blue dog coalition, and progressive caucus, you have the ladies in the squad, we have some powerful women who are moving us forward. And that makes folks uncomfortable sometimes. Weve not seen that before, but it doesnt mean that theres disagreement. It doesnt mean that theres all of this conflict. It doesnt mean theres an inability to move forward. It just means that the base and the voice might be different from what weve seen previously. Do you feel like there is that sexism out there, that there will be a cat fight on an because there are two women who could be sparring on an idea . Because that is the public frame that often gets put out there. I dont think so. In my experience here, im in my term, often the women and i cochaired the womens caucus last congress with lois frankel and right now weve got Brenda Lawrence and debby lesko cochairing the womens caucus. We have tried the women, in my experience, have tried to find more Common Ground than fighting against each other. I dont think you see the cat fight. I think, you know, because of that work, lois and i led in the house the bill the last congress to keeping Young Athletes, protecting Young Athletes from sexual abuse. Our u. S. Gymnasts that had been, you know, sexually assaulted by dr. Nassar, we led the house to change those particles in our to that training change those protocols and change that training in our u. S. Along withement, Dianne Feinstein and Susan Collins in the house. So were talking those really serious issues, maternal mortality, those issues that particularly involved women and girls, were trying, lois and i, and our colead and keeping the young girls in education act. Making sure our strategies in the countries have strategies that keep women or girls, rather, in school beyond Elementary School all around the country, all around the world, rather. And these are the types of things that we actually feel good about. We want to find those things. I mean, there are always going to be the outliers on both sides of the aisle. They get the attention of the media, but at the end of the day, the real work being done is often being done by women. Look at kay granger, keep our fingers crossed they can get this done. Funding. Knock on wood. But two women leading the spending efforts in congress, thats very different from how its been done in the past in this country. We started with the news of the day being impeachment, so we have to talk about it as we are politico and women rule. Right about now, some of your colleagues on the democratic side at 9 00 a. M. Are holding a press conference to announce two articles of impeachment against the president. You come from a conservative area typically won by republicans. How do you explain whats happening in washington back at home . We are in a unique position in that folks in illinois are very familiar with political corruption. [laughter] this is not a foreign concept to us. I am being serious. When the speaker announced the impeachment inquiry, at the same region am in the chicago and we watch chicago tv news. The fbi were rating the local aldermans office. And when youre watching the news you see Speaker Pelosi, donald trump, fbi carting out boxes right from city hall in chicago, and for my neighbors it all looks the same. They have seen that before. Its not something that is so foreign and unfamiliar. So weve started out from this basis that said that its wrong to have an abuse of power. Now, whether or not folks think thats impeachable, thats different. But its not something that in my conversations with my neighbors and my constituents that were having this fundamental disagreement about what happened and the morality of it. And so, you know, from that perspective, im curious to see the articles. I dont have any inside knowledge. When we get off this stage im going to be looking at my phone, like, ok, what are we really talking about here . And then we have to have a conversation as a community. Representative murphy, are you at all concerned with the speed with which the democrats have chosen to move on this . Maybe they should take time, go through the courts, things like that . I plan on asking Speaker Pelosi about this later on this morning. Is that something that you and your colleagues are wrestling with at all . No, i think that look, we have had a transparent and open process. We are looking at the information that is available and the reality is that this affects our 2020 election and i have been you know, its crazy to me that at a time when ive been the blue dogs and my office have been working so hard to secure funding for Election Security and advanced legislation to make sure that we prohibit foreign interference in our elections, at the same time that we are pushing forward this effort trying to secure our democracy, we are also looking at the leader of our country soliciting foreign intervention in our election. So, i think and in the 2020 election specifically. Moreover, you have the commander of fibercom saying guess what . In 2020, expect not just russia, but china, all of these other actors to try to interfere in our elections. Because russia did so in 2016 to great effect on their part, they achieved their goals of sewing discord within our democracy and they suffered zero consequences. So why would anybody else be deterred . The speed is driven by the fact that we have an election coming up that we have got to secure. We have to make sure that the American People feel like they get a free and fair election. Thats at the heart of our democracy. One of the things that id like to share is that i think there was no question that there was interference in our election in 2016. Whats been so disappointing and what we have not learned and what i truly wish the speaker is work but did not do in a bipartisan way to secure the elections in 2020. The cyber attacks, the manner in which our foreign adversaries are enjoying this discord that and not just enjoying, will actually capitalize and will really try and interfere with our elections in 2020, is significant. And yet, only partisan election bills and voting security bills have been put on the house floor. We did not work in a bipartisan way. So we have not learned yet how to secure our elections. And i am very, very concerned, and its very disappointing. So at the end of the day, while i dont believe that this was a transparent process, and i dont want to debate all of impeachment here this morning and what the process has been, but adam schiff has been the investigative body, the grand jury, the judge, the trier of fact, has done it all. I dont believe it has been a fair process at all. And so, i dont believe its been fair to the American People and to stephanies point were now right up on the 2020 election, and that is what this was about. It was about overturning the election of 2016, and now, interfering with the election in 2020. So, i really am not obviously in representing my party have felt that this has been a fair shake for the American People. And we are not i believe that our election system, we are not in a better place than we were in 2016. And we have not worked in a bipartisan way to fix to ensure the sanctity and security of our election. Ill ask one last question, and we will finish on a women rule note. A lot of democrats the hoped that members retiring like yourself would be open to voting impeachment . Would you be open to voting impeachment at all . Certainly i want to see what the articles of impeachment say, which i find very interesting. The democrats have pivoted from obstruction of justice to, this morning ive heard on television, obstruction of congress. Let me just tell you, this is not justice. What has happened is not justice. Ive been in the Justice System for over 30 years, both as former u. S. Attorney, as well as a lawyer for a long time. And what we have seen has not been justice. It has not been a fair process. It doesnt sound like youre open to it. Well, but i must say thats why we have a third branch of government, the courts. And that is where if congress felt that this president and the administration, like past president s, have impeded investigations, thats what that third body was created for, to go to court and ask that question. And thats not the path that the democrats have chosen. So i, you know, i dont believe this has been a fair process. I believe that my district, while i am in a more urban, suburban, rural, very diverse district, there are a lot of diverse opinions within my own district, i think that i always want to see what they have written. But right now, just based on what im hearing and reading, i dont believe that i will or that hardly any, if any republicans would vote for impeachment out of the house. We are quickly running out of time. But before we do, we started on the note that more women in congress and more women in leadership is a good thing and we always like to have tangible take a ways takeaways. I want to do a lightning round and ask, what is one thing women and male allies in this audience do to help more women get elected . Well start with you, representative murphy. I think that women should have the courage to try. So often there are things that we want to seek to do, whether its running for office or making a change in our community or raising our voices at the boardroom or whatever it is and we have this internal narrative that tells us that we cant or that we wont succeed. I think its critically important that women have the courage to try to do whatever it is that they are setting out to do, regardless of what they think the outcome will be and that the men in their lives should be there to support them. Congressman underwood. Well, commit to helping women. Vote for women. You can volunteer for women, you can financially support, you can amplify their stories for those who are in the media. There is not acer there is not a shortage of things you can do. You cant do it passively, you have to set the intention and actively go do it. Women have incredible stories to share, but in order to get the stories out and to share those stories that the women in congress have, quite frankly, you have to have the resources. The resources are the volunteers, but sadly what ive learned and what so many candidates learn is that you have to have the financial resources. Men have to support women. Women have to support women, and in order to get that message out, whether its through social media, whether its on the television, whether its doing mailings, it takes resources like weve never seen before. And so thats what i think at the end of the day, you know, weve got to make sure that women have the resources to succeed. I appreciate it. Thank you for helping us kickoff this summit. This has been a great conversation. [applause] where weve learned a lot about whats changing in congress, what still needs to change, a little bit of politics, and also, a little bit about getting active in our own politics and helping had women run for helping women run for office. Of course, no woman runs or leads alone. Another important piece of at of that puzzle that well get into in our next conversation is the women behind the 2020 campaigns and the process of rising to the top as a campaign operative. Thanks again for coming this morning, and thanks so much for your time. [applause] [applause] please women to the stage politicos National Political reporter laura baron lopez. [applause] good morning, everyone. Im laura baron lopez, im a National Reporter for politico. We are deep into the 2020 president ial campaign, which started with more than 20 democrats running for the presidency. And were now down to 15. Not that many. Im here today to talk to some of the women behind those campaigns. Well talk about what its like to shape the policies and the message of a president ial hopeful. Well also talk about the difficulties and discrimination andng women in politics, why the country still hasnt elected a woman to the highest office in the land. Joining me on stage, starting at the end of the row, is simone sanders, Senior Advisor for joe biden. Nina smith, travelling press secretary for pete buttigieg. And Olympia Johnson for elizabeth warren. Thank you, ladies, for joining us today. [applause] so news of the day, a topic that isnt getting much air time. [laughter] moments ago, House Democrats introduced two articles of impeachment. This is a historic president ial Campaign Cycle. The house is expected to vote by christmas to impeach the president. Valencia, how does trumps constant tweeting, the break neck pace of the news cycle, change the way you function as a Campaign Advisor . I think what you said is actually really important about the historic moment we are in. It is in the news cycle. We have to think about the severity of that and that he is literally breaking the law. Yes, he is tweeting at a rapid pace and trying to distract from the severity of whats happening, but weve got to take this moment seriously. And thats fortunately what my elizabeth senator warren, is doing. And she has read the Mueller Report and call for impeachment. I think we have to focus on the facts and also on the Campaign Cycle and focus on what the voters need. The voters want to make sure they are able to see a candidate who is going to upper the corruption out of our government , because that is who donald trump is. I think he is constantly telling the story of who he is. I think the point that you made is more important, about the historic moment and the severity of whats happening right now. Simone, on the same topic. The president s conduct concerning ukraine centers around your candidate. Biden has had to respond to the conspiracy theories on the trail. Trump isnt letting up on twitter. Does it make it harder for you to communicate bidens message . Absolutely not. We have been extremely clear that today what you see from the House Democratss of Donald Trumps own making. Donald trump is embroiled in controversy and articles of impeachment all because he solicited the foreign government, two foreign governments you are a memory he stood on the white house lawn and said, china, ukraine, whomever, investigate biden. This was about the fact that donald trump was scared of facing joe biden in the ballot box. We have been very clear on the campaign trail that we are going to go out there and talk about his plan for health care, his plan for the economy, his plan for the middle class. But were also not going to take these conspiracy theories and these attacks lying down. So i think everybody saw him very forceful on the campaign trail in iowa last week. Thats the kind of fire well need. If anybody is wondering whether joe biden can take on donald trump and is ready for a fight, i point you to the video in iowa. [laughter] lets talk to the panel, womens influence and power in president ial campaigns. There are a Record Number of women, including women of color, working on president ial campaigns today. Nina, what did it take for you to get to this point in your career, and where can campaigns improve . Ill say that my experience has been i think ive gone through the governmental kind of pathway into campaigns and into politics. I started out as a campus organizer, starting college stem chapters all offer the state of maryland. That work has taken me from the Obama Administration to capitol hill to the campaign trail. You know, these students come these opportunities come through a lot of hard work. You know, you were just laughing backstage about how often we see each other and how a lot of us have known each other prior to the cycle because you know, the space is small and you know, we all know each other because of that. The opportunities are starting to open up and thats fantastic. I think the focus on diversity is important and inclusion even more so. Its just not enough to have the numbers, but where are your people . For our campaign, were 40 people of color and spread across departments, no one is in most no one is housed one place. We have folks in finance, folks in communications, political, but theyre spread across the campaign and our input is a driving force for a lot of the work that we do. So, its really changing and thats a good thing, but we still havent gotten there. I know one of the panel surrounds the fact that we only have one female campaign thats a good thing, but we manager. Us having these positions and having the ear of our candidate is critical. And i think its really driving the scope and shape of this cycle. Simone, youve worked op multiple president ial campaigns. Really . [laughter] for two different candidates. Do you feel as though your career decisions, who youve decided to work for, is scrutinized more than your male peers . Yes. [laughter] absolutely absolutely. Absolutely feel that way. And i think its partly because folks are not used to seeing people that look like me make the kind of decisions ive decide to make about my career. Before when i was living the i used to do ae, lot of speaking on college campuses. I would remind young people that you have to make the best decisions for you in your career. I think a lot of people dibble and dabble and jump in and out of it, but we live this every single day. Going to work on a campaign is not a pastime or something i enjoy every now and then. Its literally what i have done since i was a freshman in college. Im a habitual campaign staffer, going to work on a campaign is that is what i do. This is my career. This is my life. And i often feel like if i was 35 years old and my name was tom, no one would ask me where im going and what im doing. And that you had worked for sanders and now work for biden. Absolutely. Valencia, despite the number of women working in campaign, only one of the Campaign Managers this cycle is a woman, my rupert with maya rupert with julian castro. What do you feel campaigns are missing by not having a female campaign manager, and what will it take for women to break that barrier . I think honestly its the diversity of conversation and thought. When we are having conversations and before i started on this campaign, i worked here for six years, and before that the obama reelection, and worked at planned parenthood. Constantly campaigning. Theres a lot youre doing there. You are trying to disrupt and have a conversation about the issues that matter to women and people in marginalized spaces. But having the diversity of thought that we have in our campaigns and to have people around the table to actually push forward those conversations in a nuanced way, it gets to a place where we have a better message, a more inclusive message. When your message is more inclusive, more people see themselves reflected in the campaign. To constantly continue to have those tables that are diverse with people of color, women, gender nonconforming people, we also have to include those different identities as well. You come to a more Robust Campaign that is more reflective of the american population. And people dont feel as tokenized when people are talking to you. Over the course of three president ial cycles to just see the diversity that has changed among leadership and campaigns is so inspiring. So is it just encouraging more women to get involved in politics is what will make it so Campaign Managers or people who receive those jobs, its femalemale parity . I think so. And part of what were doing is building the pipeline. Before us, we all talk about this. We shout out the color girls. They were the only black women fighting their way. If it hadnt been for the work they were doing, we wouldnt be sitting here and pushing to get the higher levels. Maybe one day we are not sitting harris Campaign Managers, but we have to constantly fight as well. Folks who are campaigning managers have done finance, organizing, communications, they have been political. Vice President Biden always talks about you wants a campaign that represents america. That means all of your black people are not in one department. All of your latino folks are not working on your latinx outreach initiatives. I think the way that we break the barrier to make it normal for more women to be in a position of Campaign Managers is we have to, not only encourage women to get involved, but we are involved. The folks in charge of making the decisions, who gets what job, who is the finance director, who is the political director, who is the organizing director, that they are intentional about creating diversity and opportunities and inclusion. It is not that people often ask, why arent there more women of color into mitigation . Because you have to get in communication . Because you have to give women of color these jobs. Were there. Its not that we havent its not that were not here. I go in for the interview and theyre like, i dont know, maybe. I think every woman in this room d someonexperience coming to them and saying, do you know someone who can . We have to speak up that we want these jobs and make our presence known. But people in positions of power have to be about the business of truly walking the walk. Nina, i am coming to you next. Talking about campaigns being intentional. The Buttigieg Campaign is paying mens 1. 00. 11 to how did this come about . At any point of your career have you had to fight for equal pay . Absolutely. And i dont think there is a woman out there who has not had that conversation, thinking about how do i ask for a raise . When is the right time to have that conversation about expanding my responsibilities because i am ready and have been doing all the work behind the scenes and not getting the credit for it. It is time for me to receive some of that credit. I think the campaign was very, very intentional. You noted the makeup of the campaign. Our campaign is made up of 53 women. Again, a lot of women running a departments, having that leadership also helps when it comes to ensuring the campaign is oriented in the right way. Beyond all that, the pay gap is very intentional. We watched the pieces and are constantly keeping track to make sure that we are ending the equal pay gap in our campaign and showing how an administration would be run. A lot of our plans are oriented that way and how the campaign is run is also an example of how that would show up in the buttigieg administration. Last week, howard stern interviewed Hillary Clinton. Your colleague liz smith tweeted about it and praised clinton for being candid. Stern has a Huge National audience and he said in the fall of 2016 that he repeatedly tried to get clinton to come on his show. He asked and asked, claiming he was a supporter that could humanize her with the white men in the audience, which is where she was lagging, and her campaign turned him down every time. Simone, i know you worked for the other democrat in the primary. But seeing what we saw from clinton last week, would you have advised her to do that interview . Hindsight is 2020. It is easy for me to sit here and say obviously you should have done the howard stern interview. I would be hardpressed to say i would be the one in the room saying, we should do howard stern. Were going to call howard up and get his questions and im sure it will be an above the board interview. Come on now. But the interview was great. The interview was absolutely great. But to be clear, the Hillary Clinton you saw in the interview is the secretary clinton that was on the campaign trail. I think she was up against and under a miss number of things. Enormous amount of things. People knowing her for her 25 year career in ideas cemented about her. It was tough. I would say, we make decisions every single day in our campaign, much to the chagrin of the national media, about who vice President Biden speaks to on the campaign trail. We prioritize speaking to local media because were out in iowa and storm lake, we want him to be on the storm like local news because thats what folks are turning on at the end of the day. I think campaigns are making Strategic Decisions about access, and its easy to be critical when you have someone like donald trump who, in 2016, was calling up the morning show and chitchatting. I dont want my candidate to chitchat for 20 minutes and we didnt know about it. But there is a balance. Would you put him on howard stern now . I dont know. Joe biden, he might enjoy speaking to howard stern. He likes to go out and have a chitchat. We like to say hes the greatest politician in america and shines in a oneonone interview. Howard stern, we could do it all. And what about you, would you put buttigieg on . Our campaign has been very much tied into having that access and giving media access. It is something i am sure we would consider. Obviously given the comments that liz put out on twitter. The idea here howard is watching. Right, right. [laughter] reality, we go wherever america is. And the idea here is to build a coalition that will come together and beat donald trump. That is our focus. There are different places we have gone. We have gone on the breakfast club, but also, you know, opened our campaign bus for hours on end. About reaching voters, bottom line. So i think, yes, thats something that we would consider. Valencia, what about you . Warren is the only female front runner. That would be an interesting dynamic for her. It is interesting. I think we would consider a lot of factors in that. I think one of the things that is so important to us is communicating to every voter, what they listen to and watch. It is not only cnn or msnbc. That is why she has gone to kermit, West Virginia, i think the point is that she has a message that resonates with so many people. Even people that are unsuspecting of it. You make sure you meet people where they are. Its easier to meet people where they are versus getting them to come to you. You take all of those factors into play, but you also have to, you know, stick to your values and what you believe and preach. Elizabeth warren will not be going going on howard stern. Thats not what i said. [laughter] that was a very smart answer. So, another Big Development last week was senator harris exit from the race. She was the only black woman candidate. You discussed this a little bit what impacted her run have on you personally . What was going through your mind when you saw that news . Any black woman in a leadership position is someone not only do i look up to, as someone who is going to break barriers for the career that i have, but in general. That is the highest achievement for a black woman is to become president of the United States and to run. Whether or not obviously, it did not work for her. As a black woman of politics removed from campaigning, its hard to see that, its hard to see this could be the greatest achievement for a black woman to accomplish. It was hard for a lot of us. We have a group text and we literally were all like today is really hard, but also sending love to our friends who are also on the campaign. So its an interesting time to reconcile with folks before us have been fighting for diversity. Diversity with the black women voters and give us the strategy position because you cannot ask for vote without implement strategies and making black women candidates. We have so many members with ideological candidates and we can have staffers throughout all these campaigns. So its a beautiful story, but it is disheartening and it was personally, it hurt. Thatit just sucks billionaires can kick good women out of a campaign. It makes no sense that bloomberg can spend millions on ads and he is in the race, and you have harris is no longer in the race. Also, kirsten gillibrand. We have to get the money out of politics, especially when we are talking to people who particularly black women, it is hard to raise money but especially when you have millionaires in the race. You were together when harris announced in january, correct . Sundance. We were at sundance. Living it up in park city. And we watched it. We went back to our room to watch it, and you know, i love senator harris. I love her i love her sister maya. I consider them both mentors of mine and i was absolutely sad to see her go, but senator harris is a star. You know, i think i tweeted that day that her entry into this race and seeing her every day on the campaign trail out there meant so much to a lot of people across the country and myself included and i believe that now. VicePresident Biden tweeted and said shes a rising star and were excited to see what she does next. A lot of people are excited to see her in this potential senate trial, ok. But i think that i think that at the end this section is hilarious right here. I think at the end of the day i think representation is really important. It is important that little girls all over america, whether they are black, whether they are of indian descent, whether theyre white little girls, if they look up and they can say ee that i can run for president. That i could be a press secretary, an advisor, a pundit, a reporter on the campaign trail. If this cycle taught me anything thus far, it is that the enormous amount of diversity and representation that is present will reverberate for years to come. That is how important this cycle is. This cycle is so important because so many people are seeing things we did not see 10 years ago. Womenthat point of young seeing women like you and the roles you are in, what advice would you give to young women trying to break into politics . Also, these last few weeks, you have dealt with some online hatred. There is things with the job that you necessarily dont expect when you first go into it. Can you talk about that a bit . I mean, lets be clear, i think a lot of women know, any industry walking in the room what youre going to deal with. A lot of times, folks take the agency and you cant make decisions, that sort of thing, and you know, its something that unfortunately you kind much come to expect. I think what you do is come in knowing what you know, being as confident as possible, you know, because you are there for a reason, right . You would not be where you are if you didnt work hard and you didnt deserve to be there. You are worthy enough for being in that space, and you know, that for me has been a guiding principle. Ive always tried to follow my gut and thats why my career has led me to where its led me and i feel like busting up in the room and being as confident as possible and be exactly who you are, you know, whether its me coming to a meeting in my Leather Jacket and combat boots with a nose ring and red hair, i i feel like it is so incredibly important to be exactly who you are in order for you to be as confident as you need to be to continue to break barriers and smash ceilings and all that fun stuff. Thank you. Thats a related [applause] [applause] related to that whats the one thing that maybe you needed to understand about your job, and didnt understand until you actually were hands on. This is actually a reader question. Reviewer question from meredith in manhattan, kansas. One thing id like to say, clarify that again . Whats the one thing you needed to understand about your job you couldnt until you actually had the position . I cant say its particularly a skill set just here on the Warren Campaign, but every job there are things you dont know and you have to be open to learning. The way you get through those, to be honest, is actually being confident enough to know the answer but also being open to the feedback, open to learning more and open to understanding. I knew walking into the Warren Campaign, and this is actually why i wanted to go to the Warren Campaign because she had such intricate policies that are actually changing peoples lives gap closing the wealth and speaking to gender issues. That is a little bit of a challenge going about from talking about acts of abortion and policy all the time and the Foreign Policy and every day be you have to be ahead of that. If you dont know something, be confident in that and know it is not necessarily a downfall. No one knows everything and no one is perfect. I think getting more confident and the willingness to grow and learn and take that and apply it is what has helped me. What you do for warren, you said centering people of color when youre in a campaign led by a white woman, but making sure that their voices are heard across her policies. Can you talk about what it takes to do that . I think that is something that our overall, i part of my role is to help how we are communicating about our plans for everyday people. I think when i walked into the campaign and had this conversation about the plans is rooted in closing the racial wealth gap which would impact all americans. Having that conversation and that core of who we are has helped us continue to shape the conversation that includes people being able to see themselves in the things we are talking about. You want to add something . To speak to that, i think the policy conversation we are having is fascinating in that regard. I know for our campaign, we Center People of color in our plans and policies as well. Touching on different aspects of life. Part of our signature at douglas blacknd black agenda for america is focused on different aspects of everyday life for a black person in america. Whether it is funding the National Endowment for the arts that corrects a lot of the stories we are hearing, the children that are taught in schools, the reality of our founding to funding minority Business Owners and ensuring that the federal government is paying back what was stolen from folks early on. It is looking at the different aspects of how our system has worked against different communities and has created these disparities that are candidates are speaking to and fighting for every single day. That is the beauty of the democratic party. [laughter] why not . Do your job, do your job. Biden wouldident say a black agenda is an american agenda, a womans agenda. We are putting forth policies and proposals that speaks to the depth and breath of america. You cannot have a Good Health Care policy if it is not center and directly affect women. You cannot have a good Economic Policy if it does not speak to the realities of families of color. Black and brown families in america. So, i think that is what frankly all the candidates in this race on the democratic side of the aisle are set out to do this cycle and i think its a beautiful thing. Id like to wrap things up with a lightning round. Well start at the end with you, simone, and come towards me. Your jobs are demanding a question. What is the one thing you cannot live without on the trail . My airpods. [laughter] nina . Oh, goodness, a mixture of hair products. I have to have my oils. I have to have my oil and i am generally in good shape. Y claritin d and flonaze. It is not easy. One more for you guys. If your candidate is elected president , i know youve thought about this what position do you want in the white house . No saying youre just focused on the campaign. Youve got to be honest. I am focused on the campaign and im focused on the campaign because the reality is, the reality is donald trump is a real threat to americans across this country. He is a real threat to americans across this country and joe biden got into this race because he recognized that threat from the beginning. Charlottesville was an eflexion point for him and people said we were making a point for the primary and we were wrong. As the campaign has gone on, our theory of the case has been underscored and proven. Were not thinking about what jobs people want to do in the white house. We are focused on speaking directly to the American People, talking about health care. Some folks on this they still need to clarify what their Health Care Plan is and we look forward to the debate. Would you like to answer the question, what position . Again, im with simone on the daytoday. Person in with the the white house right now changes everything and we constantly have to keep your eye on him but also focus on what youre hearing on the trail from the American People. A quick final word. I mean, honestly, its the daytoday, but the reality is what senator warren is working on. The fact that we cant be promising billionaires and people who have negotiated something behind closed doors about the jobs theyll have in the administration. We have to get donald trump out of the white house and right now weve got to get to a nominee and then we have to win this general election. One day, we will all be working together for the nominee. A fundraiser just got open. Were definitely out of time. Thank you, ladies, so much for your time and sharing your experiences. Its been an illuminating conversation and it got spicy there at the end. I love it. Were reminded of the discrimination that women face in politics, especially women of color so thank you, everyone, and really quick, ive but definitely out of time, happy birthday to simone sanders. [applause] all right, thank you. Thank you. Please welcome to the stage political california playbook author carla marinucci. [applause] good morning. Its so great to be here at the politico womens summit from the west coast. Do we have west coast in the house, anyone . Im the author of californias playbook and im here to talk about our great panelists a big event from the west coast, the next democratic primary debate. Cohosted by politico and the cbs new the pbs newshour. Our fearless leader and editor at politico and our chief correspondent. Let me tell you, the debate is going to be livestreamed on politico and pbs newshours social media and platforms and also broadcast on pbs station s nationwide. We are only 10 days out. The pressure is on. Lets talk about this. Of 12s the sixth democratic primary debates. How are you all, give us some insight, how are you all going to make this more newsworthy, more relevant, different from whats come before . Carrie, you want to start . Yeah, first of all, its great to be here. You know, i think what were going to draw from is frankly the strength of this panel that weve put together. We have three great moderators from pbs, Judy Woodruff and as well as tim alberta. These are four compelling individuals who bring incredibly different experiences to the table. Is really, what we are doing intensely focusing on questions. What strikes me, ive been sort of working on this for almost 10 months now. This is a long process to get a debate, prepare for the debate. What weve been doing since the last debate is sitting in a room team,bs and with my looking at a very, very wide range of questions. Weve been receiving thousands questions, frankly, from readers , from my experts in my news room. We have 300 people in the news room including many who are deeply steeped in the minutia of policy making, climate change, health care, tech policy and everything you can imagine and trying to hone what is frankly the story we want to tell over two hours. Not that were telling a story, but its almost like putting together a story. And, were both thinking about what hasnt been covered, what has been covered in past debates, whats in the moment now. Very importantly, we want to reveal something about these candidates. Who they are, their governing philosophy, their character and have a nice mix of both pinning people down on policy, but also getting them to open up and share something about themselves. So, thats sort of the broad take. Youre going to be up there asking the questions, millions are going to be watching. The spotlight is on you. What is going to go through your mind when you are talking about the issues you want to get to . I hope i dont screw it up. [laughter] first and foremost, well, thank you also for having me specifically. Thank you me letting me in here. I didnt know if i would be allowed. My mom had a pink room in front of the house when we were growing up because we had four boys and no girls so she was badly outnumbered. There was a pink room with a sign that said no soccer balls, football, no nothing. That struck me. I was told there will be a manel. There are a couple of things we could do to try to be distinctive. I think at this stage in the campaign, i for one am sorting of screaming at the tv when i am seeing these folks doing the press gaggle and some of these debates. What theyre talking about is abstract, theoretical, almost academic. Were at a stage in the campaign i dont want to hear from your white paper, id like to hear you talk in concrete concerns as a how you would governmen relates to health care given the realities of washington and the realities of this country and the polarization thats sort of gripped the u. S. For the better part of two decades now. So, there are an awful lot of things that we can explore in a much more tangible way, i think, than we have been exploring. Again, that is not to sort of cast aspersions on anyone that has come before us but there are seasons to a campaign. I think as were approaching the beginning of the voting season, you know, obviously weve got the back stop of the holidays behind us here and when people come out of that holiday break. , they will be getting ready to make up their minds on who they want to be the standard bearer of the democratic party. I think to make is that decision, they need more concrete information at their disposal than they have up until this point. The questions are media scrutiny. How are you going to decide the issues . Are issues that have not been covered yet in this debate you have not gotten to . An intense amount of sequencing. Not reveal too much. We had three folks here that would be interesting in knowing the answer. They have to sign an nda. My counterparts would cut off my head. I think its fair to say, we want to be sharp, smart, ask pointed questions and demand followups. Its a challenging environment. You have two hours and i know , what i would want to do if i was crafting the debate, so its all coming to bear in this process and we dont want to retread on ground that has been covered and we want to reveal something new. When you talk about some of the changes coming up, we have already had major shakeups in the race. The Kamala Harris withdraw and al last weekend candidates have until this week to determine whether they qualify. Are you bracing for any lastminute changes . No, not really. So, andrew yang could still qualify at the last minute here, but otherwise, i think the stage is pretty much set. Congresswoman gabbard announced on twitter that she would not be participating, even if she does qualify. So you know, take that for what its worth. And i think what you have there, you will have a stage now that has only two women on stage. Obviously, not if yang is not on stage, its the first time well have frankly, a field of candidates looking similar. Why were in a 24 7 news cycle on cable, on the web and every place else, why do the debate still matter . What is the role they have in the process . Thats a good question. So, the currency of a president ial campaign really, the currency of any campaign but specifically a president ial campaign is a moment, right . Its the moments that we remember from a campaign that really break through the noise and especially given the nature of the 24 7 news cycle and how inundated we all are. We have more information coming at us than ever before, but we sort of know lest than ever before which is problematic. When you have a president ial campaign that is spending the better part of of two years as most of these primaries have begun to, it is imperative for the candidates to break through that noise and have a moment. I mean, you know, if you look at the 2016 campaign, we all remember marco rubios moment in New Hampshire where for him it was a negative, obviously and he so badly stumbled, it really badly kneecappeds moment. It is important getting these candidates all under one roof, on one stage for a couple of hours and let them actually have a debate. Lets not answer questions in sound bites and give talking points. Lets let them have a really robust discussion with one another and often times when you can sort of facilitate that and maybe instigate in the right way from where i am sitting, then you have one of those moments. To prepare for this, are you going and looking back at some of the historical moments . This could be make or break and something that goes in the history books. Are you looking at hoping for a moment where there is conflict, a great soundbite that goes into history . What are your thoughts . A little bit. Its a delicate balance. I would like to be really substantive. I want to make sure that this is a Job Interview and im privileged to sit in a position where i can ask questions of someone who has a really, really important job, affects me and my family and my kids. So i think we need to drill down on the substance and i think there are important substantive disagreements between these folks and sort of tearing at that scab a little bit and get them to really flesh out the disagreements. I think it is really important. Some of these folks are more guarded than others, but again, were approaching the point in the campaign now where there is a new level of urgency that begins to set in for a candidate that understands unless they can make a move and make it quickly, then they are not going to be viable as of february. What do we know give us insight we had three people from the campaign here. What do these campaigns go through in terms of preparing the candidates for the debate and fending off the questions that are going to come . How much goes on behind the scenes to get these folks ready for what you are going to dole out to them . I think it is welldocumented these are big moments. Seencandidates, as we have from just experience in the last six months, someone like Kamala Harris comes out strong. She was clearly prepared for that. Then there is a poll that follows a debate and it is just as important how you do on stage as it does after. There is an intense amount of preparation, just like there is for us. We are doing mock debates. We have candidate reporters standing in for the candidates and trying to mimic what they think they will say and try to throw our moderators off course. We know the candidates do a similar thing. There are Great Stories from 2016 about Hillary Clinton, one of her top aides literally embodied donald trump in character and refused to come out of it during the periods he was preparing her for the mock debates sorry, the real debates. Im always pushing my reporters to get details like that. Who is playing whom for moran and sanders . Hopefully we will get insights but these are huge moments. You could say it does that really matter. Skeptics and cynics about the power of these moments. But, it is not important until it is really important because someone stakes out a claim on some issue or there is some deep issue that makes the course of the race. What do you hope in the end, when this is finished, what will be the big take away for voters . What is your goal . That guy really has a future in television. No. No, i hope that is not something to take away. I think what we would like voters carrie got to this earlier. I think it is important. I have covered several residential campaigns now. What i think is a shame is we often times will get to the end of campaigns and we will see a side of a president a candidate that we never saw from them while they were campaigning. We will think to ourselves, whether it is Hillary Clinton on howard stern the other day or mitt romney the netflix documentary, we look at them and say, huh, where the hell was that person all the time they were campaigning . For better or worse, i think it could be a really dehumanizing process to run for president. And, the default mechanisms a lot of these candidates will utilize is to go into a robotic mode where they are intentionally masking any color, any character, any personality. It is not that they dont want to show it, they dont know how to show it. When youre waking up iat six again in west mowing and waking up and try to convince people you can run the free world, theres a lot going on. I think at a certain point, you sort of shut down. It is very hard for your true colors to come through and for voters to see that. I think we would like to try, especially given the holiday season, i think we would like to draw these people out a little bit and make them threedimensional for voters in a way that allows them to have a little bit of a better idea into not just the candidates they might be voting for, but the human being they are voting for. Thank you so much, tim, carrie for being here today at the womens summit. Remember, the democratic primary debate, december 19 from los angeles, hosted by politico and pbs newshour. Look for it on our digital and social media platforms. Pbsitico and pbs, and stations nationwide. Thank you very much. [applause] cspans washington journal, live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. Coming up saturday morning, will goodman discusses the progressive veteran priorities in 2020. Craig surely will join us to talk about his new book, the untold story of George Washingtons mother. Cspans washington journal live at 7 00 eastern saturday morning. Join the discussion. After a two day debate at the house should issue a committee voted 2317 along party lines to approve two articles of impeachment abuse of power and obstruction of congress against president trump. The articles of impeachment head to the full house for consideration. Heres the 10 minute session comprised entirely of two votes