What are the most important things to know before you run for office?
What should you do once you’ve decided to run?
How can we support women who are running?
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Listen, Learn and Act with this Toolkit based on Lauren’s Inflection Point conversation with Kate Black, author of Represent: The Woman's Guide to Running for Office and Changing the World.
You don't need to know when you're running or what you're running for but running for office is not a solo activity. It is a team sport and it takes a village.- Kate Black
LISTEN TO LAUREN’S TOOLKIT CONVERSATION WITH KATE BLACK
Women are underrepresented at all levels of government. They also make up the majority of minimum wage workers and earn less than men for comparable work. We need more women in elected positions making policy changes that support women’s rights. Women sponsor more legislation than their male counterparts in general and are more likely to focus on issues like education, reproductive rights, civil liberties, and healthcare than men. It’s imperative that more women run for office.
Represent: The Women’s Guide to Running for Office walks through the checklist of things to consider if you run and how to support women who do. The book also highlights the many organizations (both Republican and Democrat) created specifically to help make sure women’s voices are heard. A few key resources are below along and a comprehensive list is housed at the Center for Women in Politics at Rutgers University.
EMILY’s List: An organization helping pro-choice Democratic women get elected.
Emerge America: An organization training Democratic women to run for office.
Feminist Majority: An organization working for equal rights that endorses key candidates supporting a women’s platform. Check them out for info about who to vote for and support in key elections.
She Should Run: A nonpartisan nonprofit working to increase the number of women considering a run for office.
Here some key takeaways from Lauren’s conversation with Kate Black.
Figure out what issue fires you up the most. Understanding and identifying that issue is the first thing to do because it's eventually going to be your platform if you decide to run.
Start showing up. Attend City Council meetings. Ask local leaders for 1:1 meetings. Go to protests or community events. When your community sees you there for them they will be more likely to show up for you during a campaign.
Talk to lots of people and explore your thoughts about running. Words have incredible power and when you say, "I think I'm going to run for office one day" that not only makes a promise for yourself but it also brings in a whole collection of folks into your journey along with you.
Identify the requirements that it takes to run for the specific seat you're considering. Don’t confuse your qualifications with the requirements. Your experience is unique and relevant.
Support other women running for office by voting for them. You can also donate time, money, and expertise to their campaigns. Behind every woman candidate is another woman trying to help her get it all together. Don't wait to be invited. Just step in however you can. If you know someone would be a good candidate—encourage them!
ABOUT KATE BLACK
Former Chief of Staff for EMILY's List, Kate Black, just published her first book, written with the actress June Diane Raphael. It’s called “Represent The Woman's Guide to Running for Office and Changing the World.” She shares the attributes of successful candidates, the stories of women who rose to office against all odds, and how to respond when you hear someone say this country isn’t ready for a woman president. Plus, how to determine if you have the time to get out there and run.
Kate and Lauren spoke in September 2019. Listen to Kate’s quick 7 min how-to or the in-depth interview.
Kate Black
AUDIO TOOLKIT TRANSCRIPT
Lauren Schiller: I'm Lauren Schiller and we're trying something new on Inflection Point, which I'm very excited about and that is to provide an ongoing series of toolkits in our show, from our guests, with concrete actions you can take on the issues that matter to you. We created these toolkits so that when you only have a few minutes or so you can get the inspiration and information you need to do something. Today's Inflection Point toolkit, my guest Kate Black, the author of "Represent - The Women's Guide to Running for Office and Changing the World" tells us how we can get more women in office. Whether you're deciding to run or supporting someone who is.
Lauren Schiller: When it comes to getting more women in office what are three things you need to know before you decide to run?
Kate Black: A couple things that I would say to anybody who's listening who's thinking about running, first things to do. Number one is to figure out what issue fires you up the most. You probably have been posting about this on social media, you might be talking about it all the time with your friends, it might come up a lot at Thanksgiving. Understanding and identifying that issue is the first thing to do because it's eventually going to be your platform.
Kate Black: The second thing I would say is start showing up. You know, identify how you're representing your community now. It could be looking at are you attending city council meetings? Have you asked for your local leaders to have one on one meetings with you? Are you going to protests? Are you going to community events? There's so many different ways that you can show up for your community. It's important that you start kind of being present because eventually if you run for office you're going to ask your community to show up for you and so it's important to be there for them from the start.
Kate Black: The third thing I would say is start talking to people. You don't need to know when you're running or what you're running for but running for office is not a solo activity. It is a team sport and it takes a village. Start telling people you want to run. This could be a small group at first, it could be your partner, your family, maybe your close friends. Our words have powerful, make powerful promises to ourselves when we say them aloud. When you say, "I think I'm going to run for office one day" that not only makes a promise for yourself but it also brings in a whole collection of folks into your journey along with you.
Kate Black: those are the first three things I would tell anyone who's thinking about running for office. Those are the first three things I would say to start doing today.
Lauren Schiller: So say someone has made the decision to run. What do they need to know?
Kate Black: For someone running for office the things that I would tell you to do first are identify the requirements that it takes to run for the specific seat you're looking at. You know, for Congress that means you have to have been a resident and a certain age to run. For local and state offices there might be different requirements around residency or how old you need to be to run for that specific seat. Don't confuse qualifications and requirements. You are qualified today. Your experience is your expertise. Remember that you are enough and that men are not waiting so it's time for you to step up. The other thing I would tell you to do is really think about your social media presence. Do an inventory, go through every Tweet, every Facebook post, every Instagram video. Take time, be one with your computer because you need to go through everything. Once you've done that it's time to identify, do you need to have a campaign page and a private page?
Kate Black: Eventually I think the answer is probably "yes" because the folks that you first talked to when you set up your Facebook account in college, are they the same people you need to communicate your policy platform with and about events and fundraisers for your campaign? Maybe, but maybe not, so think about having a separate profile and public persona for your campaign that's different from your private pages.
Kate Black: The last thing I would say is think about the community of people around you and how you can involve them in this new journey. That could look like your sorority, your alumni association, a professional network, your daycare pickup circle. It could look like the softball league down the street that you show up for on every other Saturday but invite those people into your journey. They can be volunteers, they can maybe host fundraisers for you, they could give you money. They also might be some of your staff. Do you know someone who's really great at organizing events? They can maybe be a finance director. Do you know the person down the street who knows everybody's business and where everyone lives? That person might be a field director. They might be there with you knocking on doors because they know who's home when and where.
Kate Black: These are a few first steps I would take to running but you've already done the most important thing, which is deciding to put your name on the ballot in the first place.
Lauren Schiller: What could we all do to support other women who are running if we ourselves are not?
Kate Black: This is a great question. It's one that we get a lot. The final chapter of the book is actually titled, "How Do I Support Other Women?" Voting for them is a great, cost free way to support other women running for office. You can donate your time, your money, your expertise to their campaigns. You can also help her in other ways. June and I like to say that behind every woman candidate is really another woman trying to help her get it all together. If you have a friend or you know a woman who's running, don't wait to be invited to offer help. Just step in. That could look like making sure that there's Diet Coke's in the fridge and coffee in the morning. It could look like picking up the dry cleaning or walking the dog or taking her to get her hair done or you know, inviting her to go out for a walk just to blow off some steam. Whatever it is, don't wait to be invited, just start showing up for her.
Kate Black: The last thing is asking her to run. We know it takes women multiple times to ask them to run for them to step up. We need to be recruited intentionally and thoughtfully and so if you know a woman in your life, and I invite you to think really about all the women in your life and consider them. Whether they're domestic worker, sex workers, teachers, bus drivers, cashiers, bank tellers because we still have those, maybe radio hosts. All of the women in your life can run for office and I ask you to consider them and share with them this book.
Lauren Schiller: [00:51:02]
Lauren Schiller: That was Kate Black, who just published the book, "Represent - The Women's Guide to Running for Office and Changing the World" that she wrote with June Diane Raphael. I've got a link to it on my website at InflectionPointRadio.org.
Lauren Schiller: Now for some news. When you go into the podcast feed you'll see our episodes broken up into two segments: one for when you have a little more time and one for when you're, well, on the run. Whether it's running for office or running an errand. That way if you want to hear again what Kate Black says are the most important things you can do when running for office or supporting someone who is, it's all right there in a tiny little package. Find Inflection Point episodes in any podcast app or go to InflectionPointRadio.org.
Lauren Schiller: This episode is dedicated to my friend Stephanie Walton, who stepped up to run for office in Oakland, California and to all the other women who are raising their hands. You can do it and we support you. This is Inflection Point. I'm Lauren Schiller and this is how women rise up.
Lauren Schiller: [00:52:21]
Lauren Schiller: That's our Inflection Point for today. All of our episodes are on Apple Podcast, RadioPublic, Stitcher, Pandora, NPR One, all the places. Give us a five star review and subscribe to the podcast. Know women leading change we should talk to? Let us know at InflectionPointRadio.org. While you're there, support our production with a tax deductible monthly or one time contribution. When women rise up, we all rise up. Just go to InflectionPointRadio.org. We're on Facebook and Instagram at Inflection Point Radio. Follow us and join the Inflection Point Society, our Facebook group of everyday activists who seek to make extraordinary change through small daily actions. Follow me on Twitter @LASchiller. To find out more about today's guest and to be in the loop with our email newsletter, you know where to go: InflectionPointRadio.org.
Lauren Schiller: Inflection Point is produced in partnership with KALW 91.7 FM in San Francisco NPRX. Our community manager is Alaura Weaver, our engineer and producer is Eric Wayne. I'm your host, Lauren Schiller. This is Inflection Point and this is how women rise up.
Lauren Schiller: [00:53:44]