Episode 498: Rhonda Briggins from Vote Run Lead
In conversation with Rhonda Briggins, Co-Founder and Board Member of Vote Run Lead, discussing the RUN 51 program that aims to achieve gender representation in the state legislatures in Georgia, Minnesota, and New York.
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Musical credits:
"Are You Listening" from Elephant Shaped Trees by IMUNURI.
Released February 3, 2018.
Composed by André Pilette, with the help of Adam Garcia, Stephanie Leary, and Dan Wilson.
Lyrics written by Stephanie Leary.
Produced by André Pilette and Stephanie Leary.
Mixed by Brett Ryan Stewart of The Sound Shelter in Nashville, TN.
Mastered by Michael Fossenkemper of Turtle Tone Studio in NYC.
Song used with permission by the band.
Episode Transcript
This transcript is AI-produced and may contain errors. Please check back a few days after the episode airs for a cleaned-up version of the transcript.
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Teddy 0:00
Hi, this is Teddy, and you're listening to Rhonda Riggins co founder and board member of vote run lead on Two Broads Talking Politics. I'm not quite old enough yet, but if you are get your vaccine Are you
Kelly 0:35
Hi everyone, I am Kelly and this is Two Broads Talking Politics. I'm on with the other broads, Sophy. Hey, Sophy.
Sophy 0:43
Hey, Kelly.
Kelly 0:44
And joining us today is Rhonda Briggins, who is a co founder and board member of vote run lead. Hi, Rhonda.
Rhonda Briggins 0:52
Hi, how are you? Great to be here today, Kelly.
Kelly 0:56
Yeah, so we are excited to talk to you. It's been a while since we had someone from Vote Run Lead on the podcast. And just in case people don't remember, could you just give us a little intro, what vote run lead is and what you're all about?
Rhonda Briggins 1:12
Okay,Vote Run Lead is a national nonprofit organization. We are nonpartisan, and we train women to run for elected office, It is our hope and goal is to increase the pipeline of women into the political space so that we have women at the decision making table.
Kelly 1:32
Excellent. We love having women at the decision making table. So then let's talk a little bit about where we are what, what did the 2020 election elections all over the country look like, for women and women's representation? and What did it look like for vote run late?
Rhonda Briggins 1:53
Well, you know, this has been a really good year, you know, it's been a continuation of the year of the woman, right? I think men are now at the point of saying, whoa, wait a minute. This over. And I remember telling a group of guys, I was like, you've had this since the beginning of times, I mean, can we at least have a couple of years. But um, you know, it's really exciting times for women. And if you look at the numbers, you know, we trained and vote run lead about 15,000 women a little more of a 15,000 women, out of that 15,054% of them won their races, 48% of them were members of our alumni organizations. And then we had about 19,000 to turn up in different conversations and websites that we had around the country. And 68% of those women ran for state legislators. And, you know, it's and that is really critical to the work that we're we're kind of doing as a result of all of that. And about 310 of them ran for local to federal offices in 2020. And then all of those folks that you know, were on that last ballot. In November, we had about 222 women on the ballot. And the big kicker of them all 71% of those women were women of color. And so that is a huge number. And we saw women of color around this country winning just everywhere from the highest office to the smallest one. And so it's just an exciting time, like I said, for women in the country right now.
Teddy 3:37
So I just want to back up and ask a question about something you said earlier, you talked about how vote run lead trains, women prepares women to run. Can you talk a little bit kind of about the training and the preparation and sort of the resources that you give
Rhonda Briggins 3:52
women? Oh, yeah, exactly. For well, over almost two decades now. You know, we have been on the front lines of training women to run for elected office and what that means, we do in person we do one on one coaching. We have tons of online webinars and resources available for women candidates, and it start to finish it is all of the tools in the toolbox. training you how to look at creating your your campaigns, stump speeches, how to fundraise how to do fieldwork, how's the geo do geo TV, how to take care of yourself during election cycle, how to have a kitchen cabinet of women in different people in the community to support and guide you. So we can't train them from start to finish of how to run and in more importantly, how to win.
Kelly 4:53
That's excellent. And you mentioned that the run lead is nonpartisan so that is so unusual these days. Talk to them about that and why Voltron lead is explicitly nonpartisan. And what that looks like, you know, how does that actually work in practice?
Rhonda Briggins 5:10
Well, you know, um, it's it's actually worked fairly well. I mean, we're open to everyone. I mean, the beautiful thing about vote Ron lead, we are there for women. So it doesn't matter your your party affiliation, it doesn't matter your economic background, it doesn't matter your race and ethnicity. We're there for women, if you are a woman, and we even support trans women. So have you are a woman and a woman of today. And then we're there to support you to work with you to be there as your cheerleader, and in all of those things. As you try to figure out, you know, how to run and importantly, helping you to figure out how to win.
Sophy 5:56
I'm wondering if we can talk a little bit about run 51? Can you tell us a little bit sort of about that initiative? You're trying to accomplish with that?
Rhonda Briggins 6:05
Yes, well, we're doing this huge initiative called run 51. And run 51 is really to look at how we could really move state legislators and state assemblies. Um, you know, right now we have about 51% women representation. And if we're looking at and that's what we want 51% women representation in your state House of Representatives in your state senate. Um, right now, we're at probably about 30%. And so we would like to increase that. And our goal, when you look at everything that's going on going on in this country, if you look at let's take Georgia, because I'm from Georgia, let's take Georgia, for instance, you hear a lot of talk about Georgia, during this last election cycle, turning blue, well, we turn blue, from a federal perspective, we definitely did not turn blue from a state perspective. And when you look at the impact of the political process, on a community, the state legislators have a lot of power in control of what happens to you, every day in your daily life, we just left the census, the US Census, the next phase of the census, is redistricting. And when you look at how the maps will be drawn for representation in these communities, it is going to be controlled 100% by those state legislators. And so run 51 is a program initiative that we're kicking off to garner 51% of all of the representation in Georgia, Minnesota and New York, because we're only doing it in three states. And we launched it last month, this year. Last month, it's already made, right. So last month in April, we'd love to run 51. And it is our goal to really look at how do we Garner power, and really set and change this democracy that we're looking at around the country. You know, according to political scientists, it will take another 60 years or running and winning before we truly achieve gender parity in our state legislators. And so we really want to focus on that, we really want to focus on making sure that we bring some some strategies to truly transform our state general assemblies, and where we move them into a women majority legislative body. And why is that important? That's important for a number of reasons. It's important, when you talk about everything that's going on with police reform, women rights, and all of those different issues, we need to have the right people at the table to really advocate for us, when we look at all of the different ways in which you want to garner support in the community and really feel like you have an inclusive process and a voice at the table. You know, most of the time, women are there to help guide and really bring others and have a very collaborative spirit to ensure those types of things. And so and then we need women there to really help advance our agenda and really talk about the influence. And so we just want to make sure that number one, when we talk about the states in the state general assembly, it looks like the people that they're trying to serve with those individuals have a voice those individuals feel like they're included, and more importantly, feel like they're being heard. And so, run 51 is a program that we're going to launch in those three states. We're really super excited about the opportunities that we're going to have in those states. And we truly feel that with the numbers that we have Have we can get there. You know, for for the state of Georgia, we only need to elect 42 more women. for Minnesota, we're looking at 30 women and New York 35. And so we want to go and recruit fine, and help train. And and and set those folks up with a really good campaign. And so that they can win. And this is the goal that we have to truly look at changing the political demographics in those three states. And, and that's our goal. So we just feel like, you know, that's what we need to do. That's where our focus needs to be. And those are the three places where we're gonna start with that focus.
Teddy 10:45
And how did you choose those three states,
Rhonda Briggins 10:47
um, you know, we really looked at the demographics of those three states, we looked at the makeup, we looked at everything going on, in those three states. When you look at the pandemic, and everything that goes that went on in New York, during the pandemic, and the role that women play, when you look at the presidential election cycle, and the role that women play, Minnesota, you know, God bless his soul, and including god bless his soul of Georgia, you know, those two places or two places, because of all of the political strife that they've had, we really need to find out a new formula and a new way to garner more power. And so what you know, it is the right thing to do to be in those places. And so that's what we're going to go for, to kick and launch this amazing program. And hopefully, as a result, not only will we shift the political power, but you'll also bring some a different culture, different results in other places, in business, and everywhere else as a result of this shift that we're trying to bring in those places. And so I'm excited. And I hope the listeners are excited to need your help your support. And if you know, women in those states, please let them know about this program, because we are looking for great women to run.
Kelly 12:14
Yeah, and you know, it sounds like such a big ask at first to think like, Oh, you know, could women really be the majority of representation in the in the state houses? But it's happened already? Right. We've had a few states already flipped New Mexico, I think just last November, elected of majority women in their state House of Representatives. So it'spossible.
Rhonda Briggins 12:38
It's definitely possible.
Kelly 12:39
Yeah. Yeah. So obviously, if we know people who live in those states in Georgia, Minnesota, New York, we can encourage them to run for office and, and help their their friends run for office. What if we're in other states? You know, I'm in Illinois, and Sophie's in Wisconsin? What can we be doing to encourage this initiative as well?
Rhonda Briggins 13:01
I think you should do the same thing. You know, I think it doesn't matter where you are, right? Now. We need we need to have voices of women at the table. You know, we talked about that, from from, from the beginning of this segment, women bring about collaboration, women bring about a different level of understanding women bring about a very inclusive spirit, women women bring about that nurturing spirit, and you know, sometimes, you know, it's not about the technical things, sometimes it's a, I'm sorry, that this is happening to you, you know, and let's, let's figure out what happened. You know, sometimes someone's just holding your hand and giving you a hug. And women know how to do that in politics in a very sophisticated way, that translate beyond that, that that political space into just humanizing a situation and and as a result of humanizing that situation, you you yield the results that the community wants and needs. And so I just think wherever you are, that's what's needed right now in this country. I mean, this last year and a half, we have been fighting and really began to look at the ugliness of our country, and everyone needs a hook. We're just at a point where we need a hug, and most of the time, yesterday was Mother's Day, and I'm a mommy and you know, we everybody just needs a hug. Everybody needs to you know, be lifted up at this time. You know, we've had the pandemic, people have been suffering from mental illness and, and not even mental is just oppression, you know, which is, you know, a mental situation, but we just have to figure out how to infuse a huge bottle of love into all of our processes, into our healthcare, into our economy, into our environment, into our energy into our transportation, into everything that we do. And so and I think women are the catalysts of helping to infuse that level of love, because through love, you will have, it's easier to talk about equality and equity, through love, it's easier to have a conversation about the haves and the have nots into love, it's easier to make sure that everyone is taken care of, regardless of who they are, and what they are. And so I think that's where we are in this country. I think that's the type of leadership that is needed right now, I think, helping to find women with that type of technical, political business. And what a huge heart, that combination, and leadership is what's needed in this country right now. Because in that space and time, we can get to the real democracies. And more importantly, we can get to the original promises that we made during this session of this country. And we have not lived up to those promises at this point. And I think people are demanding that we have that conversation again, and try to figure out how do we get to the true America the great, how do we get to the true create, we're all men are created equal. And so those are the type of conversations that must and need to be had. And I think women are the ones to help, because we were not a part of that original conversation. So now then fusion of our voice in this conversation, we might have some different results, that would be a little more inclusive, and representative of all of the citizens that are here.
Kelly 16:58
So I wanted to ask, too, I noted in your bio, that you're really involved in your sorority and Delta Sigma Theta sorority. And you know, I think we saw with the election of vice president Kamala Harris, how important and how influential these sororities can be. Can you talk to us a little bit for us about what what that intentional collection of women means in your life? And you know, what, how we can see this sort of power of women and what women can do when they get an office?
Rhonda Briggins 17:31
Yeah, so so so little story, this is absolute a true story. So right before vice president Kamala Harris became vice president Kamala Harris, as a matter of fact, though, it was the last weekend, which was that that last weekend, February 1 weekend in March, it was the weekend before the national and global lockdown of COVID. We had about 30,000 Greeks, in Selma, Alabama, I organized the entire D nine, all of our national presidents and the nine that means divine nine, there are nine fraternities and sororities, and within the United States, we represent about 1.4 million people, which means 1.4 million voters. We went to Selma. And the reason why we wanted to go to Selma is to do exactly what has happened for us is to show for the first time, our collective voting power. And so we went to Selma. And you had about 30,000 of us on the Atmos Pettus Bridge, right before the COVID shut down. And at that particular time she was US Senator Kamala Harris, who had just basically stepped down from her candidacy for President of the United States. And I think this is my assumption, after she saw all of those Greeks coming together in Selma, Alabama, I think because she had been a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha for years, and never really spout it, that as one of her her credentials for you know, and I think after that, she said, Whoa, this is something that I have, and I have not tapped into. But thank you for bringing it to my attention, because I am going to tap into this network like never before. And you saw her at that particular moment in time, make this huge shift. And where she is start, you know, announcing that she was a member of the Divine now nine announcing that she attended an HBCU because for the first time she saw those folks and those people within those organizations, or that attended those universities and colleges, as voting power for her. So that was a translation for her. And it is that translation for her that we are wanting to do for vote where I leave when we talk about run 51. You know, it has to be some moment in time to have the aha moment for for folks. And that I think was her aha moment. And and and I just literally right before I got on here with you, I was talking to my national president and I said, we need to capture this moment in time and record it, because we have as a community and as a collective body of organizations have never come together, but not only come together for the presidential election, we stay together for the runoff in Georgia, for Asafa Warnock, we stay together and currently are together. But all of the voter suppression deals that are moving across the country, my sorority is the first sorority to actually join on as a plaintiff. In we are in we're suing Georgia. And and then we are in talks of other states that we're going to look at, we've partnered with the NAACP, Legal Defense Fund and other groups. And we are on the front line of making sure that we are protecting the right of to vote for all citizens, as those voter suppression laws are being passed around this country, in in state General Assembly's. So again, Ron 51 is so important of having the right people at those tables, to pass good solid legislation and not try to take people's vote and their right to vote because you're upset.
You know that they didn't, but some people didn't get the results that they want it. And so that is that was the next move. The other critical issue on the table across this country. Like I said earlier, you know, you we had redistricting out of redistricting, you saw, they announced a couple of like a week or so ago, those states that actually had increase of representation in different seats. And so and then you had a state like New York, who actually lost the seat. And so, you know, so it is very critical that we look now at the maps that will be drawn as a result of that, especially in those southern states, with the stripping of section five of the voter rights act, you don't have those protections that you've had in the past. And so it's going to be critical that the community and everyone engage and redistricting locally, and work with those state legislators to make sure that good maps are being drawn good fair maps, that we're not doing jerr gerrymandering and packing, like we've done in the past. And so that's what we are in this country. And that is what my sorority is doing along with the other sororities and fraternities around the country and other organizations. You have NAACP, you have Urban League, you know you have tons of other organizations, and that are at the table. And this is a time for all of us to stay together and understand that we are more powerful together than we are apart.
Kelly 23:25
Absolutely. Is there anything else that you want to make sure that we talk about today?
Rhonda Briggins 23:30
Right, I hear about these issues. And I'm excited and grateful to have folks like you that are bringing different voices to the table and allowing other people to have a little insight of their thoughts and their perspective. It is these type of conversations that I think if we have more of them, that we can get to, again to some of the changes that we need in this country. Again, it's about sharing information. It's about love. It's about coming together. And so you've done that and use your platform to do that. So thank you for this opportunity, Kelly,
Kelly 24:08
of course. Absolutely. And remind everyone how they can learn more about boat run lead and get involved.
Rhonda Briggins 24:15
Yes, well, you can go to our website, this voterunlead.org. All of the information is on there. Again, we have tons of online resources that are available for you to us. We have in person activities and events and we've had tons of webinars and other things that we do regularly. And we bring together all sorts of women, and we've helped tons of women from several of the the congressional members are active alumni of vote run lead. And so we have had a track record for a very long time and we Know how to train, run and win when it comes to women in this political process. So that's who we are. And that's what we do, Kelly.
Kelly 25:10
Excellent. Well, thank you. And we will put that information up on our website so people can find it. And Rhonda, thank you so much for speaking with us today.
Sonya 25:24
Thank you for listening to Two Broads Talking Politics, part of the DemCast Podcast Network. Our theme song is called Are You Listening off of the album Elephant Shaped Trees by the band IMUNURI. And we're using it with permission of the band. Our logo and other original artwork is by Matthew Weflen, and was created for use by this podcast. You can contact us at TwoBroadsTalkingPolitics@gmail.com or on Twitter or Facebook @TwoBroadsTalk. You can find all of our episodes at TwoBroadsTalkingPolitics.com or anywhere podcasts are found.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
