[ applause ] so, heres the reality. We have seen one of the most dramatic and inspiring upticks in progressive action that i can remember. I mean, right out of the gate, you know, on january 21st, a womens march kicked it off in a fine fashion. Literally millions of people organizing, marching all over the country, and how fitting it was for the womens march to kick off this moment of resistance, given the incalculable sexism and massageny trump ran on during the campaign. The women led us then, are leading us now. But the movement kept going. We saw the science march, we saw the tax day march. Help me out here this is audience participation. Are there any im leaving out . The Public Education march. We saw all kinds of stuff, activity. And i can tell you that in my own district in minnesota, we have a campus that were running where were literally knocking hundreds of doors every day, not every week, every day were knocking literally hundreds of doors, and were doing it all over the country. Weve got this thing called resistance summer with the dnc, and on that score, we are pushing out support and resources to state parties who are leading canvassing efforts all over the place. But all the demonstrating, all the grassroots organizing, all the town halls, as wonderful as they are, will not change the Political Landscape unless we convert this energy into the ballot box. And weve seen weve been coming close, and at the state level, weve actually been converting some. Weve seen electoral wins in deep red districts in oklahoma, in new hampshire, and in iowa just over the last several weeks. So, were seeing it happen. The thing is, is that if we want to see 15 in a union become a law, were going to have to take power to do it. In the cities where this happened, its happened because we had enough folks on the county board or the city council to do it. If we want to see, you know, medicare for all to be the law of the land, were going to have to defend what we have and were going to have to get the folks in office who are willing to vote that policy into office. So, the bottom line is that we are in a brandnew space, and it is fraught with peril in some ways, but its also full of opportunity, and we have the ability to make and reshape this whole country if we are willing to seize the moment and go to the grassroots in a whole new way. Now, i want to tell you that im really excited to introduce Sarah Johnson to you. Thank you for giving her a nice clap a moment ago. You can give her another one now. Come on, now. [ applause ] sarah is codirector of local progress. Local progress is a National Network that supports, connects and unites progressive local elected officials and allied organizations, and its run by the center for popular democracy. Prior to joining cpd, sarah served as managing director at working families, where she also ran an electoral candidate Recruitment Program that doubled the size of new york citys progressive caucus. And let me tell you, they are doing awesome things. I guess my question for you, sarah, is how important is it to win at the local level, and what can come from local Government Action on the big problems were facing today . Great. Thank you so much, congressman ellison. Were so grateful to be here with you today and just also for the tremendous partnership of having folks in d. C. Who are really committed to change at the local level and to supporting our members. So, i think before i answer the question, we just have a little inspirational video. Lets do it. So, it will be a lot cooler than me. Well just watch it real quick and then ill jump into it. All right. All across the country, people like you are rising up in resistance. To the trump administrations bigotry, corruption and incompetence. In the streets at airports in the halls of congress and in town halls across america. Our fightback is working. This is our moment in history, not the moment we wanted, but the moment we are called to. And its time to take this resistance to the next level. Its time to take back power. 2017, there will be elections all across the united states. For offices like city council, mayor, school board. These elections matter, a lot. Im a member of local progress. Im a member of local progress. [ speaking spanish ] i am a member of local progress. So i speak from personal experience when i say progressive elected officials can change this country and make a difference in peoples lives. These are profound times for people to see a different kind of politics. People should run for local office because change happens locally. We recently enacted a sanctuary city executive order to protect our immigrant communities in jersey city. To let people know that regardless of their status, their zip code, their ethnicity, their religion, that they should be able to feel safe in milwaukee. We passed a law creating an Inspector General for the nypd. I fought so that every child has access to a highquality Public Education. We push to make sure that our trans sisters and brothers had equal access to public facilities. I am fighting to raise the minimum wage. I was no Political Insider when i ran for local office. I just wanted someone to step up that really cared about the community. And as i was talking to everybody running for office, i thought, which of these guys was going to be strongest on education and strongest on Public Safety and strongest on Worker Rights and strongest on womens rights. And i realized that the strongest person was going to be me. But i cant do it alone. I cant do it alone. And thats where you come in. If were going to build a more just and equitable country. We need a National Movement of progressives running for local office across the united states. Will you join us . Will you join us . Will you join us . Youve heard the phrase think globally, act locally, right . That phrase means, if youre outraged by the trump agenda, then you should run for local office. It means that if you reject White Supremacy if you care about protecting workers rights. If you want to save our planet. If you want to guarantee health care for all. If you want to get money out of politics. Then you should help your coworker, your neighbor, your friend win an election for local office. The local and state fights of today become the national fights of tomorrow, and the local and state leaders of today become the National Leaders of tomorrow. I realize that sometimes people think, like, what skills do i have to offer . And heres what i would say, youre probably more qualified than you think. We have faith in you. [ speaking spanish ] and we need you. If you have the passion or want to be a voice for those that are voiceless, i would say do it. If we want to build a better future, its time for progressives to start running for office. One city at a time, one county at a time, one state at a time, were making our nation a much better place to live. Theres no better place to start than at the local level. And theres no better time than now. And no better person than you. So join us. Join us. Join us. Join us. [ applause ] that was great. So, i think you had a little bit of a picture all across the country, people like you are watching again it was that good. Sorry. Actually, im going to ask a question first. How many saw someone in that video who they recognized or have heard of before . Thats pretty incredible. I sort of wonder if, like, at this conference, you know, five or six years ago, that would have been the same thing. So, i have a really awesome job, because every day i get to work with local elected officials. We have over 600 members who are really trying to live out strong progressive values of shared economic prosperity, equal justice under the law, sustainable and Livable Communities and Good Government through their offices. And you know, i think a lot of folks have, i, like many people, have suffered many depressive episodes since november, but i have had also more inspiration from our members than i think many others have had, and im super lucky to have that and want to share some of it with you today. So, i just came from about two weeks ago from the local Progress National convening, where about 150 local elected officials came together to really plot, how are our cities going to Work Together to not just resist trump but also to continue to make policy progress where we can at the local level and kind of in deep partnership with Community Organizations, and here are a few things that im feeling particularly inspired by from that event. Our members, along with the Texas Organizing project and the workers Defense Project, two amazing grassroots organizing groups doing amazing work in texas, brought 100 colleagues from across the country to protest Governor Abbott in a rousing first of i think ive never seen Something Like this, like 100 officials having a protest, right . Usually theyre the ones getting protested. And standing up against sb4, which is, i think as many of you probably know, one of the worst and most discriminatory antiimmigrant bills thats passed at the state level since november, all really led by Council Members from texas who are organizing together, who have gotten all the major metropolitan areas of the state to sue the government to try to stop sb4 from being implemented on september 1st. Thats one. Two, charlottesville vice mayor wes bellamy who stood up at our convening and shared i think something that really shows the relationship between resistance and progress, where he was able to use momentum from organizing around the removal of confederate statues in charlottesville, something you guys might have been reading in the news about a really big and kind of terrifying event happening there tomorrow thats a protest against this, into winning a 4 million Reparations Fund for africanamerican communities in the city. So, making sure that as were fighting and as were resisting, that were also enacting local policies, programs that were winning funding that improve our communities and help folks, you know, connect to those victories in the places that they live. Our great minneapolis members sharing with everybody the 15 minimum wage in minneapolis, the first city in the midwest. They said it could only be done in the coastal cities, but its happening in other places, too. And at the same time, getting to meet andrea jenkins, an inspiring transgender activist who has been instrumental in guiding the citys adoptions and trans policies and whos running for city council in 2017. So, those are just a few of our incredible members that make me feel pretty fortunate every day to be able to do this, you know, work of just trying to figure out how to keep pushing forward at a local level, and maybe, ill just say a little bit of what i think is working, kind of drawn from that experience and also my experience in new york city electing great progressive leaders and growing the progressive caucus in the city. So, one is that we have more and more leaders who are from our movement, who are organizers and campaigners and who are coming out of our base building and movement organization. So, i talked a little bit about the work organizing against sb4 in texas, and that is really primarily being led by a Council Member named greg kazar, who is, i think hes 27 years old. Hes been in council for two years. He was an organizer for the workers Defense Project before coming into council, and so really comes into elected office from organizing lowwage workers, from fighting for immigrant rights, from doing direct interventions in our communities. So, when sb4 started to advance, you know, there were lots of folks who were against it, but greg really approached it like an organizer. He called all the other Council Members from his neighboring cities in texas and he said, what are we going to do about this together . He didnt just wait for austin to be completely vilified. He, you know, organized a Broad Coalition of elected officials and Community Organizations to fight back together. And so, that makes a big difference, right, having folks that not just share our values but really share kind of an organizing perspective to the work. And second and related to that i think is the sort of growth of inside and outside collaboration. Its a kind of catch phrase ive heard here a few times as a way to think about how were making change. And i think this is particularly important at the local level, because the local level is where we can begin to practice the kinds of communities and relationships that can advance policy change that can then grow to the state level, that can then grow to the national level, but you cant build those kinds of trusting relationships, right . Theyve got to start grounded in kind of peoples communities and in the issues that theyre working on. So, you know, local progress is a project of the center for popular democracy, which is a National Organization of 43 basebuilding Community Organizations, groups like workers defense and t. O. P. , in states all across the country. And local progress is founded out of cpd because we fundamentally believe, you know, that change requires both, right . Really great elected officials on the inside who are valuesdriven and who are pushing as hard as they possibly can to advance policy, and outside organizing that is escalating public demand for the policies that we need. And i think most importantly that those two things have to be connected, that they have to relate to each other, be done strategically together, and that when were kind of working together inside and outside, that we can have greater kind of policy outcomes and change that we want to see. Im just time checking myself. Well be able to get back and forth, but lets hear it for sarah, everybody. That was fantastic. [ applause ] so, let me introduce annie weinberg, as ive done already. Annie joined democracy for america in 2014 after serving as a chief of staff for progressive congress, the foundation for the congressional progressive caucus, and she is previously the National Field organizer for moveon and served in a senior role in a variety of congressional races from connecticut to minnesota to michigan. And so, annie, share with us a little bit about you know, how do we get in this position where we lost so many seats at the state level over the last eight years, and whats the way back . Yeah. Absolutely. Thank you, congressman. Thanks, everybody. Hows it going . Yeah, we lost a lot in the past eight years. Its true. Over 1,000 seats at the state and local level in just recent cycles. That means that right now, as of last week, thanks to jm justice, shoutout to him, now 34 republican governors are holding seats. 38 governor seats are up in 2018 that were going to have to fight. That means 34 of these governors and their attorneys general are out there helping enact some of the most violent, white supremacist policies from this administration right now that were going to have to fight, and were also seeing this in voter turnout with devastating lows in terms of folks that are not showing up at the polls in terms of historic lows in a lot of places for voter turnout, which we know really matters, right . If we had had the turnout that matched 2012 in just milwaukee and philadelphia and detroit this past cycle, we would have a different president. So, devastating lows in voter turnout. So, its true, the problem that were facing is really deep. And i have a few things to name for why we got to where we are. One is voter targeting models that are cyclically disenfranchising, where we are constantly the idea of a best Practices Campaign for a long time in Democratic Party politics and in consultant culture was to center a very tiny pool of white, mostly republicanlight swing voters, but a lot of folks that didnt necessarily share values that motivate a lot of us to the polls or worry us and make us wake up in the morning and want to fight around Regional Economic justice. So, focusing on a very tiny pool of people and funneling all the campaign resources, time, energy, campaign ads, consultant wisdom to reaching out to a very tiny pool of people and ignoring or divesting from the programs that speak to everybody else, that speak to the overwhelming majority of folks in this country who want to see their leaders stand up and fight for a living wage, for racial and economic justice, for reproductive rights. So, those voter targeting models are a big problem. Number two is candidates that often were afraid to run on those values. You know, about we run authentically on our values with courage and conviction, thats how we win. We dont win by parcelling out our values and making deep compromises or pretending to be like republicans. If you want to vote for a republican, you just vote for one. And then i think the other big thing that i just want to name as a challenge is divestment in organizing. So, we know that voter conversations work, that meaningful relationships are born from of the most transformative campaigns, right . How many folks have worked on campaigns here that changed their life and found relationships from those campaigns, that changed their life, right . Organizing works, and its resilient. It works over the long haul. It means that we can win victories in the short term and it means that we can win victories over time. So, divesting from organizing and meaningful conversations with voters has really harmed us, and to fix it, weve got to reinvest in that, weve got to talk to people on the doors, on the phones, in their living rooms, about things they care about and then track those conversations and do it again and again, and thats how were going to rebuild. Thank you. Thank you, annie. Well be right back to you. Okay. Now, one more big hand for edith sargon, everybody. Come on, make her feel the love. [ applause ] edith is the executive director of wellstone action, as i mentioned. She started there in may, and before that, she served as a director of impact and has been with wellstone action since 2007. Wellstone action helps to train progressives who run for local office and win. And prior to working for wellstone, she has more than a decade of experience as an organizer and strategist for labor, youth, and reproductive justice. And i tell you this, i want to ask you this, edith. Yeah. As a person who was directly and personally inspired by paul wellstone, one of the things that i always loved about him is that he ran for office, he didnt try to water down what he believed in, he won, and how did he do that . So many of us think that how many people just show of hands, how many people have ever heard of the idea that if you go in inner office and become a public officeholder, then somehow, by virtue of being in office, youre going to start sort of incrementally selling out . Weve all kind of heard that. Paul wellstone never that never happened to him right. How did he stay true to the game, you know what i mean . And how are you training people to make sure that when they get in there, they continue to be the person that they dreamed that they would be . Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for that question. Congressman ellison. And thank you for hosting this panel. I also want to thank you. You are my member of congress. I live in minneapolis. I also want to thank you because you are sort of today one of the embodyments of that practice and that approach to politics and organizing, and i want to appreciate you for being unapologetically who you are, for being unapologetically black, muslim, and an organizer. So thank you. Thank you. So, the last time i was in atlanta, i was here doing a training with my colleague, britney cooper. We were working with the black womens blueprint project at Spelman College and were talking to a room full of black women about what it might mean to run for office. At the same time, i was staying in a hotel where the nr weina w hosting their convention in just a couple blocks away. So, this is good and different and good to be with you all and in such good company. So, i really appreciate this question, because as you mentioned, congressman ellison, is that, you know, our tradition at wellstone, we teach and train organizers, operatives, digital strategists, data practitioners, how to build power and how to win, and whether thats in a campaign, in an organization, or for your run for office or public leadership. And weve become sort of a trusted partner and ally to our family of Progressive Movement organizations, and weve done that because weve kept at the core of what we do, the wellstone triangle. We believe that in order for real change to happen, we have to build a base and organize in our communities. We have to also then mobilize that base and have that base dictate who our leadership will be that will run for office and govern on our behalf. And through all of that, we need a vision of policy, a radical progressive Public Policy and work for change through the work of leadership development. But this question is sort of inherently kind of assumes that theres this dichotomy, right, that movement organizing is actually different than political organizing. And i actually dont think thats the case. So, when we talk about political organizing, often were talking about elections, were talking about running campaigns, about winning those elections. We also then create a profile and a vision in our minds of who those folks are that do that work. Does that make sense to people . Does that sound right . So, we then you get a vision of who those people are that run campaigns well that win, that you know, meet that deadline and cross that threshold and that goal. And then when we talk about movement organizing, were often talking about issue organizing and winning on specific fights. And the reality is this movement organizing of political organizing are two parts of a whole. We know that Building Movement is essential in order for us to actually win elections and for elections to mean something, to have someone in office that can actually govern in community and in relationship and partnership with those that are most impacted by those issues, right . And so, without democracy work, without the work that we are all doing to get free of liberation and without the work of creating an independent judiciary, elections just dont function. They dont matter as much. And so, we have been, i think as the Progressive Movement, weve been treating these things as very different for a very long time. And we can see the result in the expression of treating those things as two different pieces and two different approaches. We see that when we hear language like soft skills versus hard skills or when we talk about strategic leadership versus process leadership or when we say things like identity politics versus women, right . And so, you know, weve inherited, as weve just heard from our brilliant panelists, that the plenary from keith and from kimberly crenshaw, weve adopted the language of our opposition within our own movement and weve got to cut that shit out. So [ applause ] when we do that, that language is gendered and its racialized and its unfortunately incredibly divisive. Before becoming executive director at wellstone action, i spent most of my time working on the movementbuilding side of things, where i worked with labor unions in states where righttowork legislation had succeeded, and i was helping workers build a plan to organize and build power. Before that, i was working with teachers in nevada who knew that the importance of building a Political Program wasnt about winning elections and just getting anybody in those seats, it was about winning elections to build the base of potential leadership for not just that next cycle but the cycle down the road and the cycle down the road, and they were building leadership of their members for the purposes of building a leadership of our sector, right . So not just candidates for office but for appointed office, for Organizational Leadership and just really wanting to build power so we can get to a stance and a position we can govern and govern well with each other, right . But i just want to say, i dont want to take up too much time. I know well get into this discussion. But you know, communities dont ignore politics in elections because communities arent strategic. They usually ignore elections because they dont see any direct change in their daytoday lives as a result of those elections. And unfortunately, they arent wrong in this moment. So when we keep identifying candidates and potential leaders where their only requirement is to have a pulse and a jd, then were doing it wrong, right . Weve been doing it wrong. And so, when we invite people to run for office with literally no connection to the communities that theyre trying to transform, then we continue to do it wrong. And so, in this moment, we are seeing a lot of people wanting to run, wanting to lead, and the question we want them to consistently be asking themselves is on whose behalf. All right. All right. [ applause ] so, now we want to engage you in a conversation. Weve got a mike right in the middle right there. I will ask you to do me one little favor. Get straight to the point. You dont have to ask a question. You can make a statement, but could you do it within like a minute . No, really, 60 seconds. Whos game for that . Clap your hands if you agree. [ applause ] but we wanted to hear from as many people as we can, so consider everybody up here thanked, right . And just get right to your point or to your question, and i dont see anybody lining up, so, were we really that thorough . But the question is, you know, how do we convert our energy on the ground, our demonstration, our protest energy, into electoral success . And if youve got a story to tell about that, youve got a question to ask about how to achieve that, we want to hear from you now, and well take two or three from you guys, then well let our panel sort of respond. All three of them got plenty more to say, so, please. And im taking notes up here, by the way. Hi hey. My names julie lynn. I am with an Organization Called vote prochoice. And all we do is focus on electing prochoice downballot candidates. Thats all we do. And were using Citizens United against the right, so were actually structured as an llc, which is a lot of fun because you can play with c3s and c4s, 527s, and i just want to encourage everyone you know, i know theres a lot of debate right now, especially at the local or the federal level about litmus tests and all this other stuff, but i think theres a couple issues whether its equality, economic equality, whatever that unites progressives. We know that choice, if youre good on choice, youre probably good on a lot of other things. And so, i just want to say, for groups that are supporting local candidates, find organizations that work with downballot candidates, because downballot candidates is how we get federal candidates, and thats how we take over d. C. So, thank you. Thank you. Hi, my name is nadia. I am Government Affairs director with the massachusetts chapter of the council on American Islamic relations. I have the confidence to take on this new role in our state because i have the fortune of growing up in minnesota, and i remember seeing my Community Change when congressman ellison was elected, and i saw myself change and other people around me. And i think the word confidence is really important in that context because i know the generation above me, whether it be the Muslim Community or other minority communities, are literally scared of getting into politics. They really think they need to stay under the radar and that, you know, getting involved in any way, shape or form is just putting themselves in danger as well as their families. So my question is, you know, how do we talk to them in a way that makes them feel safe in getting involved in politics . Great question. Thank you. Lets take two more and then ill let our panel respond. My name is marissa pyle. I am based in north georgia in a very red district. Were the third reddest in the nation, and we have local candidates and congressional candidates that are progressive running throughout the ballot this year. One thing that weve run into is that we have a lot of candidates that have really good ideas, but the minute that we label them Something Like raising the minimum wage or green energy, people shut us down because of the terminology that we use is associated so much with so many negative things that they hear from the right that we cannot have a conversation. And we cant a lot of them would agree with what we had to say if they listened. And so, my question is, how do we reframe the topic so that we can talk about it without being immediately polarized on the subject of what its called and how its labeled . Good question. Thank you. Lets go one more, then well do some input. Im richard matthews. Im a member of the board of save puerta ranch, fighting to protect the residents following the massive canyon natural gas blowout we had there a couple years ago, and i wanted to tell you our story about how were fighting. Were a 501 c 3, so were limited in the political work we can do, but we engage with our representatives and make sure they are educated on what it is we can do to protect residents, and we invite all of the candidates to come to our events. The ones who are against us probably arent going to show up, and those who are, do, and the residents learn who they are, and that really helps. Thats great. So, hey, lets respond to some of our questions. We got a question around prochoice, muslims in politics, winning in red districts, and fighting, and a good story about how to stand up and fight on Environmental Justice issues. So, what do you all say . I can start maybe just a little bit. Thanks for all those great questions, i think especially the one about the fear of getting into politics. I have definitely experienced that myself, not for the same reasons as the question was raised. But i think one of the things that i try to reinforce again and again, and it just so is kind of in my lived experience is that politics is really a team sport, and this goes a little bit to what edith was saying about how we sort of think about politics as different than movementbuilding. We use some of these terminologies that are highly individualized, you know, often very gendered and racial. And to me, i think the most successful examples ive seen of kind of movement in political organizing and the ones where people can most retain their true values and convictions are, like, are the ones where people are in a team, where theyre doing it with a group of other elected officials, of outside supporters, and you know, i mean, elected officials are just like any other people. Theyll be stronger and better and more bold and more able to be the full versions of who they are when they have a strong team of people to back them up. So, just, i feel like on the sort of fear question, to me, the answer is how to really build a Community Around it so that, you know, youre not the only one, right, whos stepping up and taking a risk for yourself and your community, but youre doing it as part of a Bigger Movement of other people. Great. Other points . This sort of piece on sort of safety thats sort of whats resonating for me, an approach. One of the things i wanted to share is, wellstone actions been working in partnership with a couple of organizations, center for media justice and united we dream, and our lead adjunct, a woman named celina mosuda. And what weve been doing is providing security, safety, and sanctuary training to organizations who are on the front lines of the movement for black lives and immigration justice. And the purpose, the sort of reason behind that training, right, obviously, for all of the reasons coming out of this last election, why were all so fearful about our data and information and the vulnerability of our membership, but that, you know, the reality is, is that when we do this kind of training thats, you know, really centered in making sure that, you know, its a demilitarized training model. It is a training model that is antiracist, antiimperialist, and really centers the experiences and stories and histories of the ways in which communities of color have been under surveillance in this country for years, the reason why thats important is when youre training organizations on how to keep their members data safe, youre actually building the capacity of these organizations to keep us all safe, right . If were teaching our folks how to keep our most vulnerable communities and individuals safe, then what we are learning and building our muscle to do is to create cultures and practices in our organizations, in our neighborhoods, with each other, in our circles, a ways that we can sort of all stay safe, right . And so, yeah, so, i just, sort of an example of one of the ways in which were wanting to kind of bolster and strengthen organizations that are trying to do this, you know, make change on a daily basis and make it safe to participant and to join the resistance. You know, i want to talk to the question about georgia and how to run in a red district on progressive values. And i think i start out with the idea that, if you look all the way across the united states, about 63 of all americans say that if they had a 500 bill, they wouldnt be able to deal with it. 63 of all your neighbors across this country say if they had an unexpected 500 expense, they dont know how they would deal with it. And if thats true across the united states, thats even more true in georgia. Georgia is 34th out of 50 in terms of average household income. That means bottom half. So, georgia, despite all the wealth concentrated in atlanta, is actually one of the poorer states in the union, as is the whole south, tell you the truth. Actually, georgia was doing better ten years ago. For some weird reason, i happen to know that georgia saw i read a story that georgia saw over ten years a 6,500 drop in average family income. Now, if you cant that means that youve got to be able to talk to folks in georgia about pay. Somebody in georgias going to want to hear about how were going to increase their pay am i wrong . Thats got to be a conversation. And if its not pay, you can say, well, what about child care, what about rent, what about havent you always dreamed about sending your kids to college . Didnt you want to see them go . This has got to be a conversation were able to have. Im another sure that there are im growing increasingly suspicious of messaging defined as magic word messaging. Do you know what im talking about . Abracadabra messaging. If you say these right words this right way, theyve poll tested this way and therefore, you should say this. Im not sure i think what we really need is candidates from the community who really can speak to the pain in the community. Now, i could be wrong, but ive got a feeling that that is the deal right there. I think its important to build relationships. I think it is but see, what do we get now in terms of candidates . I can tell you right now that a lot of times what we get are selffunders who are already welltodo people in whatever community they come from. And these are people who dont need to know how much milk costs. They dont know how much bread costs. They dont know how much the rent has gone up. They dont know how expensive child care is. We need to get some candidates running like that. They will know how to message to their neighbors, because this ladys working in the lunch line at the local school, and shes smart and she knows how to talk to the lady who works next to her, and if she says im getting ready to run for office, will you help me, yeah, girl, ill help you. Somethings got to change around here. This aint right. This is how things will change, but weve got to recruit at that level. And so, folks over at wellstone action are trying to figure out how to get that lady into a training, right . Mmhmm. Youre trying to get her into a training. Thats right. And folks at local progress and at dfa are trying to get that person to believe that they can do it. But im telling you, this country is ripe for somebody who is talking about how unfair this economy is. This country is right for it. Im going to tell you whos not right for it, local and national elites. A lot of times, you go to the Democratic Party around this country and the people running it, theyre not the lady who works the lunch line at the local school. Its somebody who owns an auto dealership and im not criticizing anyone. Dont get me wrong. This is not about criticizing anybody. Its people whose economics make real change not urgently necessary. Do you understand what im trying to say . Now, im not one who believes that we should exclude welltodo people from politics, but i am one who says that we desperately need to have more workingclass people in politics. If you do that you will get more women, more people of color, more people with disabilities, you will get more veterans. And im telling you, one of the biggest secrets going around is that veterans are some sort of rightwing group. No, theyre not you talk to them about, you know, the breadandbutter issues and theyre going to tell you a lot about opioids and health care and fair wages and addressing the housing crisis. So, this is really what weve got to do. I can tell you that a lot of the conversation in washington when it comes down to recruitment caters to people who have a lot of discretionary income. And that is part of the problem with recruiting candidates. Weve got to convince people they can run. And i will say this, were better our shot at doing that is better now than ever. Is anybody in the room thinking about running for office . One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. Im telling you, then, this is the right time. Now, i just want to say this, if you happen to be blessed with some decent income, thats fine, but carry the message of the people who dont. Carry that message and dont back down. Now, ill say this also. A lot of times and im talking about democrats now well Say Something we believe. Somebody will say, rar, rar, rar, hes wrong. And then, okay. No, man. Stand on it, fight for it, defend it, repeat it. This is what weve got to be doing nowadays, because you are right to stand up for people, you know [ applause ] you are right to stand up for people. So, lets get a few more questions. Yeah, aimee. As andy is talking, why dont the next folks who want to come up come up. Just to build on that concept, that is better for voters, its better for the economy, its better to make our democracy better, but its also how we win. Its not just ideologically great. Its also how were going to rebuild power up and down the ballot. Thats right. In all 50 states. And i know i listed some grim statistics before, but were also winning all over the place. So, this past november, democracy for america endorsed candidates, many of them over lapped with our family of organizations here. We won 64 races on Election Night in november. [ applause ] 64. And some of these leaders were transformative leaders running on bold, powerful platforms. You know, we get to work with folks in Seattle City Council who are fighting to divest from wells fargo. Theyre fighting to defund juvenile detention facilities so they can Fund Public Schools and invest in affordable housing. Theyre fighting to flip state legislatures all over the country. Washingtons state senate is one to watch. Monica dinga just last week is going to maybe win this coming november, we hope. Weve all got to go in for her, but shell flip control of the state legislature in washington state, if we win that one. Choque lamumba earlier this year ran a transformative campaign [ applause ] yes. About black selfdetermination and racial and economic justice, and he did so with clarity and courage, and he was unapologetic. Candidates are running and winning all over the country by doing what congressman ellison just described, and at dfa, we talk a lot about what it would mean to have a truly reflective democracy and hold on to that, and what that means to us, what that means to me is that it is what government could do if it reflected the lived needs and experiences and hopes and dreams of the great breadth and depth of the folks that its supposed to represent. And to do that, its going to take some reckoning, its going to mean looking at how Structural Racism shows up in our own institutions and campaign cultures. Its going to mean investing in new and bold leadership, but thats what were going to have to do if were going to rebuild power from where we are right now. Great, thank you, annie. Yeah, we would love to hear from you. Hi. My name is francesca menis, director of policy and advocacy for the Florida Coalition but also treasurer of the florida Democratic Party. So, last year, i was the youngest black woman running in the state of florida. I had filed at the age of 30. And my question, basically, is kind of geared towards access. Yeah, i was kind of that traditional girl who got on all the county boards, commission for women, all these kind of things, and kind of built my platform and built my base, and my base of support. And so, i kind of want to call the question around our tactics around recruitment, because this is a question im asking of our state party. You have progressive organizations, and im not going to name them, but you have young progressive organizations who are building candidate pipelines, but the pipelines are set up with people who also have access, who also have money, who are Young Professionals, but were talking about a question of the people who are from those communities representing their communities. And so, im just trying to understand, how are we shifting or how are we getting our people into those different, and i can say one of them is nlc, for example. Nlc in miami is made up of a lot of Young Professionals who are midmanagement, about to be senior management, but this is the pipeline that were creating, so its like, what is the message that were sending to our community that these are the people that we think can represent you as opposed to you coming up and representing yourself. So, calling the question around recruitment and how, what is the real pipeline that were creating for everyone to have access to run for office. Thank you. Were going to take about four. Then well respond. You spoke about the preference of Party Committees for candidates that have deep pockets. And so, im wonder iing what yo feeling is about the dcccs strategy towards email fundraising and whether or not thats productive for the Progressive Movement and what youre doing to change their email strategy, which to be se desperate. Thank you. Thank you. Hi im ned and i work out of argentina at a company that does digital for folks, progressive politics lever otall over the w. We recently had the pleasure of working for emmanuel macrons party. They put it out on the internet for people to apply, 15,000 people applied. They selected 500 candidates. It required half be women and half never held an office. And in a matter of eight weeks we put up 400 websites and they took 60 of the French National legislature from going from no party, no infrastructure, to basically having entire national assembly. In hearing all this, seeing things here about the kind of barrier and gateways people have coming from the community to getting involved in politics, im wondering one, you know, part of it maybe is a cyclical thing where you have to have policies that speak to those people who feel inspired to actually go and run for office. And, two, are the structural things that can happen within the party or within local levels to actually encourage and create, you know, things that will have folks that might not traditionally thinking about going into politics. What we learned in france, that can work. People want to see not just the same old offices running for office time after time but new people that represent their communities. Thank you. Yes, sir . Hi, i have another resource. My name is gary crane, im the head of a tech activist team. Were basically developing an app that solves the biggest problem we think in organizing, which is how can we get enough numbers of people willing to do the hard work, whether its canvassers willing to canvass or large enough numbers of people willing to get arrested to keep fossil fuels in the ground or get medicare for all. We call it kickstarter meets modern organizing. The one liner is this is that if you see an interesting candidate that youre excited about, would you be willing to join and be a canvasser if we could tell you that we get 10,000 canvassers you can win. You move the slider bar to the number of conanvasers who wantso have skin in the game. Its free, were nonprofit. Were not trying to make any money. Were trying to save the planet and save democracy. Its a game changer app. 95 of all organizers who have seen it says its game changer. We can show it to anybody here. Thank you. Any thoughts on the questions . So i would love to speak to candidate recruitment. You are probably all have a million things to say about this. So i want to appreciate the question, thank you and i think thats sort of been one of the missing pieces of what when we think about progressive infrastructure in states, thats been one of the missing pieces. Weve had state voices hub and America Votes hubs. Weve never had a hub thats specifically been about spending day in, day out thinking how the hell are we identifying the right candidates. What communities are we going in to do that in and where and how does it look. So some of the work were trying to do is work with our partners through the leadership of folks on the ground and thinking about how we actually build something. An entity, a structure, a coalition where people are coming together and really actually doing the work of identifying a broad base of candidates of color, women, lgbt folks, new americans, all of it, right . But the challenge as right now, like youre saying is the structures that exist today are folks that are coming into the room and saying the people we need to when we pose a question, we do this work around the country. We pose the question to people, who is the ideal candidate. When you think of who is best equipped to run, the answers people will tell you is somebody with a jd. Someone who can selffinance. Good afternoon. This morning, faced with the very real possibility of