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Speaker 1: Welcome back to she Pivots. I'm Yasmin Raji and I'm

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Speaker 1: the executive director of Swing Left.

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Speaker 2: Welcome back to sheep Pivots. I'm your host, Emily Tish Sussman.

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Speaker 2: When I was planning this season, I wanted to make

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Speaker 2: sure she Pivots was a means for building connections. I

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Speaker 2: said during our season launch party that we're the generation

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Speaker 2: of women who build bridges and don't tear each other down,

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Speaker 2: and she pivots as a way to empower women to

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Speaker 2: look inward, define success for themselves and not by society standards.

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Speaker 3: And it's working.

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Speaker 2: We're seeing a substantial change in the way women think

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Speaker 2: about and talk about their lives and their careers. I'm

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Speaker 2: so excited to dig deeper into these pivotal moments through

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Speaker 2: these shorter, more conversational Candon convos this season. Let's jump

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Speaker 2: right in on today's Candon Convo. I'm so excited to

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Speaker 2: have the one and only Yasmin Raji. Today we're not

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Speaker 2: only diving into what is needed to win in this election,

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Speaker 2: but announcing that I am pivoting or reverse pivoting into politics.

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Speaker 2: I just couldn't stay away, and I'm so honored to

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Speaker 2: share that I'm now serving on the board of Swing.

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Speaker 3: Left for she's the executive director.

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Speaker 2: I wanted to come out of retirement from politics for

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Speaker 2: this election because it just feels like there's too much

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Speaker 2: at stake, and why specifically Swing Left. I mean, when

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Speaker 2: I was working in politics, I was so deep in

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Speaker 2: it that I was like in the machine.

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Speaker 3: And then I took.

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Speaker 2: A pretty hard break, like a pretty hard step back

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Speaker 2: to start this show, she pivots just to be able

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Speaker 2: to have conversations and think about changing culture by uplifting

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Speaker 2: different kinds of stories. And then when I thought to myself,

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Speaker 2: how can I possibly engage again? I can't go back

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Speaker 2: into the machine, like I can't go back into the

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Speaker 2: deep depths of politics. I need to do something that

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Speaker 2: is an easier and more accessible lift for me. And

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Speaker 2: now I am the suburban swing district mom, and so

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Speaker 2: now I am the person that I was always trying

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Speaker 2: to reach. Swing Left felt like the perfect marriage of

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Speaker 2: those things. I used to be on the political side

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Speaker 2: and now I'm on the volunteer side. So I'm really

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Speaker 2: excited to get into this conversation with Yasmin.

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Speaker 3: I'm Yasmin Raji.

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Speaker 1: I'm executive director of Swing Left, a national organization that

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Speaker 1: engages volunteers and donors in the highest impact actions to

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Speaker 1: help Democrats win majorities.

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Speaker 2: Okay, so talk to me a little bit about Well, first,

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Speaker 2: let's give a little background. How do you and I

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Speaker 2: know each other? Like, if this is my pivot back

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Speaker 2: into politics, how do we know each other?

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Speaker 1: I actually was going to give the wrong answer, but

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Speaker 1: what I am now remembering is in twenty seventeen, I

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Speaker 1: was one of the co founders of an organization called

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Speaker 1: Resistant School, and we were flying by the seat of

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Speaker 1: our pants and we got an email from some extremely

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Speaker 1: important DC powerbroker named Emily Tish Sussman saying, do you

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Speaker 1: guys want to come to a cap action get together

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Speaker 1: with new resistance leaders? And we were like, oh my god,

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Speaker 1: people have paid attention to this thing that we're doing.

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Speaker 3: And we flew.

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Speaker 1: I don't remember where I assumed DC, but I can't

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Speaker 1: really remember.

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Speaker 3: No, No, it was California. I was in California.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it was kind it's like a million

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Speaker 1: years ago. Yeah, that's right. And we got together in

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Speaker 1: a room and I had a little Moleskin notebook where

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Speaker 1: I think I wrote down every word of what anybody said,

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Speaker 1: because I was so fired up to be in this

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Speaker 1: room of all the people I had been engaging with

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Speaker 1: online actually getting together to think about how the ecosystem

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Speaker 1: could work together better. And you were the brain behind

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Speaker 1: that get together. And then I don't know that we

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Speaker 1: really build a relationship until I don't even remember what

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Speaker 1: the impetus was, maybe Planned Parenthood worl repro world, But anyway,

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Speaker 1: now it's sort of like one of those relationships where

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Speaker 1: I don't even remember quite where it began, but it

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Speaker 1: feels like it's always been a part of my life.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I was remembering, that was exactly right.

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Speaker 2: It was that after I worked at the Democratic thing

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Speaker 2: Tank that were the progressive thing tank that was considered

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Speaker 2: in twenty sixteen for like the Hillary Clinton administration.

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Speaker 3: People called it like.

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Speaker 2: Quote the White House in waiting because everyone was like

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Speaker 2: getting themselves ready for the Clinton administration. And I had

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Speaker 2: my first kid in the middle of it, like in August,

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Speaker 2: so I was on maternity leave the whole fall when

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Speaker 2: we were like this time of twenty sixteen of the

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Speaker 2: Hillary Clinton election, and my first day back from maternity

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Speaker 2: leave was the Monday after the election. So like when

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Speaker 2: you thought everybody in America was just like crying at

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Speaker 2: work and crying on the subway. Like think about walking

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Speaker 2: into the quote White House and waiting where everyone's offices

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Speaker 2: were packed up to move into their transition offices, like

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Speaker 2: they had no unbelievable, like no one knew what their

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Speaker 2: job was supposed to be. Everyone It's been the last

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Speaker 2: three years getting ready for this point, and I had

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Speaker 2: just had my first kid. So I came back with

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Speaker 2: this like new mom energy and was like, I'm going

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Speaker 2: to prove to everyone that, like I'm the same worker.

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Speaker 3: I worked just as hard.

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Speaker 2: So where as everyone was just like sitting around crying,

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Speaker 2: I was like spinning circles around. I mean I think

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Speaker 2: in my head too, but I was like, I've got

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Speaker 2: to be productive, like I have to do something valuable.

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Speaker 2: And saw that all of these like quote resistance groups

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Speaker 2: people were like popping up all over the country, and

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Speaker 2: it was all these people who it was someone who

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Speaker 2: was like the smartest, most plugged in political person of

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Speaker 2: their friends and was like sending out like daily actions

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Speaker 2: you could do, And all of a sudden had an

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Speaker 2: email list of thirty five thousand people.

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Speaker 3: That was very much the vie of that era.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Like we had so many of those people, and

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Speaker 2: I was like, okay, well what can we do, Like

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Speaker 2: what a value add can we have here?

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Speaker 3: Like we're a think tank, we can provide people with information.

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Speaker 2: And then the next step was like, well, a lot

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Speaker 2: of these people wanted to make them groups and like

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Speaker 2: make them stainable, make them continue. It's like, well, what

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Speaker 2: if we give them like sustainability training, like how to stay,

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Speaker 2: how to maintain an org? And so we put that together.

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Speaker 2: I remember you were there. I think Swing Left was there,

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Speaker 2: Indivisible was there?

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Speaker 1: Definitely, Yes, Women's March was there, A bunch of it

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Speaker 1: was maybe like thirty different groups. I remember I wrote

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Speaker 1: a briefing to myself about the group so I could

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Speaker 1: like understand.

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Speaker 3: You know, it's one of those.

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Speaker 1: It was just it was a very exciting moment, and

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Speaker 1: it was truly like, you know, as someone who'd been

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Speaker 1: following so much of what was happening online but couldn't

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Speaker 1: tell like who's behind this thing, what's their strategy, what

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Speaker 1: are they doing? Why did they do this? I think

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Speaker 1: Andy Kim might have been there because he had started that.

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Speaker 3: Andy Kim was there, Yeah, he had started Rise Yes.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, So it is sort of funny. And in your

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Speaker 1: helping to organize the white women for Kamala Harris call,

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Speaker 1: a few of the women that were heavily involved were

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Speaker 1: some of the Women's March people who were in that room.

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Speaker 1: Andy Kim is now running for the US and he's

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Speaker 1: going to need a nextcent senator from New Jersey. And

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Speaker 1: you and I are coming full circle here, which I

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Speaker 1: know is sort of like previewing the purpose of this conversation,

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Speaker 1: but it does feel like it's a good reminder of

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Speaker 1: like there are some rooms and moments where you're surrounded

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Speaker 1: by people and you know it's special and you know

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Speaker 1: something's going to come of it, but you can't begin

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Speaker 1: to imagine sort of the seeds of relationships and good

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Speaker 1: trouble that are going to come from it. And that

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Speaker 1: was you created one of those rooms that has only

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Speaker 1: continued to bear fruits.

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Speaker 2: Well that's so lovely, Okay. So I ended up leaving,

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Speaker 2: I had my second kid. I ended up going to

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Speaker 2: work for Swing Left in twenty eighteen and running the

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Speaker 2: National Celebrity Program, so placing celebrity in swing congressional districts

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Speaker 2: all over the country in like a midterm election which

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Speaker 2: was at the time was like a perfect fit for

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Speaker 2: like where I was and trying to take the skills

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Speaker 2: that I had had, but it was more like a

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Speaker 2: sprint than a marathon, so which was like the right time.

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Speaker 2: I mean, at that point, I had two kids under

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Speaker 2: eighteen months, so that was like the right fit. I

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Speaker 2: just sort of like checked out of my personal life

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Speaker 2: and like checked into my professional life.

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Speaker 1: You're kind of understating this. You were also like on

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Speaker 1: Campbell News at four am and two AM and six

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Speaker 1: am and then schlepping to one congressional district and schlepping

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Speaker 1: to another. So you did the classic mom like it

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Speaker 1: was no big deal. It was just what could fit

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Speaker 1: into my schedule. But like a normal schedule is not

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Speaker 1: let me do a four am news hit and then

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Speaker 1: breastfeed my child.

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Speaker 3: So let's just be clear about what we're talking about here.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we did do a little bit of that was

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Speaker 2: that was in there too, Okay, But then as people

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Speaker 2: have been following the show, No I had the third kid,

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Speaker 2: went into the lockdown and basically took myself out of

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Speaker 2: politics because I didn't think it was accessible to me anymore.

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Speaker 2: Like the intersection of politics and media, like all of

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Speaker 2: that timing that you're describing, Like all of the work,

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Speaker 2: it's so predicated on having like up to date information

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Speaker 2: and being available at six am and being able to

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Speaker 2: go to a swing district. Like the way to basically

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Speaker 2: stay in our industry of politics is to be constantly

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Speaker 2: on top of it, which really appealed to me when

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Speaker 2: I didn't have kids, because I was always had to

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Speaker 2: stay engaged. And then when I had three kids under

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Speaker 2: three and a half, like the industry was no longer

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Speaker 2: accessible to me, And so I started this show she Pivot,

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Speaker 2: and like, I thought about my impact being moving from

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Speaker 2: legislative change or political change to being in culture change,

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Speaker 2: like telling different stories, like stories that might change the

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Speaker 2: way we think about things. And so I've been totally

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Speaker 2: out of politics. And then well we've always been in touch.

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Speaker 2: But then a few weeks ago, what did you say

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Speaker 2: to me? I said, Emily, I think that you were

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Speaker 2: lying to yourself.

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Speaker 1: You keep saying I don't think that I have the

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Speaker 1: capacity to do politics because I've taken on all of

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Speaker 1: these big personal roles and like a.

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Speaker 3: Lot of moms, you are.

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Speaker 1: Running things at your kids' school, you are super it's

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Speaker 1: important to you as it should be so to all

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Speaker 1: of us moms to be present for soccer practices and

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Speaker 1: travel and family commitments and all the things. And as

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Speaker 1: you went through your schedule, you're like, it's just not

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Speaker 1: possible to fit in anything else, so I just can't

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Speaker 1: do politics. And I was like, Emily, let's just look

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Speaker 1: back at your past few weeks. You're saying you can't

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Speaker 1: fit things into politics, but you were heavily involved in

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Speaker 1: orchestrating the White Women for Kamala Call that was a

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Speaker 1: record breaking fundraiser with tens of thousands of people. You've

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Speaker 1: been busy connecting different people across media and politics with

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Speaker 1: each other, including connecting me to some amazing women to

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Speaker 1: make sure that there's connective tissue across people who might

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Speaker 1: not be in touch with each other. But if they could,

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Speaker 1: if we could join forces, we could do exponentially more

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Speaker 1: impactful things. I was like, Emily, you are doing it.

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Speaker 1: You are just pretending like it is an afterthought and

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Speaker 1: not something that is on your mind, and let's just

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Speaker 1: call it what it is, which is still a huge

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Speaker 1: part of who you are, but a new you who

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Speaker 1: has also a full plate of other activities, and let's

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Speaker 1: just create an opportunity for you to do it with

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Speaker 1: a name on it, because you're already doing the work.

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Speaker 1: And so I did a leap of faith and said, Emily,

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Speaker 1: I think that you should join the board of Swing Left,

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Speaker 1: and I think that you can help us really grow

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Speaker 1: in ways that are outside of any of our current

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Speaker 1: expertise around the intersection of politics with not just media,

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Speaker 1: but media that is focused on people who are not

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Speaker 1: doing politics full time. So whether that's you know, people

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Speaker 1: who are reading lifestyle or fashion publications, whether that's people

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Speaker 1: who are following some light political content on social media

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Speaker 1: but aren't going to go and read Politico every morning,

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Speaker 1: you understand that intersection and you're already helping. Some of

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Speaker 1: the best advice I've gotten since becoming executive director has

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Speaker 1: been from you, Emily, and so I was like, let's

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Speaker 1: just give a title to what you're already doing. And

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Speaker 1: you Hamden had because you were like the type of

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Speaker 1: person that every one of your listeners knows that you are,

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Speaker 1: and you're like, I'm doing a lot for the school.

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Speaker 1: I need to make sure that these like my five

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Speaker 1: step program or probably knowing you like twenty step program

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Speaker 1: of Impact is perfect and as you thought about it,

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Speaker 1: you decided you just can't sit on the sidelines of selection.

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Speaker 3: I loved what you said. I love how you phrased it.

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Speaker 2: You said, Emily, you're a political animal and you're pretending

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Speaker 2: that you're not.

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Speaker 1: And I was like, oh, except last exactly, exactly exactly.

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Speaker 3: Now back to the show. And I also think super

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Speaker 3: important to note that you're a mom of two young

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Speaker 3: kids too. That's right, that's right, like you are your client,

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Speaker 3: that's right.

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Speaker 1: Well, I mean I do think it's something I think

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Speaker 1: about a lot is we all have like different seasons

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Speaker 1: of our life. Right You've touched on this a lot.

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Speaker 1: I think that's like a common theme in this podcast

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Speaker 1: of there are seasons where all we think about is work,

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Speaker 1: and there are seasons where all we literally can think

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Speaker 1: about is keeping our infant child fed with the vast

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Speaker 1: amount of milk that is emerging from our body. Right, Like,

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Speaker 1: there's just seasons of life. And I think something you

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Speaker 1: and I have talked about a lot, but that is

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Speaker 1: really front of mine for me right now, is in

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Speaker 1: this season of life, there is nothing.

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Speaker 3: More important than family.

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Speaker 1: Like it is, there is nothing that I would ever

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Speaker 1: prioritize over my kids. Over also my aging parents, you know,

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Speaker 1: like it's just family is the number one and that

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Speaker 1: actually makes my level of focus on politics feel that

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Speaker 1: much stronger because I'm just like, this is not a game,

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Speaker 1: Like this is about the future of our kids, and

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Speaker 1: so this season of life, I think, is about like

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Speaker 1: how to make the work relate to what really matters,

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Speaker 1: which is family and our future. And so yeah, so

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Speaker 1: I'm very tired, as you can probably tell from the

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Speaker 1: deep recesses under my eyes at this time, because I

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Speaker 1: do not have the same under eye moisturizing regimen that

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Speaker 1: Emily does. But I feel also really energized. And I

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Speaker 1: also think that's like swing to have volunteers like work

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Speaker 1: full time and have kids and have family members that

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Speaker 1: they're taking care of and have mortgages to pay and

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Speaker 1: have all these things to do and still see their

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Speaker 1: participation in our politics as an essential part of living

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Speaker 1: out their values. And their budgets vary, right, Like I

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Speaker 1: have a neighbor who every Wednesday night she writes letters

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Speaker 1: to voters after her kid or toddler goes down. That's

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Speaker 1: her budget, that is all she can afford to do

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Speaker 1: right now. And then the Saturday for the election, she's

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Speaker 1: going to go out to a swing district to knock

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Speaker 1: on doors. We have other volunteers. Their budget is every

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Speaker 1: single day they are spending hours doing this work, and

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Speaker 1: every weekend they are schlepping to a swing district for

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Speaker 1: an hour and a half. It's just different, whether it's time,

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Speaker 1: whether it's money, where it's a combination era. Whatever is

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Speaker 1: meaningful to someone is what. We're here to help people

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Speaker 1: direct towards action, including you.

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Speaker 3: Well, I love that.

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Speaker 2: I mean I think that that is why this felt

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Speaker 2: like a fit to me because I've never felt well

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Speaker 2: more like your client, right, like like your volunteer that

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Speaker 2: like I can say, you know, maybe this week I

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Speaker 2: have a finite amount of time, maybe this today I

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Speaker 2: have you know, I feel like I have no time,

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Speaker 2: and so I'm going to try to direct dollars, like

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Speaker 2: try to direct donations, and you know, you guys can

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Speaker 2: tell me what the most effective way to do that is.

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Speaker 2: Can you also help people understand does this stuff matter?

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Speaker 3: Like does it do anything?

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Speaker 2: But then they ask us to donate, when they ask

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Speaker 2: us to write cards like swing on you know, knock

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Speaker 2: on doors, like do I have to go to a

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Speaker 2: swing district?

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Speaker 3: Like does this stuff matter.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so time and money they are such they're the

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Speaker 1: most precious things that we all have. For some of us,

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Speaker 1: time is we have almost none of it. So if

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Speaker 1: we tell people to do something and it's a waste

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Speaker 1: of their time, that to me is a real it's

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Speaker 1: a sign of disrespect. Right.

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Speaker 3: So, like we have to.

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Speaker 1: Make sure that people's time and their dollars are going

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Speaker 1: to where they're going to make an impact. And so

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Speaker 1: we have a strong commitment to following the research about

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Speaker 1: where things are going to move to the needle and

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Speaker 1: also helping to make the process as easy as possible.

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Speaker 1: Of if someone's like I'm getting a bunch of text messages,

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Speaker 1: I'm getting a bunch of emails, I'm now in a

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Speaker 1: gazillion WhatsApp group and zoom calls.

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Speaker 3: I'm overloaded.

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Speaker 1: I just want to know I've got an hour, or

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Speaker 1: I've got a week at or I've got twenty five

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Speaker 1: bucks or orders of magnitude more in any of those categories.

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Speaker 1: What do I do to win elections? We want to

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Speaker 1: make that as easy as possible, and so the tech

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Speaker 1: that we use, that we engage in are the things

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Speaker 1: that continue to work. So that's knocking on doors, making

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Speaker 1: phone calls, particularly at this late moment in the cycle.

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Speaker 1: We did much less phone baking earlier on in the

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Speaker 1: cycle because it's less effective earlier. And then writing letters

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Speaker 1: to voters. And in that third category we actually run scientific,

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Speaker 1: randomized control trials to test not just the efficacy of

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Speaker 1: the concept of letter writing, but the specific letters that

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Speaker 1: people are writing. Are they moving the needle or not?

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Speaker 1: And each of those three tactics. We used to have

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Speaker 1: a fourth tactic of texting voters, and we've moved that

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Speaker 1: off of our list because it's just not as impactful

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Speaker 1: as it used to be. Because I think we can

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Speaker 1: all appreciate given how many texts we now get from

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Speaker 1: random organizations that we just sort of unsubscribe to. But

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Speaker 1: we measure the impact both so that someone knows I

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Speaker 1: spent a bunch of hours that I didn't even think

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Speaker 1: I had doing this thing.

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Speaker 3: Did it move the needle?

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Speaker 1: We can share with rigor the answer to that question

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Speaker 1: of you know, this was a letter campaign that moved

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Speaker 1: the needle by this number of percentage points, and that's

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Speaker 1: what that meant in terms of the number of votes

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Speaker 1: in this district. And for canvassing and phone banking while

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Speaker 1: we don't run those ourselves to our campaigns that we support,

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Speaker 1: do we do rigorously look at all the research about

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Speaker 1: the best practices of canvassing. So if someone is taking

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Speaker 1: a leap of faith and saying I've never done this before,

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Speaker 1: I'm kind of nervous. I'm not really sure that this

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Speaker 1: even works. Also, I'm not a policy expert. I'm someone

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Speaker 1: who occasionally reads the news. But like I'm not an economist.

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Speaker 1: I can't talk about what's Kamala's position on every issue

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Speaker 1: of the economy that they understand based on the research,

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Speaker 1: not on our gut feelings, but based on the research.

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Speaker 1: What is going to work in a conversation with a

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Speaker 1: voter at their door or on the phone. And the

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Speaker 1: short answer is actually the people who are not policy

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Speaker 1: experts are much better equipped to have those conversations because

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Speaker 1: the things that really work are listening, authentically, telling a story,

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Speaker 1: and just taking the time to have a face to

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Speaker 1: face conversation with someone is much more important than like

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Speaker 1: nailing the perfect talking point on you know whatever, ech

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Speaker 1: on inflation.

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Speaker 3: Right, So happy to talk more.

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Speaker 1: About any of those, but I do think something that

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Speaker 1: is on my mind a lot is even the people

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Speaker 1: who are the most informed often feel like they don't

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Speaker 1: have the agency to move the needle because of how

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Speaker 1: much noise there is all around them. That it doesn't

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Speaker 1: feel like when people say this election is going to

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Speaker 1: come down to the margins that they had the imagination of,

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Speaker 1: Oh the margins actually meet me and my friends could

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Speaker 1: be the difference. Even if I live in a bright

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Speaker 1: blue part of the country like a New York City

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Speaker 1: or a Los Angeles or a San Francisco, they're still

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Speaker 1: ninety minutes away from a swing district and just a

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Speaker 1: click away from making contributions that can be really meaningful

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Speaker 1: for candidates.

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Speaker 3: I think what people also don't realize.

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Speaker 2: They think, like, oh, my god, ur and I annoying

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Speaker 2: these voters, Like if I show up with their doors

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Speaker 2: and that feels so annoying and invasive, Like if I

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Speaker 2: call them, doesn't that feel so annoying and invasive. I

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Speaker 2: think what people don't realize is that if you live

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Speaker 2: in one, especially in like a presidential swing state like

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Speaker 2: a Pennsylvania or a Michigan, is that the voters are

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Speaker 2: used to getting so many contacts that's right, even if

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Speaker 2: they hang up on you or like slam the door

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Speaker 2: in your face and as a volunteer, like.

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Speaker 3: Oh my god, this was the worst possible version.

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Speaker 2: Like and by the way, it won't be the worst

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Speaker 2: possible version, but you know, like they do happen, Like

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Speaker 2: even if it does happen, that voter is still clocking

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Speaker 2: which campaign showed up to try to reach them, even

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Speaker 2: if they act like they're annoyed. So you know, like

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Speaker 2: if the Trump campaign calls them five times and they

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Speaker 2: hung up, and the Kamala campaign calls them one time

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Speaker 2: and they hung up, when it gets to election day,

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Speaker 2: they're going to think to themselves, well, who cared about

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Speaker 2: me more?

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Speaker 1: Like?

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Speaker 2: Who called me more times? Like every one of the

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Speaker 2: contacts is actually valuable.

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Speaker 1: That's right hand, It's also really valuable when the contact

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Speaker 1: is not on our side, so that nobody wastes more

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Speaker 1: time with that person. And I think that's something else

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Speaker 1: that sometimes a first time canvasser will go out and say, well,

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Speaker 1: you know, I only talk to a handful of people,

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Speaker 1: and all the people I talk to are not on

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Speaker 1: our side. I must have done something wrong or I

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Speaker 1: must have wasted my time, right And what they don't

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Speaker 1: fully appreciate and we try to talk them through is

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Speaker 1: each of those people who said absolutely not, would I

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Speaker 1: ever support Kamala Harris, they are now moving off of

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Speaker 1: the campaign's list. And what's happening in the background, and

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Speaker 1: this is particularly important in this cycle, but of course

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Speaker 1: matters at every level of the ballid every cycle, is

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Speaker 1: that the campaign is constantly refined their data, right, And

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Speaker 1: so you and I talk a lot about suburban women

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Speaker 1: voters and suburban women voters are going to be decisive

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Speaker 1: in this election, just as they have been in past elections,

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Speaker 1: both at the presidential level but also down ballot. But

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Speaker 1: if someone who in the campaign's targeting should be a

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Speaker 1: Kamala supporter should be leaning Kamala, and someone goes to

440
00:21:21,400 --> 00:21:24,760
Speaker 1: knocks on their door and they say, absolutely not. My

441
00:21:24,840 --> 00:21:27,760
Speaker 1: top issue is immigration. That's why I love Donald Trump.

442
00:21:27,800 --> 00:21:30,879
Speaker 1: I want to deport everybody. Then the campaign adds that

443
00:21:30,920 --> 00:21:34,480
Speaker 1: to their targeting both for that individual voter, and if

444
00:21:34,560 --> 00:21:37,960
Speaker 1: every single person of that exact demographic in that district

445
00:21:38,040 --> 00:21:41,520
Speaker 1: reacted the same way during that canvas, all across that

446
00:21:41,560 --> 00:21:44,600
Speaker 1: state or all across that district, then that will impact

447
00:21:44,800 --> 00:21:48,919
Speaker 1: how the campaign decides to target different suburban women in

448
00:21:48,960 --> 00:21:51,879
Speaker 1: that area. And so I think that's really important because again,

449
00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:54,520
Speaker 1: and I think this is sometimes by design in the

450
00:21:54,560 --> 00:21:58,040
Speaker 1: way that media talks to people, is everything feels so

451
00:21:58,160 --> 00:22:02,160
Speaker 1: many notches above what an ordinary person who doesn't work

452
00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:05,880
Speaker 1: in politics could possibly make a difference on. And even

453
00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:08,960
Speaker 1: those polls and even those you know, numbers that are

454
00:22:09,040 --> 00:22:12,159
Speaker 1: run by really smart experts who have levels of knowledge

455
00:22:12,160 --> 00:22:15,720
Speaker 1: that I could never pretend to have about targeting, are

456
00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:19,399
Speaker 1: relying on the work on the ground by volunteers to

457
00:22:19,520 --> 00:22:23,160
Speaker 1: help inform what they're doing. Because there's only fifty days

458
00:22:23,240 --> 00:22:25,520
Speaker 1: left today. By the time people listen to this podcast,

459
00:22:25,520 --> 00:22:27,560
Speaker 1: it's going to be even less than fifty days before

460
00:22:27,560 --> 00:22:31,040
Speaker 1: the election, and so there's just not the time for

461
00:22:31,119 --> 00:22:34,240
Speaker 1: a polster in DC, or even a polster in Philadelphia

462
00:22:34,359 --> 00:22:39,080
Speaker 1: or in Detroit to really exactly understand every single voter

463
00:22:39,320 --> 00:22:41,680
Speaker 1: without that on the ground support volunteers.

464
00:22:42,240 --> 00:22:45,880
Speaker 2: And by the way, this on the ground testing, like

465
00:22:46,080 --> 00:22:48,680
Speaker 2: through conversations and being able to say like, this kind

466
00:22:48,720 --> 00:22:51,800
Speaker 2: of person is gettable, this type of person is definitely

467
00:22:51,840 --> 00:22:55,800
Speaker 2: not is super live like it's a total live issue,

468
00:22:55,800 --> 00:22:58,960
Speaker 2: like particularly in this election, even in the last week,

469
00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:00,920
Speaker 2: we've seen this that you usually at this point in

470
00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:03,679
Speaker 2: a campaign, the campaign will have a better idea of

471
00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:06,640
Speaker 2: who their supporter is, and so like they're narrowing down

472
00:23:06,640 --> 00:23:08,000
Speaker 2: their list so that by the time you get to election,

473
00:23:08,040 --> 00:23:10,240
Speaker 2: deg're like only talking to your hardcore supporters. And we're

474
00:23:10,280 --> 00:23:12,280
Speaker 2: like we'd be like kind of close to that right now,

475
00:23:12,359 --> 00:23:15,280
Speaker 2: Like we'd be like I'm talking to like medium supporters

476
00:23:15,359 --> 00:23:18,359
Speaker 2: to hardcore supporters to turn them out. But because of

477
00:23:18,400 --> 00:23:20,600
Speaker 2: the crazy dynamic to the cycle, I think, especially the

478
00:23:20,680 --> 00:23:24,520
Speaker 2: last debate and now all these really high profile Republicans

479
00:23:24,560 --> 00:23:26,680
Speaker 2: like coming out, it's sort of like unlocking this permission

480
00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:29,160
Speaker 2: structure for Republicans to unlock her, Like.

481
00:23:29,280 --> 00:23:31,800
Speaker 3: You got I touch them all. That's exactly right.

482
00:23:32,040 --> 00:23:35,760
Speaker 2: Like you actually have to ask every single person who

483
00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:38,840
Speaker 2: is either already registered or could be registered, because we

484
00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:42,399
Speaker 2: really don't know who's willing to say Donald Trump is

485
00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:43,919
Speaker 2: way too big of a threat. I'm willing to go

486
00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:45,840
Speaker 2: in the other direction, even if I don't support her

487
00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:48,400
Speaker 2: on every single issue, Like and you just need tons

488
00:23:48,440 --> 00:23:50,159
Speaker 2: and tons of people to be making those contacts and

489
00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:51,800
Speaker 2: like get that information back to the campaign.

490
00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:55,680
Speaker 1: That's exactly right. And I think it's also really important

491
00:23:55,720 --> 00:23:59,280
Speaker 1: that those people and you implied this, but I want

492
00:23:59,280 --> 00:24:01,840
Speaker 1: to make sure it's like absolutely clear to every single person.

493
00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:06,160
Speaker 1: Those people are really geographically close to every single one

494
00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:08,639
Speaker 1: of your listeners. And I think that that's the other piece.

495
00:24:09,200 --> 00:24:14,800
Speaker 1: I've been continuously surprised by how little sort of like

496
00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:18,440
Speaker 1: logical connection is made by our media. Of Like, if

497
00:24:18,440 --> 00:24:21,360
Speaker 1: you were in Los Angeles, you're literally an hour and

498
00:24:21,400 --> 00:24:24,760
Speaker 1: thirty minutes away from a district that if we do

499
00:24:24,840 --> 00:24:26,920
Speaker 1: not win that district, we will not win the House.

500
00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:30,680
Speaker 1: Same with San Francisco, same with New York, same with Boston,

501
00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:34,920
Speaker 1: same with Chicago. And that's on the house side. It's

502
00:24:35,040 --> 00:24:38,639
Speaker 1: also true on the presidential side. Right if you're in

503
00:24:38,680 --> 00:24:41,359
Speaker 1: Los Angeles, you're a sure drive away from Las Vegas.

504
00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:44,360
Speaker 1: You can't go to every Las Vegas every Wednesday night.

505
00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:47,399
Speaker 1: But in the final stretch, at the moment where getting

506
00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:50,640
Speaker 1: those voters to our side is so essential, you can

507
00:24:50,680 --> 00:24:53,879
Speaker 1: bet that driving for spending a weekend there and knocking

508
00:24:53,880 --> 00:24:55,760
Speaker 1: on doors all day can make a difference. And the

509
00:24:55,800 --> 00:24:59,800
Speaker 1: same with San Francisco, over to Nevada, New York to Pennsylvania,

510
00:24:59,800 --> 00:25:01,040
Speaker 1: where I know you and I are going to be

511
00:25:01,080 --> 00:25:02,800
Speaker 1: spending a bunch of time in this cycle. And the

512
00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:05,360
Speaker 1: list goes on Chicago to Milwaukee and so I say

513
00:25:05,400 --> 00:25:08,159
Speaker 1: that because I do think that what I hear a

514
00:25:08,160 --> 00:25:12,000
Speaker 1: lot from folks, especially busy moms who just don't have time,

515
00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:15,719
Speaker 1: is oh my gosh, I already feel nervous about like

516
00:25:16,320 --> 00:25:18,719
Speaker 1: what it's going to be like watching Steve Cornaky go

517
00:25:18,840 --> 00:25:22,080
Speaker 1: through the election results in Bucks County or the election

518
00:25:22,240 --> 00:25:25,240
Speaker 1: results in Maricopa County or whatever the case may be,

519
00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:28,000
Speaker 1: is and what could I possibly do to.

520
00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:29,520
Speaker 3: Make that night not a nightmare?

521
00:25:29,840 --> 00:25:33,880
Speaker 1: And just showing them a Google Maps of like this

522
00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:36,080
Speaker 1: is how close you are. And again, you don't have

523
00:25:36,119 --> 00:25:39,280
Speaker 1: to do it all, but like, think about what resources

524
00:25:39,320 --> 00:25:42,439
Speaker 1: you have. For some people, that's money, right They a

525
00:25:42,440 --> 00:25:44,920
Speaker 1: lot of my friends who work at a Google or

526
00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:48,920
Speaker 1: at our lawyers or whatever like them. Writing a check

527
00:25:49,240 --> 00:25:51,520
Speaker 1: that has a couple zeros on it is not a

528
00:25:51,520 --> 00:25:55,240
Speaker 1: big deal, But for a candidate, it's a really big deal.

529
00:25:55,359 --> 00:25:57,360
Speaker 1: Like I was just talking to one of our candidate

530
00:25:57,440 --> 00:26:00,480
Speaker 1: that we've raised about three hundred thousand dollars in small

531
00:26:00,560 --> 00:26:03,680
Speaker 1: dollar donations, who happens to be a soccer mom like you,

532
00:26:03,800 --> 00:26:05,840
Speaker 1: but out in Oregon on the other side of the country,

533
00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:08,280
Speaker 1: and every morning she talks to it. She lives in Oregon,

534
00:26:08,400 --> 00:26:10,640
Speaker 1: her mom is in DC. So they have a call

535
00:26:10,680 --> 00:26:13,240
Speaker 1: every morning at five thirty am, which is also bananas

536
00:26:13,280 --> 00:26:15,359
Speaker 1: and a reminder that moms do the most at all

537
00:26:15,440 --> 00:26:18,000
Speaker 1: hours of the day. And she says she looks at

538
00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:20,680
Speaker 1: her fundraising numbers at five fifteen am. That's when they

539
00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:23,960
Speaker 1: like activate in her dashboard to see how much money

540
00:26:23,960 --> 00:26:26,960
Speaker 1: she's raised, and she sees all these small dollar donations

541
00:26:26,960 --> 00:26:29,800
Speaker 1: come in from Swing Left donors every morning at five

542
00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:32,199
Speaker 1: fifteen am. And every morning she starts her call with

543
00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:34,800
Speaker 1: her mom being like, I don't even know who these

544
00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:37,520
Speaker 1: people are. I did not call them, I did not

545
00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:40,680
Speaker 1: email them. And they are committed to helping make sure

546
00:26:40,720 --> 00:26:42,920
Speaker 1: that we win the house and committed to my race

547
00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:45,480
Speaker 1: and believe in my ability to do so. And that

548
00:26:45,560 --> 00:26:48,320
Speaker 1: gives her the boost that she needs to then go

549
00:26:48,359 --> 00:26:51,040
Speaker 1: and work her tail off for the whole day, like

550
00:26:51,119 --> 00:26:53,040
Speaker 1: running for Congress is something I do not envy.

551
00:26:53,080 --> 00:26:53,879
Speaker 3: It's so hard.

552
00:26:54,320 --> 00:26:56,680
Speaker 1: Starting at five fifteen every morning, she has that little

553
00:26:56,680 --> 00:27:00,320
Speaker 1: boost of she can then make sure that she is,

554
00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:03,199
Speaker 1: you know, doing some really good youth outreach in her district,

555
00:27:03,320 --> 00:27:05,200
Speaker 1: or she's traveling to a rural part of her district,

556
00:27:05,280 --> 00:27:08,119
Speaker 1: or she's doing all these things, and that feels so

557
00:27:08,280 --> 00:27:10,919
Speaker 1: many steps away from someone just like clicking to an

558
00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:14,760
Speaker 1: online contribution, and so again, I think that's where that's

559
00:27:14,760 --> 00:27:16,600
Speaker 1: why I'm so excited to be working together with you.

560
00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:19,800
Speaker 1: How do we make sure that that connection is clear

561
00:27:19,920 --> 00:27:22,320
Speaker 1: both on the geographic closeness all of us have to

562
00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:26,240
Speaker 1: swing districts, but also the proximity. The impact of a

563
00:27:26,280 --> 00:27:28,879
Speaker 1: small donation of time or money can actually make a

564
00:27:29,119 --> 00:27:32,440
Speaker 1: huge difference for a candidate and for a district that's

565
00:27:32,480 --> 00:27:35,199
Speaker 1: going to come down to In some cases, literally a

566
00:27:35,200 --> 00:27:37,800
Speaker 1: couple hundred votes was the difference in a few of

567
00:27:37,840 --> 00:27:39,080
Speaker 1: these competitive races.

568
00:27:48,480 --> 00:27:52,720
Speaker 2: Now back to the show. I was talking to a mom,

569
00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:54,320
Speaker 2: so I live. I live in a swing district. I

570
00:27:54,359 --> 00:27:56,520
Speaker 2: live in a Republican district. And I was talking to

571
00:27:56,560 --> 00:27:59,040
Speaker 2: a mom the other day who told me that what

572
00:27:59,160 --> 00:28:00,920
Speaker 2: she does is she picks her kids up from school,

573
00:28:01,320 --> 00:28:04,679
Speaker 2: goes to the playground, and writes letters to voters that

574
00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:07,199
Speaker 2: she gets from you guys from vote forward. And it's

575
00:28:07,280 --> 00:28:08,639
Speaker 2: like the perfect that you know, like you could be

576
00:28:08,680 --> 00:28:12,359
Speaker 2: sitting on the bench chit chatting about the same soccer

577
00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:15,080
Speaker 2: game that you guys are going to later, or you know,

578
00:28:15,160 --> 00:28:16,879
Speaker 2: like she sits side by sides with other moms and

579
00:28:16,920 --> 00:28:19,440
Speaker 2: they just sit there for you know, twenty thirty minutes

580
00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:21,679
Speaker 2: and they or ten minutes and like knocks out a

581
00:28:21,680 --> 00:28:23,760
Speaker 2: couple of letters and she feels and she actually gets

582
00:28:24,040 --> 00:28:24,879
Speaker 2: a ton done.

583
00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:25,800
Speaker 3: That's amazing.

584
00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:28,760
Speaker 2: It's like such an accessible way to be thinking about it.

585
00:28:28,760 --> 00:28:31,240
Speaker 2: It's interesting you said the text banking you guys dropped

586
00:28:31,240 --> 00:28:33,359
Speaker 2: it off. It doesn't work anymore. That totally makes sense.

587
00:28:33,440 --> 00:28:35,320
Speaker 2: But I do feel like it makes sense if you're

588
00:28:35,359 --> 00:28:36,640
Speaker 2: texting a friend.

589
00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:39,880
Speaker 1: Totally that it's Yes, that's a really important distinction.

590
00:28:40,120 --> 00:28:43,120
Speaker 2: Yes, Like I feel like that still works because even

591
00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:46,200
Speaker 2: people even if they think they want to vote or

592
00:28:46,240 --> 00:28:49,000
Speaker 2: they think they're going to vote the state, the rules

593
00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:51,160
Speaker 2: in the states are terrible, Like they're always like dropping

594
00:28:51,200 --> 00:28:53,480
Speaker 2: you off the voter rolls, change your name, you move,

595
00:28:53,680 --> 00:28:55,720
Speaker 2: they drop you off the voter rolls. Anyway, even if

596
00:28:55,760 --> 00:28:57,800
Speaker 2: you didn't do anything wrong, like you just have to

597
00:28:57,880 --> 00:28:59,880
Speaker 2: check you have to check your voter registration. So getting

598
00:28:59,880 --> 00:29:03,000
Speaker 2: that reminder from a friend, Yes, it's so different than

599
00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:04,200
Speaker 2: like a spammy text.

600
00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:06,200
Speaker 3: It's so different.

601
00:29:06,480 --> 00:29:08,880
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I think that and this is this

602
00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:12,360
Speaker 1: is not just a smart opinion that you have in

603
00:29:12,400 --> 00:29:15,560
Speaker 1: isolation from the data. Like the data really strongly backs

604
00:29:15,640 --> 00:29:19,000
Speaker 1: up exactly what your sort of experience and instincts are.

605
00:29:19,560 --> 00:29:21,920
Speaker 1: And I think that's important for people because I remember

606
00:29:22,080 --> 00:29:25,840
Speaker 1: back in twenty eighteen, I remember talking to a volunteer

607
00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:28,560
Speaker 1: who continues to be active with Swing Left, and she

608
00:29:28,720 --> 00:29:31,760
Speaker 1: was in Annie Kim's district in New Jersey and she'd

609
00:29:31,800 --> 00:29:35,600
Speaker 1: never participated in politics before. And she was like, you know,

610
00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:36,840
Speaker 1: I've never really done anything.

611
00:29:36,880 --> 00:29:38,160
Speaker 3: I didn't think I had it in me.

612
00:29:38,320 --> 00:29:40,959
Speaker 1: I'm not, you know, a political pundit type. I'm not

613
00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:44,280
Speaker 1: a fun insider. But my friends really trust me because

614
00:29:44,320 --> 00:29:46,560
Speaker 1: I know And this is she's like, I know all

615
00:29:46,560 --> 00:29:48,680
Speaker 1: the best sales in the area, So I'm always texting

616
00:29:48,760 --> 00:29:51,200
Speaker 1: my friends being like, make a run for it. There's

617
00:29:51,200 --> 00:29:54,040
Speaker 1: a great sale here. Oh my goodness, Like you know,

618
00:29:54,160 --> 00:29:57,800
Speaker 1: whatever she's got, Like her friends really listen to what

619
00:29:57,880 --> 00:30:00,800
Speaker 1: she's saying because she's always in the know. She's great hosts,

620
00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:03,360
Speaker 1: she has great events at her house and in the

621
00:30:03,400 --> 00:30:06,800
Speaker 1: suburbs of New Jersey. These women, she's never really spent

622
00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:09,560
Speaker 1: time talking to you about politics. She was like, I'm

623
00:30:09,640 --> 00:30:12,200
Speaker 1: sick of just sort of like sitting on the sidelines.

624
00:30:12,280 --> 00:30:15,360
Speaker 1: She got involved. She decided to do a little event

625
00:30:15,600 --> 00:30:18,360
Speaker 1: for Andy Kim didn't think she could do much for it.

626
00:30:18,440 --> 00:30:21,800
Speaker 1: She invited him sort of nominally and then separately, as

627
00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:23,560
Speaker 1: you and I both have a relationship with Andy Kim,

628
00:30:23,600 --> 00:30:25,640
Speaker 1: I remember I had heard a story from him about

629
00:30:25,680 --> 00:30:28,160
Speaker 1: one of the highlights of his campaign was when he

630
00:30:28,200 --> 00:30:31,000
Speaker 1: got invited by a woman in his district that said

631
00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:33,160
Speaker 1: she was getting a few friends together and he really

632
00:30:33,440 --> 00:30:36,120
Speaker 1: appreciated her and liked her and wanted to support her.

633
00:30:36,200 --> 00:30:38,240
Speaker 1: So he went, not thinking it was going to be

634
00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:40,200
Speaker 1: anything really big, and he couldn't find a parking space

635
00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:42,560
Speaker 1: and he's like, gosh, I guess it's close to the holidays.

636
00:30:42,560 --> 00:30:45,920
Speaker 1: There must be some like holiday event or something. He

637
00:30:45,960 --> 00:30:48,800
Speaker 1: had to park really far away, and he schlept, you know,

638
00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:51,520
Speaker 1: several blocks to go to this brewery for this event.

639
00:30:52,040 --> 00:30:55,120
Speaker 1: And he walks into a room of several hundred people

640
00:30:55,600 --> 00:30:59,600
Speaker 1: for this little tiny event that this woman Dammy was

641
00:30:59,640 --> 00:31:01,920
Speaker 1: trying to together for him, and he was like, it

642
00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:04,120
Speaker 1: was the biggest event that I'd had in my campaign,

643
00:31:04,480 --> 00:31:06,800
Speaker 1: And of course Tammy was like, it's just going to

644
00:31:06,840 --> 00:31:09,000
Speaker 1: be a couple of friends. And I'm saying all that

645
00:31:09,040 --> 00:31:11,479
Speaker 1: because I also think that there is a you know

646
00:31:11,800 --> 00:31:13,760
Speaker 1: my husband I talk about his mom a lot. She

647
00:31:13,800 --> 00:31:17,720
Speaker 1: was PTA president and is very self effacing about her leadership.

648
00:31:17,760 --> 00:31:20,600
Speaker 1: She's like, oh, I'm not I don't really know, you know,

649
00:31:20,840 --> 00:31:23,760
Speaker 1: I'm not really a leader. But she was PTA president.

650
00:31:23,880 --> 00:31:27,600
Speaker 1: She ran things at his school, she got huge things done.

651
00:31:27,640 --> 00:31:32,200
Speaker 1: She was interacting with both elected and unelected leaders. She

652
00:31:32,400 --> 00:31:35,680
Speaker 1: was moving people, she was getting people together at events,

653
00:31:36,040 --> 00:31:38,240
Speaker 1: she was getting people to take action. And that is

654
00:31:38,280 --> 00:31:41,440
Speaker 1: literally what politics is. It's not anything more specific, it's

655
00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:44,560
Speaker 1: not anything more sophisticated than that. And so I also

656
00:31:44,600 --> 00:31:47,680
Speaker 1: think just getting people who are already leaders, who are

657
00:31:47,720 --> 00:31:50,200
Speaker 1: already running things for their kids' schools, to then just

658
00:31:50,240 --> 00:31:53,200
Speaker 1: say I'm also going to do this and also now

659
00:31:53,280 --> 00:31:56,000
Speaker 1: text my friends who might not know who they're voting

660
00:31:56,000 --> 00:31:57,760
Speaker 1: for or who might not know how to take action,

661
00:31:58,320 --> 00:32:01,640
Speaker 1: that suddenly becomes not just like a nice thing to

662
00:32:01,680 --> 00:32:03,640
Speaker 1: do that makes you feel good, but something that can

663
00:32:03,680 --> 00:32:06,200
Speaker 1: actually really really move the needle in elections that.

664
00:32:06,160 --> 00:32:07,000
Speaker 3: Come down to margins.

665
00:32:07,760 --> 00:32:11,800
Speaker 2: So talk to me about posting yes, like, is it effective?

666
00:32:12,120 --> 00:32:14,600
Speaker 3: Is it not effective? How would you use it?

667
00:32:14,640 --> 00:32:17,600
Speaker 2: I think especially for people who don't consider themselves like

668
00:32:17,720 --> 00:32:18,520
Speaker 2: super political.

669
00:32:19,120 --> 00:32:21,520
Speaker 1: Yeah, So I think there's a lot of different ways

670
00:32:21,520 --> 00:32:26,280
Speaker 1: that people can post, and the effects range widely, So

671
00:32:26,480 --> 00:32:29,760
Speaker 1: just like the nerd answer is, there's a lot of

672
00:32:29,800 --> 00:32:32,920
Speaker 1: noise about the effects of digital campaigning in general. Right,

673
00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:36,680
Speaker 1: there's a bigger risk of like backlash, meaning you try

674
00:32:36,720 --> 00:32:39,200
Speaker 1: to do a thing and the opposite thing happens. There's

675
00:32:39,240 --> 00:32:41,520
Speaker 1: some really fruitful effects, and then there's a lot of

676
00:32:41,640 --> 00:32:44,280
Speaker 1: just like posts that don't do anything, So there's a

677
00:32:44,320 --> 00:32:48,480
Speaker 1: wide spectrum here. I think that the places where there's

678
00:32:48,880 --> 00:32:54,480
Speaker 1: consistently strong effects are exactly your text message version, but

679
00:32:54,680 --> 00:32:59,040
Speaker 1: in the political space of people who are talking to

680
00:32:59,360 --> 00:33:03,640
Speaker 1: their friends who are undecided or who need more information,

681
00:33:04,360 --> 00:33:07,240
Speaker 1: and that is both a great way to inform people.

682
00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:11,280
Speaker 1: It is also a great way to disinform and misinform people,

683
00:33:11,360 --> 00:33:13,560
Speaker 1: which I think any of us who is still on

684
00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:17,840
Speaker 1: Facebook is seeing just how much misinformation and disinformation is

685
00:33:17,920 --> 00:33:21,320
Speaker 1: fed to undecided people in our networks and makes them

686
00:33:21,360 --> 00:33:24,080
Speaker 1: have bizarre beliefs at the Thanksgiving table that we don't

687
00:33:24,120 --> 00:33:27,520
Speaker 1: know where they came from. But sharing information so that

688
00:33:27,600 --> 00:33:30,840
Speaker 1: people you know, whether it is a public post or

689
00:33:30,920 --> 00:33:33,360
Speaker 1: when someone posts something a little sideways and you know

690
00:33:33,440 --> 00:33:37,160
Speaker 1: that they know better, sending them a little message being like, actually,

691
00:33:37,240 --> 00:33:39,240
Speaker 1: here's the fact check on that. I've done a lot

692
00:33:39,240 --> 00:33:41,280
Speaker 1: of that with friends that I know are a little

693
00:33:41,280 --> 00:33:43,680
Speaker 1: swingy on their vote, to just make sure that they

694
00:33:43,680 --> 00:33:46,520
Speaker 1: have the information that's really really important. But it's important

695
00:33:46,520 --> 00:33:49,520
Speaker 1: from a trusted messenger, right, So that trusted messenger could

696
00:33:49,560 --> 00:33:52,720
Speaker 1: be someone that you are deeply in relationship with. It

697
00:33:52,760 --> 00:33:54,880
Speaker 1: could also be and you know much more about this

698
00:33:54,960 --> 00:33:57,240
Speaker 1: than I do, but from someone that you really trust

699
00:33:57,720 --> 00:34:01,240
Speaker 1: because of you know something that they something you follow

700
00:34:01,320 --> 00:34:04,880
Speaker 1: them for. So like you know, I follow the Peloton

701
00:34:05,080 --> 00:34:08,160
Speaker 1: instructors that I really trust to give me great exercise

702
00:34:08,280 --> 00:34:10,240
Speaker 1: advice and who I feel like I have a personal

703
00:34:10,239 --> 00:34:13,200
Speaker 1: relationship with. I've never met any of them, but you've

704
00:34:13,200 --> 00:34:16,760
Speaker 1: had Robin on your podcast. When they post about something

705
00:34:16,800 --> 00:34:19,800
Speaker 1: that is outside of exercise, I'm going to listen a

706
00:34:19,800 --> 00:34:21,839
Speaker 1: little more because I feel like I have a relationship

707
00:34:21,880 --> 00:34:24,520
Speaker 1: with them. Right. So obviously that's all intuitive. Your listeners

708
00:34:24,560 --> 00:34:27,040
Speaker 1: are online, they all know that. But I also just

709
00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:30,360
Speaker 1: think the caveat that I have to all this is

710
00:34:31,080 --> 00:34:33,399
Speaker 1: posts have to lead to some kind of action, right.

711
00:34:33,880 --> 00:34:36,640
Speaker 1: It has to motivate someone to say you know what,

712
00:34:37,040 --> 00:34:40,080
Speaker 1: All right, I've seen Emily post ten times about how

713
00:34:40,120 --> 00:34:42,360
Speaker 1: it can make a difference to write letters. I'm just

714
00:34:42,440 --> 00:34:45,400
Speaker 1: going to try writing one right or gosh, you know,

715
00:34:45,680 --> 00:34:48,719
Speaker 1: I've been hearing a lot of weird stuff about what

716
00:34:48,880 --> 00:34:52,600
Speaker 1: Kamala you know, or what Jadie Vance is saying about

717
00:34:52,800 --> 00:34:56,319
Speaker 1: weird stuff on immigrants, Like gosh, Emily's posting something that

718
00:34:56,360 --> 00:34:59,120
Speaker 1: feels like a lot more reasonable from pretty trusted sources.

719
00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:01,200
Speaker 1: So maybe I I need to actually do some fact

720
00:35:01,280 --> 00:35:04,719
Speaker 1: checking here, Like it's got to move to something offline.

721
00:35:04,760 --> 00:35:07,680
Speaker 1: I think our sort of mo at Swing Left is

722
00:35:07,760 --> 00:35:10,800
Speaker 1: we're very digital forward. We have an engineering and product

723
00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:13,600
Speaker 1: team that works every day to make sure our website

724
00:35:13,760 --> 00:35:15,200
Speaker 1: is simple and easy to use.

725
00:35:15,239 --> 00:35:16,839
Speaker 3: It gets people the information we need.

726
00:35:17,120 --> 00:35:20,400
Speaker 1: We post a ton online, But the metric that we

727
00:35:20,440 --> 00:35:23,360
Speaker 1: are constantly looking at is what is that all doing

728
00:35:23,520 --> 00:35:26,960
Speaker 1: to get people to take action? And as we've looked

729
00:35:26,960 --> 00:35:30,400
Speaker 1: at other organizations out in the space, influencers out in

730
00:35:30,400 --> 00:35:33,600
Speaker 1: the space, there are some that post a lot and

731
00:35:33,640 --> 00:35:36,120
Speaker 1: there's not a way to sort of track its impact

732
00:35:36,320 --> 00:35:39,080
Speaker 1: in the shorter and the long term towards actually doing anything.

733
00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:43,760
Speaker 1: But when we like Hillary Clinton posted about the importance

734
00:35:43,760 --> 00:35:47,560
Speaker 1: of taking action through Swing Left in twenty eighteen, not

735
00:35:47,640 --> 00:35:50,000
Speaker 1: only do We have some good, sort of big numbers

736
00:35:50,040 --> 00:35:52,839
Speaker 1: of what that meant in terms of volunteer sign ups, donations,

737
00:35:52,920 --> 00:35:56,360
Speaker 1: people signing up. But it also meant that one of

738
00:35:56,400 --> 00:35:59,080
Speaker 1: our then someone we didn't know but soon to be

739
00:35:59,239 --> 00:36:02,960
Speaker 1: college organized or is Madeleine signed up. She saw that tweet,

740
00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:04,759
Speaker 1: she didn't know what Swing Left was. Sign up for

741
00:36:04,800 --> 00:36:07,680
Speaker 1: our list, sign up to create a chapter at George

742
00:36:07,719 --> 00:36:11,719
Speaker 1: Washington University, ran that chapter, got hundreds of students to

743
00:36:11,719 --> 00:36:14,600
Speaker 1: go knock on doors every weekend in the twenty eighteen election,

744
00:36:15,160 --> 00:36:18,239
Speaker 1: then moved up to run our campus organizing program, and

745
00:36:18,280 --> 00:36:21,400
Speaker 1: then now is on the Harris campaign in North Carolina.

746
00:36:21,880 --> 00:36:25,400
Speaker 1: And there's similar examples of your friend Grace Lee, an

747
00:36:25,440 --> 00:36:28,479
Speaker 1: elected official in New York who found out about Swing

748
00:36:28,560 --> 00:36:31,279
Speaker 1: Left online, showed up to volunteer for an event in

749
00:36:31,280 --> 00:36:34,520
Speaker 1: New York City and that was her first tiny dipping

750
00:36:34,520 --> 00:36:37,640
Speaker 1: her toe into politics. And now she's an elected official

751
00:36:37,680 --> 00:36:39,840
Speaker 1: who I think the sky's the limit on the impact

752
00:36:39,920 --> 00:36:42,359
Speaker 1: she's going to have. So I'm saying all that of

753
00:36:42,480 --> 00:36:45,839
Speaker 1: like yes online can be really effective, it can also

754
00:36:45,880 --> 00:36:49,240
Speaker 1: be totally just a waste of time if it's not leading,

755
00:36:49,600 --> 00:36:52,200
Speaker 1: it's not with the intention of leading people to action,

756
00:36:52,800 --> 00:36:56,160
Speaker 1: and sometimes not in the immediate it's not like, oh

757
00:36:56,200 --> 00:36:58,799
Speaker 1: that post failed because someone didn't click the link and

758
00:36:58,840 --> 00:37:01,560
Speaker 1: sign up and donate in that moment. Is it planting

759
00:37:01,600 --> 00:37:05,200
Speaker 1: the seeds to get someone that much closer maybe a

760
00:37:05,280 --> 00:37:07,640
Speaker 1: month from now, when they're more tuned into the election,

761
00:37:07,840 --> 00:37:10,120
Speaker 1: to then be like, you know what, that celebrity I

762
00:37:10,120 --> 00:37:14,040
Speaker 1: really trust posted about canvassing. I've got some extra time

763
00:37:14,080 --> 00:37:15,920
Speaker 1: this weekend. Maybe I'm going to do that now. And

764
00:37:15,960 --> 00:37:19,040
Speaker 1: maybe we can't track the analytics of that perfectly, but

765
00:37:19,800 --> 00:37:21,719
Speaker 1: it was important to do and we need to do

766
00:37:21,760 --> 00:37:23,919
Speaker 1: more of it so that people feel like again there's

767
00:37:23,960 --> 00:37:25,920
Speaker 1: sort of less mental leaps that they need to make

768
00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:27,600
Speaker 1: as they decide how they want to take action.

769
00:37:28,239 --> 00:37:30,560
Speaker 2: Okay, so for everyone who's listening who now feels like

770
00:37:30,640 --> 00:37:32,839
Speaker 2: they need to take action, what should they do?

771
00:37:33,400 --> 00:37:36,279
Speaker 1: They should go to swing left dot org and they

772
00:37:36,280 --> 00:37:39,560
Speaker 1: will find it very two big buttons, one for donating,

773
00:37:39,680 --> 00:37:42,960
Speaker 1: one for volunteering, and based on what they have, what

774
00:37:43,080 --> 00:37:45,280
Speaker 1: resources they have, whether they have a lot of time

775
00:37:45,360 --> 00:37:47,680
Speaker 1: and a little money or the inverse or just a

776
00:37:47,719 --> 00:37:50,719
Speaker 1: little bit of each, they can plug in and everything

777
00:37:50,760 --> 00:37:52,680
Speaker 1: that we do are commitventive folks, is that their time

778
00:37:52,680 --> 00:37:54,680
Speaker 1: and their money is going to be directed only to

779
00:37:54,800 --> 00:37:57,200
Speaker 1: the actions and the races that are going to be

780
00:37:57,239 --> 00:37:59,279
Speaker 1: the difference. And what we mean by the difference is

781
00:37:59,600 --> 00:38:02,400
Speaker 1: the different in winning the presidential election, which is going

782
00:38:02,440 --> 00:38:04,000
Speaker 1: to come down to a few It's going to come

783
00:38:04,040 --> 00:38:06,120
Speaker 1: down to a few ten like ten thousand votes in

784
00:38:06,160 --> 00:38:07,880
Speaker 1: probably two or three states. That's what it was in

785
00:38:07,920 --> 00:38:10,880
Speaker 1: twenty twenty, right, that's nothing. So how to make a

786
00:38:10,880 --> 00:38:13,120
Speaker 1: difference in the presidential how to make a difference in

787
00:38:13,120 --> 00:38:15,719
Speaker 1: the Senate that's going to determine, you know, what's the

788
00:38:15,719 --> 00:38:17,960
Speaker 1: future of our Supreme Court? Are we going to have

789
00:38:18,000 --> 00:38:21,840
Speaker 1: great people in the Harris administration knock on wood actually

790
00:38:21,960 --> 00:38:25,640
Speaker 1: running these agencies that are so decisive for people's livelihoods

791
00:38:25,640 --> 00:38:28,960
Speaker 1: and lives and the majority in the House right these are,

792
00:38:28,960 --> 00:38:31,160
Speaker 1: and then of course state level work as well, but

793
00:38:31,560 --> 00:38:34,160
Speaker 1: with a focus on that federal work that is so

794
00:38:34,480 --> 00:38:38,799
Speaker 1: urgent right now, every single letter called knock donation is

795
00:38:38,840 --> 00:38:41,799
Speaker 1: going to go to determining the balance of power. And

796
00:38:41,840 --> 00:38:43,800
Speaker 1: we hope to make it as easy and as fun

797
00:38:43,880 --> 00:38:45,120
Speaker 1: as possible for folks.

798
00:38:45,480 --> 00:38:46,280
Speaker 3: This is so helpful.

799
00:38:46,280 --> 00:38:47,560
Speaker 2: I think it's going to help a lot of people

800
00:38:47,600 --> 00:38:51,000
Speaker 2: figure out, like move to that first step.

801
00:38:51,520 --> 00:38:53,560
Speaker 3: That's right, because it's it's.

802
00:38:53,440 --> 00:38:55,399
Speaker 2: Even if you've done it before, you know, we've got

803
00:38:55,440 --> 00:38:57,719
Speaker 2: to relearn that muscle. No one was really out on

804
00:38:57,760 --> 00:39:00,560
Speaker 2: the doors in twenty twenty. Also because the COVID, that's right,

805
00:39:00,600 --> 00:39:02,239
Speaker 2: so like the little Rusty for all of us. So

806
00:39:02,440 --> 00:39:04,440
Speaker 2: it helps when it feels like we're doing it in community,

807
00:39:04,600 --> 00:39:06,640
Speaker 2: and I think everyone listening wants to be in community

808
00:39:06,680 --> 00:39:06,880
Speaker 2: with you.

809
00:39:07,120 --> 00:39:09,480
Speaker 3: So thank you so much, Yasman. Super helpful to have

810
00:39:09,520 --> 00:39:09,799
Speaker 3: you on.

811
00:39:10,400 --> 00:39:12,759
Speaker 1: Well, I'm honored to be in community with you and

812
00:39:13,280 --> 00:39:16,840
Speaker 1: continuing to learn from you and your expertise. Even though

813
00:39:17,000 --> 00:39:20,239
Speaker 1: sometimes you pretend like you're just you're just out here

814
00:39:20,280 --> 00:39:24,040
Speaker 1: being a mom, you remain one of the smartest, sharpest,

815
00:39:24,080 --> 00:39:27,080
Speaker 1: and most strategic political actors out here. And so I'm

816
00:39:27,120 --> 00:39:29,920
Speaker 1: really excited that you're getting back in the game, even

817
00:39:29,960 --> 00:39:32,880
Speaker 1: in this new sort of cycle of life. And I

818
00:39:32,920 --> 00:39:35,040
Speaker 1: can't wait to see your kids out knocking on doors too.

819
00:39:35,160 --> 00:39:39,360
Speaker 2: In the final strip, they're talkers, they are talkers, so

820
00:39:39,520 --> 00:39:42,120
Speaker 2: every door will be like a twenty five minute long encounter.

821
00:39:42,719 --> 00:39:44,319
Speaker 3: I love it. I love it.

822
00:39:44,520 --> 00:39:50,320
Speaker 2: Thank you, thanks for coming on, Thank you, Emily, thanks

823
00:39:50,320 --> 00:39:53,200
Speaker 2: for listening. Yasmin and the Swing Left team are working

824
00:39:53,200 --> 00:39:55,440
Speaker 2: around the clock to make sure that all of these

825
00:39:55,480 --> 00:39:58,040
Speaker 2: ways to get involved are accessible to people like us.

826
00:39:58,400 --> 00:40:01,279
Speaker 2: Follow them at Swing left and visit swing left dot

827
00:40:01,360 --> 00:40:03,520
Speaker 2: org to check out all those ways to get involved.

828
00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:04,840
Speaker 3: Talk to you next week.

829
00:40:07,040 --> 00:40:10,800
Speaker 2: Special thanks to the she pivots team. Executive producer Emily

830
00:40:10,960 --> 00:40:15,200
Speaker 2: eda Velosik, Associate producer and social media connoisseur Hannah Cousins,

831
00:40:15,600 --> 00:40:20,560
Speaker 2: Research director Christine Dickinson, Events and Logistics coordinator Madeleine Sonoviak,

832
00:40:20,880 --> 00:40:25,359
Speaker 2: and audio editor and mixer Nina pollock I endorse che

833
00:40:25,680 --> 00:40:26,239
Speaker 2: Pivots