Speaker 1: Hi, everyone, it's Sophia. Welcome to Work in Progress. Welcome
Speaker 1: back to this week's very special episode of Work in Progress.
Speaker 1: My fellow whips Martis, who are politically engaged, who love
Speaker 1: their communities, who love their families, who love the idea
Speaker 1: of progress. Today we have perhaps one of the best
Speaker 1: guests we've ever had, a progressive in every sense of
Speaker 1: the word, a woman who has made history more times
Speaker 1: over than I can bear to count, and someone who
Speaker 1: I have looked up to for my entire life. Today
Speaker 1: we are joined by Nancy Pelosi. You guys, she's here.
Speaker 1: I can't believe it. We are going to talk about
Speaker 1: her political career. Will probably only be able to touch
Speaker 1: a few points because there's more than we could squeeze
Speaker 1: into an hour, but I can't wait to ask her
Speaker 1: questions about how she got started. Some of you might
Speaker 1: not know that Nancy actually began as a volunteer in
Speaker 1: the Democratic Party in the nineteen sixties, and then if
Speaker 1: you fast forward to nineteen eighty seven, when she was
Speaker 1: first elected to Congress, she was forty seven years old,
Speaker 1: a mother of five, and managed to steadily rise through
Speaker 1: the ranks of the House Democratic Caucus to be elected
Speaker 1: the House Minority Whip in two thousand and one, then
Speaker 1: elevated to House Minority Leader a year later, and then
Speaker 1: became the first woman to hold each of those positions
Speaker 1: in either Chamber of Congress. Nancy Pelosi is the chief
Speaker 1: architect of some of our generation's most defining legislation under
Speaker 1: two Democratic administrations, including the Affordable Care Act and the
Speaker 1: American Rescue Plan. She led the House Democrats for twenty years,
Speaker 1: even having served as the House Democratic Whip. I was
Speaker 1: fortunate enough to help host a farewell to Nancy Pelosi
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty three when she announced that she would
Speaker 1: not re seek her position as Speaker to make way
Speaker 1: for Hakim Jeffrey. She is truly such a team player
Speaker 1: in that she always wants to advance democracy for all,
Speaker 1: and that night I got to watch her in a
Speaker 1: room full of reproductive rights advocates, election volunteers, officials from
Speaker 1: various organizations, and even the Second Gentleman, And it was
Speaker 1: the most inspiring thing for me to look at a
Speaker 1: woman who has been such a transformational leader in our
Speaker 1: country and also just get to see her hang out
Speaker 1: with this intergenerational group of people that she has affected
Speaker 1: for the better. I am just beside myself. Today we
Speaker 1: are going to talk to Nancy about everything, all the things,
Speaker 1: and even her newest book, The Art of Power, my
Speaker 1: story as America's first woman Speaker of the House. Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm going to stop talking so you guys can hear
Speaker 1: from Nancy. Let's get into it all right. Here we are, here,
Speaker 1: we are. It's so so lovely to see you. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much for coming to join us today.
Speaker 2: My pleasure to me, it was wonderful to see you
Speaker 2: at the convention.
Speaker 3: Exciting, huh, it really was.
Speaker 1: It just made my absolute day to see you there,
Speaker 1: and no less to see you there while we were
Speaker 1: all joyfully singing along to Brandy Carlisle.
Speaker 3: She wonderful. I love her.
Speaker 1: She's so amazing that the DNC for me, was such
Speaker 1: a reminder that because policy is personal, you actually can
Speaker 1: feel joyful when you advocate for a better future. And
Speaker 1: I missed that feeling. How did it feel for you?
Speaker 1: How did this DNC in particular feel for you?
Speaker 2: Well, this Democratic National Convention was really a joy to
Speaker 2: behold because it was so hopeful. I know they were
Speaker 2: using the word joy, the joy will celebrate when we
Speaker 2: win the election.
Speaker 3: That is what we have to do.
Speaker 2: And I think that the joy was combined with a
Speaker 2: sense of purpose that we this is for the moment,
Speaker 2: a happy occasion, but what comes next. It's always about
Speaker 2: what comes next, and what come next has to be
Speaker 2: channeling that exuberance into mobilization at the grassroots level, messaging
Speaker 2: in a responsible way, and getting the resources together to
Speaker 2: win yes.
Speaker 1: And it's really such a complex task to when I
Speaker 1: as a civilian, granted, a total policy nerd who loves
Speaker 1: your world, but when I examine from the outside what
Speaker 1: you all do as lawmakers, I really think about the
Speaker 1: complexity of all the dialectics you're asked to hold. At
Speaker 1: the same time, you have to advocate for people. You
Speaker 1: have to figure out how to take care of people,
Speaker 1: many of whom need to be cared for in different ways.
Speaker 1: You have to make it all work inside of a budget.
Speaker 1: You know, the math and the morals have to align,
Speaker 1: and you do have to figure out now perhaps more
Speaker 1: than ever, how to cut through noise and disinformation and
Speaker 1: at times domestic terror. I mean, it's it's an immense task.
Speaker 1: And for me, as I sit here so excited to
Speaker 1: interview you today and as I sat with you all
Speaker 1: at the convention last week. It isn't lost on me
Speaker 1: the amount of history to get us here that you,
Speaker 1: in particular have helped to lead us through. You know,
Speaker 1: I haven't had the actual privilege of being one of
Speaker 1: your technical constituents, but as a Californian, I always feel
Speaker 1: like you're you know, you're not my mom, but you're
Speaker 1: like my auntie in politics. And the thirty seven years
Speaker 1: of a career that you have had has spanned so
Speaker 1: much change, and I want to go back before we
Speaker 1: talk about, you know, the intricacies of this moment, because
Speaker 1: something I'm not sure sure everyone knows but needs to know,
Speaker 1: is that your career actually began in the nineteen sixties
Speaker 1: as a volunteer for the Democratic Party. You talk a
Speaker 1: lot about how you went from being a housewife to
Speaker 1: a member of the House and then eventually you became
Speaker 1: the Speaker of the House. What was it like as
Speaker 1: a mom in the sixties. What was the calling that
Speaker 1: made you say, you know, I want to get involved,
Speaker 1: I want to volunteer my time. How did the seedling
Speaker 1: get planted that led to this, you know, great big,
Speaker 1: beautiful tree you've grown over all these years.
Speaker 2: First of all, let me just thank you for Sophia
Speaker 2: for understanding what it takes to pass a wall. You know,
Speaker 2: you passed the wall, pass the hasse passed the Senate,
Speaker 2: go to the Prince. It's so complicated, and I really
Speaker 2: just was so enjoying how you recognize the complexity to
Speaker 2: use your.
Speaker 3: Word of it all.
Speaker 2: Thank you, And that really goes right to the members
Speaker 2: and their knowledge, their strategy, their courage. Courage is the
Speaker 2: important word here because for me representing San Francisco, many
Speaker 2: of these votes are very easy. For them not so,
Speaker 2: and because also the Republican misrepresentations in their districts make
Speaker 2: it even more challenge. They don't carry much weight in
Speaker 2: my district. So thank you for recognizing what it takes
Speaker 2: and what its purpose is. The in the sixties, I
Speaker 2: was having babies. I had four babies in like four
Speaker 2: years in the sixties. My husband and I've had five
Speaker 2: children in six years and seven days in New York.
Speaker 2: I had four of these babies in Manhattan. Four of
Speaker 2: them were born in Manhattan, So my political involvement was
Speaker 2: only pushing strollers and handing out leaflets or going door
Speaker 2: to door at Halloween in the apartment buildings in New York.
Speaker 2: They didn't allow pamphleting, you know, for campaigns, but if
Speaker 2: you were going trick or treating with your babies and strollers,
Speaker 2: then you could double duty. So that was really very,
Speaker 2: very basic. It wasn't until I was in California and
Speaker 2: my children were in school all day that I thought, no,
Speaker 2: I can take on the world now of taking your
Speaker 2: five children six years and seven days. So that's really
Speaker 2: when some other of five, seeing that one in five
Speaker 2: children in America were going to sleep hungry at night,
Speaker 2: living in poverty was just my why I went from
Speaker 2: housewife to house member, house speaker, and that's a different path,
Speaker 2: but it stemmed from my being born into a political family.
Speaker 2: My father was in Congress when I was born. He
Speaker 2: was mayor of Baltimore when I was in first grade,
Speaker 2: and he was mayor of Baltimore when I was in
Speaker 2: freshman year in college. So that's the life I led,
Speaker 2: and then my brother would become mayor of Baltimore. So
Speaker 2: I was never interested in running for office. I was
Speaker 2: interested in public service.
Speaker 1: I almost I wonder too, the you know, the environment
Speaker 1: you grew up in, it sounds like you were sort
Speaker 1: of steeped in it. You know, the water a tea
Speaker 1: bag goes into is what it is made in. And
Speaker 1: I think about how around your table you must have
Speaker 1: just had that kind of privilege of exposure to exactly
Speaker 1: the kind of complex thought we're talking about. You know,
Speaker 1: how do you solve a problem for a community, How
Speaker 1: do you get a budget pass that works? How do
Speaker 1: we get food into the hands of hungry children and families,
Speaker 1: and how do you make sure people have access to healthcare?
Speaker 1: When you kind of came into your own knowing that
Speaker 1: you were going to have a political future, did you go, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: I guess this was kind of inevitable given the dinner
Speaker 1: table conversation in my house.
Speaker 2: Well, I was a little girl, and I was really
Speaker 2: a fifties teenager Elvis Presley, rock around the cock, the
Speaker 2: whole thing. So I wasn't into heavy duty into policy
Speaker 2: except the difference between a Democrat and a Republican.
Speaker 3: Even then, what do you even.
Speaker 1: Mean the difference between right and wrong?
Speaker 2: Well, even then, though we didn't, we had friendships across
Speaker 2: the aisle.
Speaker 3: It wasn't that way.
Speaker 2: My friends that I went out with and stuff were
Speaker 2: some Republican children of Republican leaders in the community as well,
Speaker 2: and some friends for a long time after that. But no,
Speaker 2: what I did know was that we were a Catholic
Speaker 2: you know, I was Italian American neighborhood little literally in Baltimore.
Speaker 3: So we were.
Speaker 2: Deeply Catholic, pro out of our Italian American heritage, fiercely
Speaker 2: patriotic Americans, and staunchly democratic. And we saw the connection
Speaker 2: between our Gospel of Matthew. When I was hungry, you
Speaker 2: fed me when I was unless you sheltered me with
Speaker 2: the democratic agenda separating church and state, but motivated with
Speaker 2: our basic values and a vision that was for the
Speaker 2: people for their children.
Speaker 3: And so it was more of.
Speaker 2: Broader value space than it was specifically. And actually when
Speaker 2: we closed the door in the evening, it was mom
Speaker 2: and dad. It wasn't so much politics. It was mom
Speaker 2: and dad. My father was mayor all those years, and
Speaker 2: in those days, the mayor always went out at night
Speaker 2: and spoke at events in black tie.
Speaker 3: In black tie wow.
Speaker 2: So we come home, have dinner with us, put on
Speaker 2: a black tie, and then go make the mayor's rounds.
Speaker 2: It was a different world about the formality of politics
Speaker 2: in those days.
Speaker 1: That's so interesting. So when you moved to California and
Speaker 1: you know, you began, as you said, you're volunteer work.
Speaker 1: I love that it started with figuring out how to
Speaker 1: solve a problem. You know, that's that sort of problem
Speaker 1: solving that I think women are particularly adept at. You're like, well,
Speaker 1: we're just going to do this during Halloween. Men, here
Speaker 1: we go make sure people know what's accessible to them.
Speaker 1: When you fast forward from that time, I look at
Speaker 1: the scope of your career and think about the things
Speaker 1: you've been so integral to creating in our country. You know,
Speaker 1: you really have been an architect of generation defining legislation,
Speaker 1: whether it was the Affordable Care Act and all of
Speaker 1: the folks you know, even like me born with asthma,
Speaker 1: I would have been unensurable perhaps had it not been
Speaker 1: for the work that you did all the way through
Speaker 1: to the American Rescue Plan to not only rescue the nation,
Speaker 1: but create such a profound saving of the American economy
Speaker 1: that we actually stabilized the global economy. What has it
Speaker 1: felt like for you to begin to learn, as we
Speaker 1: talked about at the beginning, about the complexity of legislation,
Speaker 1: and then now from this vantage point look back at
Speaker 1: not just everything you've been a part of, but those massive,
Speaker 1: massive passages of legislation that have changed and bettered and
Speaker 1: protected America. Is it almost sort of surreal when you
Speaker 1: just realize, like, hey, I started passing flyers out on
Speaker 1: Halloween and here I am. No.
Speaker 2: Well, the thing is is that I accept every compliment
Speaker 2: and I appreciate what you're saying. But it wasn't about me.
Speaker 2: It was about our caucus. Our committee chairs are the members.
Speaker 2: They all brought their ideas and so this is about imagination,
Speaker 2: it's about integrity, it's about just idealism. And I always
Speaker 2: say the House Democrats are the greatest collection. I stated
Speaker 2: to them when I speak to them under this ceiling
Speaker 2: of this room, sits the greatest collection of idealism, imagination,
Speaker 2: and integrity any organization you can name. So they all
Speaker 2: brought their brand to it in terms of how they
Speaker 2: saw things chronologically and health quickly and prioritizing and the rest.
Speaker 2: So I was very fortunate to be chosen by them
Speaker 2: to lead them in all of this. But again, it
Speaker 2: was about them, and it's about respect for the different
Speaker 2: points of view, so that we wanted the product to
Speaker 2: be sustainable that it would not only pass, but it
Speaker 2: would survive.
Speaker 1: Yes, that's really beautiful. And now for our sponsors. And
Speaker 1: you know what makes me think a lot about what
Speaker 1: you said about the way you grew up. You know,
Speaker 1: your upbringing really mirrors my own mom's, you know, small
Speaker 1: East Coast Italian Catholic family, you know, outer boroughs of
Speaker 1: New York. And when you talk about everyone bringing their
Speaker 1: ideas to the table, this is something I talk to
Speaker 1: my parents a lot about because identity politics has shifted.
Speaker 1: You know. We used to argue about the best use
Speaker 1: of you know, fiscal policy or what policies would help
Speaker 1: the most people, and now we're arguing you know, ideology,
Speaker 1: it seems. And a lot of what I feel met with,
Speaker 1: at least from the other side of the aisle, is
Speaker 1: that people like me or people I care about don't
Speaker 1: deserve to exist at the same American fullness as people
Speaker 1: like them. And I imagine that dealing with that is
Speaker 1: incredibly difficult. But I also know what you're talking about
Speaker 1: in terms of how all of those idealists and idea
Speaker 1: people within our own party have to come together. Not
Speaker 1: everybody who sits in the Democratic Party believes the same
Speaker 1: things we have to debate issues and usage and budgets
Speaker 1: and things. So I guess what I'm curious about is
Speaker 1: particularly you know, since two thousand and six when you
Speaker 1: made history again being the first woman ever elected Speaker
Speaker 1: of the House, how have you organized our party? How
Speaker 1: have you reminded people that our idealism will only be
Speaker 1: mobilized if we can figure out how to pragmatically chip
Speaker 1: away at problems. It's a both and equation. How do
Speaker 1: you kind of whip us all into shape to then
Speaker 1: go out and pitch our ideas to the other side.
Speaker 3: Well, you've described it very well.
Speaker 2: I would not even want to be the leader of
Speaker 2: a party that was a lockstep republican party that just
Speaker 2: takes orders from above. Our consensus springs from our membership.
Speaker 2: And the fact is is that I'm always saying our
Speaker 2: diversity is our strength, our unity is our power. I
Speaker 2: want to make a difference in people's lives.
Speaker 3: You have to win.
Speaker 2: You have to win the election, and you have to
Speaker 2: win the vote. While we have different I've been shut
Speaker 2: down my own suggestions because they just are just not
Speaker 2: going to make the grade. They weren't part of the
Speaker 2: message that would win. So when I can say I
Speaker 2: was turned down, you're turned down now, and it's a kaleidoscope.
Speaker 2: I say two things I say in the book. I say,
Speaker 2: it's a kaleidoscope and one collection of colors. You turn
Speaker 2: that you have a beautiful design. You turn the dial.
Speaker 2: Others come in, others go out. And that's what legislating
Speaker 2: is about too. So I say, members recognize that while
Speaker 2: they may not be part of this design, tomorrow is
Speaker 2: another day and their design may be the one that prevailed.
Speaker 3: So we have to always respect each other, not weaken
Speaker 3: each other, because we're all going to be part of
Speaker 3: the design one day at a time.
Speaker 1: That can be so difficult. Though the patients and the pragmatism,
Speaker 1: it's certainly those are really, I believe the most valuable
Speaker 1: lessons I've learned, as you know, a volunteer and essentially
Speaker 1: a citizen journalist and someone who's been so fortunate to
Speaker 1: learn from you and other people in our party. You know,
Speaker 1: people will ask me why as a storyteller, as an entertainer,
Speaker 1: I choose to be politically engaged, And I say, my
Speaker 1: job is what I do for me as an individual.
Speaker 1: My political activism is my calling for us as a
Speaker 1: community and learning how to balance your absolute creative, idealist
Speaker 1: joy for your community with reality can be hard. And
Speaker 1: what it makes me think about is really what I
Speaker 1: believe to be the ethos of your book. You don't
Speaker 1: talk about the exercising of power. You know, you didn't
Speaker 1: write a book called power. You wrote a book called
Speaker 1: the Art of Power, and you speak so beautifully about
Speaker 1: how you have to work to find common ground, you
Speaker 1: have to know when to stand your ground. And you,
Speaker 1: to me anyway, seem to be an expert at subtle
Speaker 1: power because you know what you can activate, but you
Speaker 1: also are always willing to listen to people. You don't
Speaker 1: use your power like a bully. You use it like
Speaker 1: a leader. And I'm very curious when you think about
Speaker 1: these thirty seven years that you have been exercising your
Speaker 1: political power, are there certain moments that stand out as
Speaker 1: your sort of key moments of joy and success? Or
Speaker 1: was the idea behind the book to say, oh, there's
Speaker 1: really a lot of little things we need to talk
Speaker 1: about to hopefully inspire the next generation of leaders.
Speaker 2: Well, I would Well, I love hearing your motivation both
Speaker 2: professionally and community wise. That's so lovely to hear it's
Speaker 2: so encouraging. There's so many people in our country are
Speaker 2: so good. We have to respect them to how they vote.
Speaker 2: We respect them. There's some who are not. They they're
Speaker 2: anti women, they're anti LGBTQ, they're anti newcomer, they're anti
Speaker 2: people of color, they're anti women having the right to choose,
Speaker 2: you know, they I respect that point of view. I
Speaker 2: come from an Italian Catholic family. They're not all where
Speaker 2: I am on this issue, but they're not shall we say,
Speaker 2: leading parades in that regard, but and taking it out
Speaker 2: politically on someone. So we have some cultural things. Guns gays,
Speaker 2: Gods are three gs. Guns gays God, they equate God
Speaker 2: with terminating a pregnancy. But nonetheless that's that's what they do.
Speaker 2: So we have to recognize the people are just negative.
Speaker 3: Period.
Speaker 2: Will never get them any excuse will do for them
Speaker 2: to be against the Democrats because we are beautifully diverse
Speaker 2: and represent the future and they don't. Then we have
Speaker 2: the big money that doesn't want to pay taxes that
Speaker 2: they don't want regulation, they don't want protection of the environment.
Speaker 2: When they say they say regulation, we say protections, protections,
Speaker 2: and that's debate us to what it is and for
Speaker 2: how long and the rest of that. But they don't
Speaker 2: want any no regulation, and no taxes, and so they
Speaker 2: supply I mean the last election, I think it was
Speaker 2: eight families put one hundred million dollars in against against
Speaker 2: US eight. So's they supply the money. There are not
Speaker 2: many of them in terms of votes, but it is
Speaker 2: a lot of money to suffocate the airwaves. Suffocate the airwaves.
Speaker 3: So people get confused and they say, well, I don't know,
Speaker 3: I don't know what this is. I'm not voting.
Speaker 2: But then there are legitimate people who vote with them
Speaker 2: who are concerned. They're concerned about immigration. It isn't really
Speaker 2: taking their jobs except a few maybe some, but not money.
Speaker 2: They're concerned about globalization. They've seen the factory down the
Speaker 2: road move offshore. That's a legitimate concern about jobs. They
Speaker 2: are cleared about innovation. I'm a truck driver and now
Speaker 2: they're going to have driverless trucks. That's a legitimate concern.
Speaker 2: And Joe Biden, with the legislation that we passed under
Speaker 2: his leadership, always wanted it to be what does this
Speaker 2: mean to the worker? And so it's always about the
Speaker 2: future and the future that they see for themselves and
Speaker 2: their families to go forward, and that's who we're trying
Speaker 2: to We want them to vote with us, but we
Speaker 2: more importantly want them to feel a comfort level about
Speaker 2: the future.
Speaker 3: And don't think it's a W and they thing. We're
Speaker 3: all in this together.
Speaker 1: Yes, well, and certainly one of the things that I've
Speaker 1: had the good fortune to learn from you all. You know,
Speaker 1: I think back to signing up to volunteer for my
Speaker 1: first campaign in two thousand and seven. I can't believe
Speaker 1: how long it's been. And something I'm really struck by is,
Speaker 1: you know, a lot of what you are bringing up,
Speaker 1: you know, these erosions of our protections for our air,
Speaker 1: our water, jobs moving offshore, A lot of that happens
Speaker 1: to preserve the ultra wealthy class, the billionaire class. You know,
Speaker 1: you've seen the wealth in that space go from the
Speaker 1: hundreds of millions into the trillions of dollars. Wealth is
Speaker 1: being moved and stolen from workers. And I want to
Speaker 1: thank you for the work you've done to make sure
Speaker 1: that the Chips program launched and we're bringing home American
Speaker 1: manufacturing to fight back against big polluters. You know, if
Speaker 1: you're drinking poisonous water, whoever's poisoning your water doesn't care
Speaker 1: how you voted. They just care that they don't have
Speaker 1: to clean it up. And you know, it isn't lost
Speaker 1: on me that since Chevron was overturned by the Supreme Court,
Speaker 1: which I believe to be a horrific miscarriage of justice
Speaker 1: for us and our children and our children's children. You know,
Speaker 1: we've seen the US Air Force refused to comply with
Speaker 1: an EPA cleanup order because the Air Force polluted drinking
Speaker 1: water sources in Tucson, Arizona, and they were supposed to
Speaker 1: clean it up. And then Chevron got overturned and they said,
Speaker 1: we don't have to spend the money to do that.
Speaker 1: And I went, wow, look at this. What it feels
Speaker 1: like is a civilian is we're eating our own And
Speaker 1: I guess I wonder, you know, how you would tell
Speaker 1: us to fight back against things like this. You know,
Speaker 1: a lot of us feel helpless in the face of
Speaker 1: who Donald Trump appointed to the Supreme Court and the
Speaker 1: miscarriages of justice we're seeing, and the lack of ethics
Speaker 1: and the bribes and the things. So from your position,
Speaker 1: you're not a Supreme Court justice, but you are, you know,
Speaker 1: are our incredible. Nancy Pelosi, how do you tell those
Speaker 1: of us coming behind you that are inspired by your
Speaker 1: leadership to push back? Where do you think it's best
Speaker 1: for us to try to exercise our power or untier
Speaker 1: our time? Right now? Is it election first and then
Speaker 1: issues come November sixth?
Speaker 2: Yes, well, winning the election is essential to it all.
Speaker 2: And I think that you spelled it out very beautifully.
Speaker 2: And the greed, the greed of the very wealthy, and
Speaker 2: I don't paint them all with the same brush, but
Speaker 2: enough of them just say they don't want clean up
Speaker 2: the water. How could it be? But nonetheless, here's the thing.
Speaker 2: There is one bill that broke my heart that we
Speaker 2: could not get it past. But I shouldn't say broke
Speaker 2: my heart. And I didn't realize we couldn't get it
Speaker 2: because of the sixty vote requirement in the Senate. So
Speaker 2: this bill is there for the people bill. It's first
Speaker 2: three hundred pages of it were written by John Lewis.
Speaker 2: And then that Voting Rights Act, which it's companion they
Speaker 2: go together, is named for John Lewis. Yes, I had
Speaker 2: the privilege of serving with him for over thirty years.
Speaker 2: But in any event, this legislation would say to the public.
Speaker 2: You are as important as anybody, because what we're saying
Speaker 2: here is we're going to stop voter suppression and election nulliplication,
Speaker 2: turning back what you voted for. We're going to change
Speaker 2: that's John Lewis language. We're going to stop big dark
Speaker 2: money from suffocating the airwaves big dark money by making
Speaker 2: them disclosed so that people know they have the right
Speaker 2: to give. Because the court, in my view, foolishly and
Speaker 2: wrongly decided that corporations were people and they could give
Speaker 2: as much money as they want. Well, people can't, but
Speaker 2: corporations can.
Speaker 1: And that's the Citizens United decision, right.
Speaker 2: The Citizens United decision. But it's very hard as a
Speaker 2: constitutional change that is required, and so people say, well,
Speaker 2: it's too hard to change the causes, but it isn't
Speaker 2: too hard to mobilize, to mobilize to say to people,
Speaker 2: this is why we have to address this with disclosure
Speaker 2: and rest.
Speaker 3: That's the only thing the court allowed us.
Speaker 2: It also doesn't have a partisan redistricting gets rid of
Speaker 2: that because all the things that people think that their
Speaker 2: voice is deterred in some way, silenced or lessened. And
Speaker 2: so we're saying this is for the people, we must
Speaker 2: pass this law to democratize democracy, to make it be
Speaker 2: what it's supposed to be, a free and fair election,
Speaker 2: not dominated by big dark money or predicated on redistricting
Speaker 2: that is unfair and the rest. So that would make
Speaker 2: the biggest difference. In addition to that, when we win
Speaker 2: the elect to your point of should we win, yes, win,
Speaker 2: we have to change the filibuster law in the United
Speaker 2: States Senate. It's ridiculous that it requires sixty votes to
Speaker 2: bring a bill to the floor. We must change that
Speaker 2: because that takes us to your next point policy. If
Speaker 2: we could, if we win votes in the Senate, change
Speaker 2: the filibuster law, just think right away. We could pass
Speaker 2: and try and really wade into the law. We can
Speaker 2: have background checks on guns. We can have an immigration
Speaker 2: in affair and immigration by partisan immigration bill. We can
Speaker 2: stop gun violence said gun violence already, Equality Act for
Speaker 2: LGBTQ community to be treated with equality and all that.
Speaker 2: So so many of those pieces of legislation could pass
Speaker 2: with fifty one votes rather than sixty and that's majority rule.
Speaker 2: So this is within sight and it is within distance.
Speaker 2: All we have to do is win the election. When
Speaker 2: the White House, when the Senate hold the Senate is
Speaker 2: hold the Senate and then take back the House. And
Speaker 2: we can do this for the people because they have
Speaker 2: cynicism about why should I even vote? What difference will
Speaker 2: it make? All the difference in the world. Vote as
Speaker 2: if your life depends on it, because it really does,
Speaker 2: whether it's the air you breathe, or you know, what
Speaker 2: happens to you, in the size and timing of your
Speaker 2: family and the rest.
Speaker 1: And now a word from our sponsors that I really
Speaker 1: enjoy and I think you will too. I really do
Speaker 1: want to echo because there will be people who say,
Speaker 1: you know, it's like when your mom tells you you're
Speaker 1: pretty and you go you have to say that you're
Speaker 1: my mom. There will be people who will hear you
Speaker 1: talk about how consequential the vote is and say, well,
Speaker 1: of course you think it's consequential. You know, you're Congresswoman Pelosi,
Speaker 1: You're the Speaker of the House. That's your world. But
Speaker 1: as a sort of civilian who has a calling of
Speaker 1: one foot in this world and one foot in my
Speaker 1: day job, I want to say to our listeners, you
Speaker 1: know it is that important because we've seen the ramifications
Speaker 1: of losing so narrowly in twenty sixteen. I see. I
Speaker 1: read reports of women who've lost their fallopian tubes and
Speaker 1: their future as the moms they want to be because
Speaker 1: a doctor would not end an ectopic pregnancy that risked
Speaker 1: her life. Women have died of sepsis. We have seen
Speaker 1: families separated permanently at the border by the Trump administration.
Speaker 1: We have seen absolute horror, you know, and corruption take
Speaker 1: over our court. And then you see the flip side.
Speaker 1: You see the Biden Harris administration, our party passing a
Speaker 1: thirty five dollars cap on insulin. I read the story
Speaker 1: of a young man who was at the convention with us.
Speaker 1: He's in college, and he said, you know, I got
Speaker 1: active because I have diabetes and so does my mom.
Speaker 1: And the fact that I know we'll be able to
Speaker 1: afford our medication forever, and that every Republican voted against that,
Speaker 1: that's what got me inspired to be here. And I thought,
Speaker 1: look at you, you sweet twenty year old boy, come
Speaker 1: with us like we're ready to go. And these aren't
Speaker 1: arguments about policy. These are arguments about, as you said,
Speaker 1: democracy for all. You know, there are enough rights to
Speaker 1: go around for everyone. And when you bring up something
Speaker 1: like the Equality Act and thank you. Folks will say, well,
Speaker 1: there's laws you can't put underpay women, or you have
Speaker 1: to treat people equally. That's what the Supreme Court said.
Speaker 1: People don't realize that that's not actually true, that it
Speaker 1: took us thirty eight years to ratify the er, and
Speaker 1: then in Congress we didn't control, said it had taken
Speaker 1: too long, and they didn't care to write it into
Speaker 1: the Constitution. So that affects the fifty one percent of
Speaker 1: us that are women in the world. They don't realize
Speaker 1: that if my partner and I, for example, drove from
Speaker 1: New York to come visit you say, in San Francisco,
Speaker 1: depending on what state we were in the car and together,
Speaker 1: we would have different civil rights. That is terrifying as
Speaker 1: an American. And so we really are here friends at home,
Speaker 1: advocating to make sure, Yes, you can live the way
Speaker 1: you want to live. You can believe what you want
Speaker 1: to believe. You can operate out of faith or science
Speaker 1: or whatever is your highest calling. But what you cannot
Speaker 1: do is legislate cruelty or inequity on others based on
Speaker 1: your personal belief. The law must be separate, and it
Speaker 1: must be it must be the highest and greatest good
Speaker 1: for us.
Speaker 3: So that's the.
Speaker 1: Big policy thing. And here I am soapboxing for anyone
Speaker 1: at home who says I'm not political, Please be political,
Speaker 1: please come join us. But to get back to the personal,
Speaker 1: as you said, when you look back at these last
Speaker 1: thirty seven years, do you have like a greatest hits
Speaker 1: list for Nancy Pelosi? Is there is there an album
Speaker 1: of things that you look at and go, God, those
Speaker 1: five things we got done or that law in that year?
Speaker 1: What comes to mind immediately for you as your pride
Speaker 1: and joy as a legislator.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you so much for your kind words, but
Speaker 2: also for your activism. And you're putting into personal terms
Speaker 2: what it means to have different respects for people's rights
Speaker 2: around the country, and people don't realize that they don't.
Speaker 2: I went to Congress. Well, so I'll just start with
Speaker 2: a you went there first day. I was an especial
Speaker 2: election because the congresswoman's Sela Burton had passed away and
Speaker 2: wanted me to run in a seat. So I did
Speaker 2: and I won, which wasn't a foregone conclusion. But nonetheless,
Speaker 2: when I was there, the members were saying to me,
Speaker 2: when you get sworn in, don't say anything, because nobody
Speaker 2: wants to hear from a new.
Speaker 3: Member of Congress. So I said, oh god, that's okay
Speaker 3: with me.
Speaker 2: So it just when the speaker swears you in, you
Speaker 2: just say yes, I support and defend the Constitution. Then
Speaker 2: the speaker said to me, does the gentle lady from
Speaker 2: California wish to address the house? That's how they talked, gentlely.
Speaker 2: So of course I'm going to address that. So I
Speaker 2: get up there, and these people are like, be sure.
Speaker 3: Be sure, just be sure.
Speaker 2: And so I got up very briefly said I'm here.
Speaker 2: I thank my parents were there, my father on the
Speaker 2: floor of the house because he had been a former member,
Speaker 2: he could be on the floor of the house.
Speaker 3: I found.
Speaker 2: I thank my constituents. And then I said, I told
Speaker 2: my constituents that when I came here, I would tell
Speaker 2: you that SLA sent me and I came to fight
Speaker 2: against HIV and AIDS.
Speaker 3: Boom.
Speaker 2: That's the end. Now it took like a minute. I
Speaker 2: even took longer to say some other thing.
Speaker 3: Just look like a minute.
Speaker 2: So I come down, thinking that was as short as
Speaker 2: it could be. Oh long, faces said, what's the matter
Speaker 2: with you? Why would you tell people that the first
Speaker 2: the first thing they know about you is you came
Speaker 2: here to fight against HIV and AIDS. I said it
Speaker 2: because I did. I did when we were this was
Speaker 2: eighty seven. We were in the going to two funerals
Speaker 2: a day, much less than a week.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I did.
Speaker 2: But see, in San Francisco, we knew about prevention, we
Speaker 2: knew about care, we knew about research for cure, all
Speaker 2: that stuff, but I didn't about discrimination. And just to
Speaker 2: see that now, not that they were discriminating, they just
Speaker 2: thought the others would. And so they knew what the
Speaker 2: backlash it would be.
Speaker 3: So we bought and fought.
Speaker 2: We got the Mummy, and the AIDS issue was very
Speaker 2: big for me in Congress, and to see the success
Speaker 2: and we did rhyme white care and Rewaxmen from California
Speaker 2: was very important and all that. But it contained our
Speaker 2: San Francisco, community based, community based care, community based research,
Speaker 2: community based prevention. We had some of the greatest intellectual
Speaker 2: resources here in San Francisco and then and so that
Speaker 2: became a thing so throughout. So another another part of
Speaker 2: that in terms of discrimination was to end to repeal
Speaker 2: don't ask, don't tell. Of course, the biggest issue for
Speaker 2: me was the passing of the Affordable CARECT But in
Speaker 2: terms of continuation of legislation, So the last bill that
Speaker 2: I signed and rolled as a speaker, one of the
Speaker 2: last bills when I was ending my speakership the first
Speaker 2: time the first two terms ending them, was the repeal
Speaker 2: of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Now, this is an example
Speaker 2: of the kaleidoscope in the rest. We finally got the
Speaker 2: votes in order to pass an amendment to repeal Don't Ask,
Speaker 2: Don't Tell.
Speaker 3: It was a triumph. It was such a big job.
Speaker 2: Now this is on the National Defense Authorization Bill. It's
Speaker 2: a defense bill, the defense bill.
Speaker 1: So I go.
Speaker 2: The members are so jubilant, and I said, it's so
Speaker 2: exciting as we made history today. And I said, yes,
Speaker 2: we made history today, and you're going to make history twice.
Speaker 2: Why do you say that, I said, well, you had
Speaker 2: voted for the amendment and that passed. But in order
Speaker 2: for the amendment to prevail, the bill has to pass.
Speaker 2: So you're going to vote for the first time, make
Speaker 2: history voting for a defense bill. No, you can't ask
Speaker 2: us to do that. You cannot ask us to do that.
Speaker 2: I said, you don't have an amendment unless you have
Speaker 2: a bill. You're going to have to vote for the
Speaker 2: defense bill. No, don't ask us, we won't do it
Speaker 2: this or that. The Republicans always vote for the defense bill.
Speaker 2: They come here to do two things, cut taxes for
Speaker 2: the rich and vote for the defense bill. They're going
Speaker 2: to vote for it. I said, you need to vote
Speaker 2: for the What makes you say that, I said, I'm
Speaker 2: a speaker. I know what's going on here. I can
Speaker 2: see it in their eyes. They ain't going to vote
Speaker 2: for the defense bill. Oh, this is too much to ask.
Speaker 2: We all have plaques and prophies and all being one
Speaker 2: against the Defense bill, said do me a favor. Go
Speaker 2: to the back of the room and just wait and
Speaker 2: watch and see what happens. So go to the back
Speaker 2: of the room. Nine Republicans voted for the defense bill,
Speaker 2: which means like one hundred and eighty or some of
Speaker 2: them voted against it because of that don't ask, don't
Speaker 2: tell repeal and it was heartbreaking. Nine voted for it.
Speaker 2: So right down the aisle, Barney Frank, Barbara Lee, Dennis Percinage,
Speaker 2: John Lewis, and Eshu you name it. The whole one
Speaker 2: hundred percent crowd going down to vote for the Defense film. Congratulations,
Speaker 2: you made history twice today. But they did something they
Speaker 2: didn't think they would have to do. We had to
Speaker 2: do the machinations. Barney Frank was very instrumental in doing
Speaker 2: that with the Senate so that it became law.
Speaker 3: Harry Reid was very helpful.
Speaker 1: Oh, that's amazing. I had the loveliest moment with Senator
Speaker 1: Schumer at the DNC. He came to offer some very
Speaker 1: kind words about my life, not even work, and told
Speaker 1: me about how he became so pro equality and wanted
Speaker 1: to fight for laws like the ones you're talking about
Speaker 1: because of his friendship with Barney Frank, and how you know,
Speaker 1: seeing when he came out, his whole life got better
Speaker 1: and everything changed, and he said, you know, I got
Speaker 1: to fight alongside my friend. And all these years later,
Speaker 1: when my daughter told me she'd fallen in love with
Speaker 1: this wonderful woman, I realized that my friends had made
Speaker 1: me a better father. Nice, beautiful makes me want to sob.
Speaker 2: Alison, his beautiful daughter, Alison is when I.
Speaker 1: Think about you all fighting together, that I believe is
Speaker 1: the beauty of the ethos of a party rooted in equity.
Speaker 1: Because your fight is not John Lewis's fight, but you
Speaker 1: know what it's like to be discriminated against as a woman,
Speaker 1: and he can talk to you about what it's like
Speaker 1: to be discriminated against as a black man. And Senator
Speaker 1: Schumer learned what Barney Frank was going through as a
Speaker 1: gay man. And I start to think about how when
Speaker 1: you say we all come together with our ideals and
Speaker 1: our diversity is our strength, what it means is in
Speaker 1: our successes and our failures, in our hardships. The more
Speaker 1: of us there are in the room making decisions, the
Speaker 1: more people can say, hey, don't forget this. This could
Speaker 1: be a spot where you might not know to shine
Speaker 1: a light if you didn't know there was darkness there.
Speaker 1: We can solve for more people with diversity of thoughts
Speaker 1: and experience, and it when you win, I win. And
Speaker 1: when John Lewis was winning, we were all winning. I
Speaker 1: guess I'm curious because you you've been such a part
Speaker 1: of so many of these moments of history. And when
Speaker 1: we talk about John Lewis, God rest his soul, are
Speaker 1: there things about him, or those early days, or even
Speaker 1: about you that you think people maybe don't know but
Speaker 1: should And it could be I don't know your favorite
Speaker 1: coffee order, or when you guys really got into it
Speaker 1: over how to get something across the line like you
Speaker 1: did with Donnas. Don't tell you know. Are there things
Speaker 1: we don't know that you want to make sure we do.
Speaker 2: We mentioned Barney is that's just important way when we
Speaker 2: were passing trying to pass the hate crime spill, we
Speaker 2: wanted to be all inclusive. Now this was in the
Speaker 2: first term, so this is like.
Speaker 3: Years ago.
Speaker 2: It was seven eight in that period of time, and
Speaker 2: Barney told his personal story and that meant a lot
Speaker 2: to the members. It was very cheerful for us, but
Speaker 2: its press Risiamble. In addition, because inside mobiles maneuvering is
Speaker 2: very important. The outside mobilization, which is essential to any success,
Speaker 2: was led by Matthew Shepherd's mother. She came with her husband.
Speaker 2: She brought with her, Uh, the sheriff from the county.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, it was so so sad. And his
Speaker 2: sheriff said, I'm the sheriff that you have worried about
Speaker 2: after what I saw that happened to Matthew Shepherd, I'm
Speaker 2: going around campaigning for this hate crimes bill. And she
Speaker 2: was wonderful, but we couldn't pass it. It was not passing,
Speaker 2: and so uh, they came to me and said, if
Speaker 2: you take it out trands, it was inclusive. If you
Speaker 2: take out trends, you can pass it in a minute.
Speaker 2: And I said back to them, if we take our trands,
Speaker 2: we ain't passing it in a hundred years because we're
Speaker 2: not even bringing it up. It's coming in together and
Speaker 2: that's the way it is, and that's the way we
Speaker 2: passed it. But they would, you have to always try
Speaker 2: to while you want to compromise or something, you cannot
Speaker 2: diminish the strength of why you were there. That they
Speaker 2: would probably the group that needed the most hate crimes legislation,
Speaker 2: And so that was another time. So we did hate
Speaker 2: crimes and then we did repeal don'nas don't tell. And
Speaker 2: then we did marriage equality. Even though the court did it,
Speaker 2: we wanted to legislate it so that it is in
Speaker 2: the in the law. And of course all of the
Speaker 2: work on HIV AIDS, but it started with.
Speaker 3: That.
Speaker 2: Now the finished business is the Equality Act. It takes
Speaker 2: me to John Lewis the Equality Act.
Speaker 3: In order for the.
Speaker 2: Equality Act pass, we had to break up, open up
Speaker 2: the Civil Rights Bill and inject the Equality Act in there.
Speaker 3: The Black Caucus very.
Speaker 2: Proprietary about the Civil Rights Act because of some of
Speaker 2: the strange people that were roaming the halls of Congress
Speaker 2: at that time as members. Well what they would try
Speaker 2: to do because with their twenty twenty five for example,
Speaker 2: forget all these things that are in there. But in
Speaker 2: any event, the process that we had to go through
Speaker 2: is to make sure that we were not menacing the
Speaker 2: Black Caucus and what we were trying to do to
Speaker 2: expand the rights there. Our champion became John Lewis again.
Speaker 2: Oh and it became he once again. He said, we
Speaker 2: are long overdue in doing this, and I'm going to
Speaker 2: be a sponsor of this bill. So we went to
Speaker 2: the press conference, took the lead in announcing this, and
Speaker 2: it was a big deal because the Black Caucus was
Speaker 2: we don't want it. We're all for that, but why
Speaker 2: do we have to open up the bill to do it.
Speaker 2: John Lewis just said, we're long overdue, We're going to
Speaker 2: do that, and he led the way. Bless his heart,
Speaker 2: he was incredible.
Speaker 1: I mean, what a man was was the fear I
Speaker 1: just want to make sure I understand, was the fear
Speaker 1: in opening up the Civil Rights bill that opening it
Speaker 1: up to add more inclusion and protection for other people
Speaker 1: might actually put the bill itself at risk.
Speaker 2: Well, it might be they would come along with something,
Speaker 2: start a fought it about why this If you read
Speaker 2: twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1: So many of the Project twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2: Project twenty twenty five, If you read that many of
Speaker 2: the protections that we have for people, bye bye. That's
Speaker 2: a terrible vicious document. And that's why what's his name
Speaker 2: as trying to distance himself. It's his people who vote it.
Speaker 2: It's their document and the rest. But again, John lewis
Speaker 2: our hero and wonderful.
Speaker 3: He also walked.
Speaker 2: With me when we were going to pass the bill
Speaker 2: and he got spat upon.
Speaker 3: People screamed at us.
Speaker 2: As we were walking from the office building to the Capitol.
Speaker 2: We had the gavel that had been used to gabble
Speaker 2: in medicare by John Dingle's father, and he had that gavel,
Speaker 2: and then and we were going and John said that
Speaker 2: that day, the viciousness of the people who were screaming
Speaker 2: at us for passing this bill spat upon and he
Speaker 2: said he it was he hadn't seen anything like that
Speaker 2: since Thoma.
Speaker 1: In nineteen sixties.
Speaker 3: Of them Sea.
Speaker 2: He said it was just a horrible and John Lewis,
Speaker 2: I mean, they were horrible to me, as you can imagine,
Speaker 2: but they always are. But John Lewis is reverential figure
Speaker 2: to say, I hadn't seen anything like that since the sixties.
Speaker 1: You know, it's interesting to me when you bring that up,
Speaker 1: what John Lewis went through, the work he did with
Speaker 1: doctor King and LBJ in getting the Civil Rights Act
Speaker 1: passed and getting the Voting Rights Act passed. I was
Speaker 1: so lucky on Tuesday to be at the White House
Speaker 1: in Room one eighty and get to look at some
Speaker 1: of those original photographs, and I was just so moved
Speaker 1: thinking about these lifetimes of advocacy. And I know the
Speaker 1: pushback he received as a black man building a more
Speaker 1: equal America. I certainly know the pushback you receive as
Speaker 1: a woman striving to build a more equal America. People
Speaker 1: hate political opinionated women. I deal with it on the
Speaker 1: internet every day. I'm very grateful to your persistence, and
Speaker 1: I guess I'm curious when you look out at the
Speaker 1: landscape you know, both all of the history you've been
Speaker 1: a part of and in the work you're continuing to do.
Speaker 1: Is part of your hope with the book because it's
Speaker 1: so good. I mean, my goodness, I've been asking you
Speaker 1: all these policy questions. We've barely even touched on it,
Speaker 1: and your time is almost up. The book is just
Speaker 1: so great. But obviously our audience will go and read it.
Speaker 1: Was the hope that you could despite what people have
Speaker 1: seen out in the world. What happened to you on
Speaker 1: January sixth, You know this new footage of that your
Speaker 1: daughter took. When you're asking questions about where's the National
Speaker 1: Guard and trying to safeguard democracy. You know what horrifically
Speaker 1: happened to your family in twenty twenty two when your
Speaker 1: husband was attacked. There's a lot that could keep motivated
Speaker 1: people out when they see what you risk. So is
Speaker 1: the goal of the book also to remind people that, yes,
Speaker 1: there is a risk, but there is so much reward,
Speaker 1: and here is perhaps how you can exercise subtle and
Speaker 1: inclusive power to create that reward for yourself and the
Speaker 1: world around you. Is that what you hope to leave
Speaker 1: the readers with.
Speaker 2: Well, I hope so, because there's nothing more wholesome for
Speaker 2: the political or governmental process than the increased participation of women.
Speaker 2: I firmly believe that when I went to Congress there
Speaker 2: were twenty three women, twelve Democrats, eleven Republicans. We made
Speaker 2: a decision, some of us who I came from the
Speaker 2: political arena, from being chair of the California Democratic Party,
Speaker 2: that we were going to increase that number. We now
Speaker 2: have ninety four Democratic women versus twelve. They have thirty
Speaker 2: something versus eleven. But we still want more. But it's
Speaker 2: really very essential. It doesn't mean women are better than men.
Speaker 2: It just means you need the diversity at the table.
Speaker 2: You need the diversity at the table. And that diversity
Speaker 2: goes beyond male female. It's about ethnicity and gender identity
Speaker 2: and the rest of that.
Speaker 3: We need more at the table.
Speaker 2: So what I was hoping to say to people is
Speaker 2: quoting a Republican President, Teddy, when he talked about the
Speaker 2: the Arena speech, which is one of the great speeches.
Speaker 2: Everybody should read it and know it. He said, you're
Speaker 2: not a spectator anymore. It says that you're in the arena.
Speaker 2: And I say to the women who say to me, well,
Speaker 2: I'd like to be in the arena, but I can't
Speaker 2: handle the abuse that you take. See, I didn't care.
Speaker 2: You know, I just didn't care. I was just there
Speaker 2: for the children. I didn't care what they said about me.
Speaker 2: I wasn't seeking higher office. I didn't want an appointment
Speaker 2: to this or that. I just wanted to work in
Speaker 2: the house to get the job done.
Speaker 3: I said, no, but you go in the arena. You
Speaker 3: have to be ready to.
Speaker 2: Take a punch, and you have to be ready to
Speaker 2: throw a punch for the children, for the children, and
Speaker 2: it's worth it if you know your why. My why
Speaker 2: was for the children. So I didn't care what they
Speaker 2: said was always about that and what the legislation would do,
Speaker 2: or what certain people were they a resource for their
Speaker 2: children or not, because the children are everything. It's their health,
Speaker 2: their education, the economy, security of their families, those clean,
Speaker 2: safe neighborhoods where they can thrive, including safety from gun violence,
Speaker 2: a world to peace in which they could survive. Everything
Speaker 2: is about the children. It's all about the vision of
Speaker 2: our founders, about our democracy, the sacrifice of our men
Speaker 2: and women in uniform to protect our freedoms and our country,
Speaker 2: and the aspirations of our children. They all come together,
Speaker 2: and the election. All of it is at risk. All
Speaker 2: of it is at risk.
Speaker 1: That's a beautiful way to look at it. And now
Speaker 1: a word from our wonderful sponsors. Something that I've thought
Speaker 1: a lot about because you said something so kind to
Speaker 1: me when I was in a panic about the fascist
Speaker 1: takeover of our White House in twenty sixteen, and I
Speaker 1: saw you at the time, one hundred of it in
Speaker 1: New York, and you grabbed me by the hand and
Speaker 1: I said, Nancy, going to do and you said, sweetheart,
Speaker 1: everything will be better when you're a president, and iked it.
Speaker 1: I joked at your farewell in DC with all the
Speaker 1: reproductive rights groups, I said, I bet you say that
Speaker 1: to all the girls you want to encourage us all
Speaker 1: to run for office. But I do think so much
Speaker 1: about the fact that you first were elected to Congress
Speaker 1: at forty seven. You were a mom of five. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm now forty two. People ask me, are you going
Speaker 1: to run? I don't have an answer. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I know I want to dedicate my life to our community.
Speaker 1: But I guess I would ask you, what is your
Speaker 1: advice for someone who worries maybe it's too late, or
Speaker 1: maybe I don't know enough for women out there who
Speaker 1: wonder if they could do what you've done, and maybe
Speaker 1: don't know that you were forty seven when you started.
Speaker 1: Do you have any advice for us?
Speaker 2: Well, I would say this, Know your power. That's a
Speaker 2: title of my first book, Know your power. Know the
Speaker 2: power of you. You have something unique and authentic to
Speaker 2: bring to the table, no matter what that is, whether
Speaker 2: it's your professional experience, your education, your upbringing, whatever it
Speaker 2: is in my case, even being a mom of five
Speaker 2: kids in six years and seven days. That just take
Speaker 2: inventory of your motivation and your knowledge, and as I
Speaker 2: say to them, know your why, Know why you want
Speaker 2: to do this, Know what you're talking about. You don't
Speaker 2: have to know everything. But if you have a subject,
Speaker 2: whether it's climate, or whether it's education, or whether it's
Speaker 2: justice or democracy, whatever it is, it's not going to
Speaker 2: be confined to one issue. But whatever kind of is
Speaker 2: your passion, know about it so that people respect your judgment.
Speaker 2: You won't know it all because it changes. You want
Speaker 2: to be current as you go along, and then know
Speaker 2: your strategy about how you would bring people together. See
Speaker 2: somebody else who shares your view and you want to
Speaker 2: support her, she wants to support you, and this or
Speaker 2: that again vision, knowledge and judgment strategy, But most important.
Speaker 2: Show people what is in your heart, that empathy, that
Speaker 2: concern for the community, That is your authenticity. Enough people
Speaker 2: love sincerity, authenticity, they really especially young people. They can
Speaker 2: tell real from not real.
Speaker 3: Just like that.
Speaker 2: But understand that was what you have to bring. But
Speaker 2: what you offer is something so great a country needs
Speaker 2: to have you at the table and hopefully at the
Speaker 2: head of the table. The The thing I also say
Speaker 2: to them is know your why again, know your power,
Speaker 2: and be ready because you don't know when the opportunity.
Speaker 2: I had no idea that I would ever run for
Speaker 2: I didn't even have an interest in running for public
Speaker 2: office none, zero, And then all of a sudden they
Speaker 2: were like, you have to run.
Speaker 3: You have to run.
Speaker 2: I'm like, why did you come to me? I never
Speaker 2: expect an interest. No, you have to run. And the
Speaker 2: same thing for leadership, you have to run for leadership.
Speaker 2: You have to run for leadership. And so I did.
Speaker 2: But so to these women, know your why, know your power,
Speaker 2: be ready as you don't know when it might come
Speaker 2: as an appointment or election or whatever it might be,
Speaker 2: and know how important it is. And I always say
Speaker 2: this prayer of African Presbyterian bishop put on a wall
Speaker 2: and SI alone in a hospital and said, one one
Speaker 2: day I go to reach I die, and I happily
Speaker 2: go to reach my maker, my creator. He will say
Speaker 2: to me, show me your wounds, and if I have
Speaker 2: no wounds, you will say was nothing worth fighting for.
Speaker 2: So I'm proud of my wounds, and I don't even
Speaker 2: consider them wounds. I consider them badges of honor. But nonetheless,
Speaker 2: it's rough, it's not for the faint of heart. It's tough,
Speaker 2: but it's very worth it, and it's absolutely essential to
Speaker 2: the success of our country.
Speaker 3: More women in power. And now we're going to have.
Speaker 2: You know, I've been described as a most powerful woman
Speaker 2: in the United States, and I am so excited is
Speaker 2: that in just a few weeks we'll have a woman
Speaker 2: president of the United States. Not because it's emotional for me,
Speaker 2: but it's not. And as I said when I ran,
Speaker 2: don't vote for me because I'm a woman, but don't
Speaker 2: vote against me because I'm a woman. She should win,
Speaker 2: not because she's a woman, because she's the best. She's
Speaker 2: the best. And that's what it's going to It's going
Speaker 2: to be so exciting for our country and for the world.
Speaker 2: The global message it will send I'm Ala Harrison in
Speaker 2: resident of the United States.
Speaker 1: As you sit here and look at this history, this
Speaker 1: beautiful book, what's coming up? What feels in your life,
Speaker 1: not even necessarily about work, but just for you, Nancy,
Speaker 1: what feels like you're work in progress right now?
Speaker 2: Well, again, it's always a family. So first and foremost
Speaker 2: about family, and about children and grandchildren and the rest.
Speaker 2: And I would say that when you have children, it's
Speaker 2: you think you can take care of them. You know
Speaker 2: you're going to make sure life is great for them.
Speaker 2: But when you have grandchildren, these grandchildren. We have a
Speaker 2: grandchild I was not quite a year old, who will
Speaker 2: live into the next century. I live into the next century.
Speaker 2: And I say that to my friends who have little children,
Speaker 2: even if they're twenty years old, they may live into
Speaker 2: the next century, the grandchildren.
Speaker 3: And then we have to make sure that for the children.
Speaker 2: The client, the planet, the society, the fairness of the justice,
Speaker 2: all of it, that what our vision of our founders
Speaker 2: is such that it is there or a great future
Speaker 2: for our children. And elections are about the future, so
Speaker 2: this one is particularly important.
Speaker 3: Just Wendy particularly, let's.
Speaker 2: Go win this.
Speaker 1: Let's go win this. Maybe thank you so so much,
Speaker 1: thank you. I cherish the fact that I get to
Speaker 1: know you, let alone interview you, and this has really
Speaker 1: been a treat, my pleasure, my honor.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Sylvia