. it wasn't confined to women, we wanted to keep ringing and a younger people and some of the decisions we made over the years . the house in 2006 and others as before and since was to encourage people to come. when they come, to give them opportunity to serve. i don't have any concerns about that. i was home raising a family, getting the best experience of all in diplomacy. the answer is no. host: that was nancy pelosi back in 2012 talking about her ality in this country. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we are back with erin

vilardi, the ceo of vote run lead. guest: vote run lead is looking to make statehouses 51% women. host: white? -- why? guest: we believe a future lead by women is as strong as any other effort in our democracy. what women are bringing to the table in our legislatures is what we need for a healthy democracy advocate for the voices of all americans are heard. host: what is the difference between a male and a female in office? guest: we have 30 use of research that shows women prioritize a different set of issues, we pass budgets on time, we bring my money home to our districts, we are willing to work across the aisle, we are to sit in the offices as long as male counterparts. . we are somewhat better at government. it is not something matter of what we are doing, but what could we possibly do if women

were running the committees, the chairmanships comedy midship positions that got a different set of bills on the floor and a different set of legislation to the american people. host: why focus on state legislature? guest: for state legislatures are the most critical office of our time there it congress is pretty dead locked in passing continuing resolutions, not doing the business government should doing. state that is they choose controlling lens of dollars that goes out into their states. whether that is reproductive justice, democracy, taxation, or everything happening, it is happening through state legislatures. all of these scotus decisions down to the statehouse. it is critical right now. especially important for redistricting, drawing fair maps . in 34 states, state legislatures control who draws congressional

lines and they can control who draws their own minds. -- lines. it's critical to how our government is run. host: does it matter which party? guest: this is about values. the values of vote run lead our democracy. we are sent one political party question the integrity of election in government. this is but a feminist value sensing a future lead by women. this also means what does it mean to be on an antiracist attorney and bring in voices of color that have been systematically and individually left out of the conversation? host: are you supporting republican candidates? guest: everyone is welcome to take out free resources. every woman deserves high political and literacy. host: how do you support candidates? guest: one side is educating and training and the other is looking district by district to say we have coaches for you.

if you are running for office, get on board with our coaching program. ask real questions for women to in your shoes. vrlhq.org has resources that are totally free for managers and women candidates. we are providing a full map how to run but we have tethered event for the legislature. why is this a critical office? how much money do you have to raise? what is a state senator do that is different than a state representative? we believe this is a transformative office for women. host: how much money do you need? >> -- guest: in some places you made it only $30,000, and some places you are seeing up to $1 million. it is a larger range than in past years but it is doable. host: do women have a more

difficult time raising money or is it that they like the -- dislike the act? guest: men have been more difficult time giving to women then mail candidates. this is about men and women having a hesitancy to invest in women candidates. men and women have different networks and that affect can have some effect on fundraising. women are great fundraisers. we teach women how to talk about themselves. we are good at raising money to lots of causes. the hesitancy is in the party infrastructure and in some of these donors not seeing women as viable which comes down oftentimes to sexism. host: how do you recruit candidates? guest: we have a network of women in public office, a great peer-to-peer effect. we are coming on programs like this and telling you to head over to the website. we have nine offices across the country where we have was on the ground.

we are partnering with amazing organizations that help us get out there and having a strong social media voice to patrol your reaching audiences. we have veteran's from to 70 in our program. host: we are talking with erin vilardi committee founder and ceo of vote run lead about efforts to increase the number of women on the state legislature level. we asked our viewers before you came on, and this is a continuation of that conversation, off of a gallop poll that asks where this country benefit with more women in office? gallop found 57% said yes, this would be governed better. 22% said worse, and 21% said makes no difference. guest: often you see those numbers. now by different are you here you see women trust women more often, conservative man tend to trust women less.

i am not surprised by this numbers. but we have facts on our side that talk about how women do government different the, particularly the prioritization of issues that is left on the sidelines and how we do the business of government. the meat and potatoes is there. this is about trust. this is about power. this is about sharing power. those compositions have more to do with feelings than facts. that is why groups like ours exist and the infrastructure to neutral women who have ambition to run who have been asked by their community verses to forward have the resources they need to run and win. host: erin vilardi will take your questions and comments about the same women in office. democrats, republicans, independents is how we are dividing the lines. numbers are on your screen. you can also join us on social media. you can go to

facebook.com/c-span. x with the handle @cspanwj. text us with your name, city, and state at 202-748-8003. here's a comment from earlier. this person says no, some women are great but the quality of women in office has not been of high quality and they concentrate on issues that can hurt people. how do you respond? guest: without more context it is difficult. i think i handful of women getting a lot of media attention right now that are highly divisive, questioning the election, talking about things that probably don't show up in a poll as to what americans care about. there is attention on handful of women contributing. the minnesota is that you have seen a hughes rice, one third of

them are alumni and they have bills flying out of their legislature. the efficiency that came out of the statehouse was remarkable, the change in their ship. we helped elect the first black men in minnesota. that makes a difference to the dialogue that happened. when you go to the capital and you see the diversity that is in that state and shows up in the ship, it is powerful for the precipitation of the voters in that state. we have been working and in minnesota the 20 years and the rights of women and women and color -- women of color has been a net positive. host: where do you see -- which states do you see more women serving in state legislatures than others and wipe? guest: places like washington state, oregon, nevada is the only state that has a majority women. colorado.

the pandering west has been a strong job of seeing women to representation at near parallel levels. it is not just about equity. we are trying to see if there could be a future where women are at the helm, 60 percent to 65% of our statehouses. what difference does that make? we don't know what that future could look like. i think that future is promising. i think that future brings how women have been living to the forefront. the issue today we are talking about is childcare. it makes good economic sense for us to have childcare policies. you put more women in this statehouses coming have any effect where solids childcare policies that work for businesses starts to take hold. you see more women in the workforce. that has a ripple effect were you end up with legislation and we become one of the countries that takes care of who takes care of. host: tony in philadelphia.

welcome to the conversation. guest: i definitely support women -- caller: i definitely support women. i have two girls. my worry is we talk about skin tones and gender and we don't focus on public policy. i like that are against talked about the need for good childcare -- our guest talked about the need for good childcare. i would like to dock about health care and housing. there was a princeton study that looked at legislation passed and what causes legislation to pass. what they found is that there is not a relationship between your preference or even -- voter preference or even those in office. our government, our elections are captured by special interest. the rich, the billionaire class. i don't believe electing women

in the millionaire class is going to help. the fundamental need to change our government. i do like the idea of more women in office, i just don't that is going to work, we are going to have to do more than that. host: erin vilardi. guest: that reminds me of a minnesota state senator. i think she is 29. she did a priss -- a press article and 18 vogue where she talked about that she is in office to get things done, she is not a lifelong petition. her motivations are not simply to get reelected again. these are the types of young women that renovate vote are attracting. we are not interested in you coming into office and spending 40 years there as a career. we are interested in you getting things done and women to do just that. i agree.

this idea of elites captured in our democracy is very real and something to think about. it means we have to make sure we are recruiting our candidates from working-class backgrounds. making sure moms and hairdressers and folks who don't have a significant income are still able to run for political office. we make sure in our pool of folks are making under $150,000. that is still a lot of money, but a larger number of people do not have high incomes. that range might be $15,000, that might be $60,000. these are women who often have college degrees but have chosen professions like social work where they are seeing the connections between social work and running for public office. if you look at what statement is that you get paid, it is paltry. $70,000 is the state legislative

pay in georgia. you are not going to get folks who are able to move away from their jobs and run for that office if you don't create real legislative pay. you end up with elites who are able to have consulting jobs or folks who have retired or have a laptop of wealth tilt up. that is another thing to look at. new mexico is one of the places where there is not legislative pay. one of our team members is working on fixing that. host: that is a challenge to recruitment, the number one challenge to recruitment. guest: it is a challenge, especially for younger folks. the conversation i am hearing is can we get things done? we see women get into public office because they want to get things done. it is not a place that feels like action can happen, that is the biggest deterrent. the second piece for our rural forks -- rural folks is what

this looks like in our life. can i make this work financially? can i make this work with our job? legislatures run from january to the orchard. some folks have off yearly to stagers. they are looking for eligibility. following the pandemic, the change we are -- change in conversation should lend itself to how we get counted folks into government and having a professional life that affords the quality of life they want for them and their families. host: daniel in utica, michigan. independent. caller: i am against people being denied based upon gender. however, when it comes to identifying what a female is, you have a supreme court justice that because she is not valid just -- not a biologist could

not identify what a woman is. if women are not going to support their own gender, how can i expect them to support the needs of other people? they cannot even stand up for their own women's rights because they don't want to trot on the transgenders' feelings. guest: i am not sure i understand the question. we are looking for fellowship with men. we are not looking for men poking holes at not all women this. we are looking for ally ship with men who want to be in power, with non-binary folks. this is going to take all of us. we are not interested in saying that women over there debunks a decades long meant towards women's liberation and creating quality and equity for women --

equality and equity for women. host: a post on x from one of our viewers, women only care about issues that impact women and they pass laws that hurt men to help women. erin vilardi? guest: the facts are on our side. this is misogyny at its best. when you are a group that holds a large amount of power and another group is coming to you and saying here is how we want to share power, the leadership and the policies women have passed have not just been beneficial for women and girls, they have been transported for men and boys. they have opened up what it means to be a person. they have provided a letter sent of issues -- a larger set of issues that every person deals with.

when you chop off half of the talent pool, chop off half of the experiences of mothers in a household, you are literally taking out not just people who could do a better job that the person next to them, but taking a set of ideas and solutions that are for pressing problems. that is a tweet or comment based out of fear. what we are trying to do out of vote run lead his creative leadership model not based out of fear, based out of action and collaborative ship -- collaborative leadership. host: what you said at the top of our conversation this morning about giving the majority of state legislatures to be female. what is the current percentage? guest: we are at 33% nationally women in state legislators. we are 51% of the population so we are looking about reflective

democracy. we are crating a strategy to get 51% women in our statehouses. not only 51% women but looking at racial and ethnic demographics, looking at our rule communities. state senate's is -- our states in its next state senates are overwhelmingly male, overwhelmingly white and aging. you are looking moving in the next 10 years, the next election cycles. i believe through our work we will probably have 5, 6, 7 states 51% or over by 2030. that is critical because we need these pro-democracy women leaders in these statehouses to make sure the census is accurately done, that the work of how we do redistricting is also done well. host: there is no state right now at 51%?

guest: nevada. and a couple of states where the lower house is a majority women, but it is not and now when you look at the state senate. the state senate is a place where we need more women. host: what are the stats coming out of the nevada house? guest: the legislature is about 60%. host: what have they been able to accomplish with that many women? guest: what is the trust women act which is a larger piece of legislation. it is also a small legislative body. when you see nevada being a small legislative body, he sees other places trying to replicate it, it doesn't necessarily have the same ability to be replicated. it comes down to recruitment. putting a person who lives in that area who has connection to their neighbors and t ability to take ideas and work on a team body.

you're looking for people willing to compromise and willing to take time away from their family to get the job done. host: but here from audrey in virginia -- let's hear from audrey in virginia. caller: this is my first time calling. the two women who called from florida speaking on the people running. i wanted to talk about the women in public office and i am so proud of that. i am proud of our vice president and the house and our speaker of the house that retired, nancy pelosi. i am proud of the women that have stepped up. host: i am going to leave it there because it is very difficult to understand you.

what role did nancy pelosi play and kamala harris and republican women, sandra day o'connor, etc. , what role have they played in paving the way for women who want to seek office? guest: there are two powerful impacts, one is policymaking. the second is there a percentage of affect, the will model effect. when you see women who look like you come who bring their children to the capital, when you see the inner lives of how these women make it work, it has a positive effect on women and girls and seeing themselves in that leadership position. that is across industries, not just government. it is when we see women ceos -- in knots. it makes us believe it is possible to do those jobs. it also, less is that women

belong in these positions and are capable of doing this work. it cut out the sexism that is built into how we are raising girls and boys. it is important we have that will model effect, that we see women at this national stage and they get covered by the media in a way that shows their full selves. -- full selves. host: c-span set down with justice sandra day o'connor in 2009. she talks about being the first woman to serve on the high court. here is what she says. [video clip] >> i did not believe for a minute i would be asked to serve. i went back to arizona after those interviews and is said to my husband how interesting it was to visit washington, d.c. and meet the people about the president and to meet the president himself. i said thank goodness i don't

have to go do that job. i didn't want it. i wasn't sure i could do the job good enough to justify trying. i have often said it is wonderful to be the first to do something but i did not want to do b -- did not want to be the last. if i did not do a good job, it might be the last. when i retired, i was not replaced by a woman which gives one pause to think what did i do wrong that led to this. i am sure the future will show that we have other women serving on the court. it is hard to be the only woman on the court which i experienced about 10 years or so. in a population which these days produces 50% of law school

graduates being women, it is realistic to think in terms of a number of women on the court, not just one. what host: did you hear there host: from her? guest: it is beautifully well said. she has nailed what it means to be a first and only, what it means to be a pioneer and have the weight of representation on your shoulders. we see it every day. we are helping to elect women who are the first women to their county board or the first women of color to hold that seat for the first square person to serve on the body -- queer person to serve on that body. those individuals really do feel representation that the way i do my job, is it going to affect how we see the beautiful and talented diversity of all of us? that is what i heard. she wore that happiness like a crown and she was quite a

pioneer. you see greater gender diversity on the supreme court today. you see the rise of women in law school. i think she had a direct effect on women believing they could be judges, they should go to law school that probably we will never be able to quantify. that effect is so important. host: commenting about that doubt, the fear of being the first and then the last, is that something you hear when you are recruiting? host: absolutely guest: -- absolutelyguest:. the double burden of wanting to be a great legislature but knowing you are representing this larger community. the first latina state under the minnesota state senate, not only will she be first but it was the full population. they saw someone who looked like

them. her job was bigger than the other jobs her counterparts made. understand that, making sure you are able to provide the mental, physical, financial resources to those legislators that have that -- legislatures that have that. that have the privilege of being able to serve their communities but we have to also make sure they are resourced in a way that they understand they have a job to do. they are representative of a larger community but they are just a person who goes to work every day like the rest of us. host: how do you train will prepare them for being may be the only? guest: we put them in conversation and with women who have done that. the coaching program is a way to do that. that is such an individual conversation. you can see those women on our website. talking about it, acknowledging it is a real thing.

talking about the middle capacity that takes fresh mental capacity --. . the mental capacity that takes making sure they have a community of folks that have been in their shoes. that is where the coaching program is critical to have a one-on-one conversation and say you are not crazy. that is misogyny or yes that is a bit of quite racism you're getting on the legislative floor. those things are real and we have to acknowledge them and make sure folks can be in community to maintain and do the job they have been elected to do. host: idaho, rick. republican. caller: i have an answer for you. centeredness -- synchronize a ssent -- i looked at the panel of roe v. wade, it was any all-male

decision. let women of america rewrites the entire definition of abortion. elect one director for each stage, each county, core that your information and synchronize a sequence of events. confront your public official in the office. [indiscernible] in other words, once you do this , you either get what you want or find another public official to replace them. you bring your car to my garage, i can fix your engine. to take it to congress, you get nothing done. synchronize a sequence of events, that is the blueprint. hee hee for your hospitality -- thank you for your hospitality. guest: i am excited that rick is supporting the ship of women on the abortion debate.

we know a majority of women in this country support a full suite of reproductive rights for women. getting more women into public office is one of the ways we are summarizing our sequence of events in order to make that happen and the abortion rights movement, the reproductive justice movement is working together to make sure our voices are heard. also making sure we are lobbying legislators and doing that work of running against them when they do not serve the people and a majority of folks -- for this country. >> -- host: dan is next. republican. caller: i lived a majority of my life under the authoritarian

rule of my mother and my wife. when they died, i relist how important they were to every aspect of my life. what are you going to do about that? you cannot be in two places at once as many women are discovering. the essential role that women play for better or worse the dictates how well it child will come up into the future. if you start putting quotas on race and everything, as if the quota does anything. you never even proved why the quota, why 60% or 50%. you make to credit statements and don't think of the great variety of biological and social and so on functions throughout the history of the species. host: okay. we heard the point. guest: women are capable of

using their brains and uterus is at the same time. women are capable of being mothers and legislatures at the same time -- legislators at this end time. host: from kentucky. republican. caller: [indiscernible] some of you women on the democratic party's and the house of representatives. some of these women are for themselves. they don't uphold their state and fight for their people in their state today. they are for themselves. you have nancy pelosi. she is rich. she has more money than other democrat ladies. host: how is that disqualifying? do men do the same thing? caller: yes. some men have a lot of money.

senator manchin had money in his house. he did not turn it over to the irs. where he got the money, i have no clue. host: derek in lakeland, minnesota. independent. caller: i have a quick question. you had mentioned one party is talking about the election. i am assuming you guys supported hillary clinton and she still has not conceded from the standpoint that she had an illegitimate election in 2016. what percentage of your -- is republicans and democrats? and can you define what a woman

is? guest: i am not going to take you define what a woman question is. it is a bait. it is this question to divide us. it is putting something that is very personal and trying to make it this wedge political issue. our political organization is open to training women and gender nonconforming people. we may not be perfect and have all the resources for our trans sisters and non-binary forks. we do what we can to be open. part of what makes democracy work is to give value to every person in the democracy. what we are trying to do at front lead is make sure we are rightsizing the value we give women in our democracy.

we have a broad spectrum of folks that have gone through. he wants he has put out democrat or republican. having the lens of women's that ship and liberation through the lens of republican and democrat is not my work. my work is to increase the political power, the civic literacy and did leadership of women. it is why in my resources free. we will always lead with our values. i am not interested in working with folks that are going to pull the letter up behind them. -- the ladder up behind them. that is not me and i will withhold raising money or how to run for office. this is larger than the individual conversations we keep coming back to. most of the callers have been conservative republican or independent men. i can get that you are afraid. sharing power, having the status

quo that has been this way for a long time change is scary. i can also tell you that when we put women and men at the political power table, better things happen. better things get done for everybody. host: steve wants to know have you had success with older male leaders help younger females? have you had the most replace men -- have you had females replace men? guest: there were lots of good conversations happening. mental relationship is growing stronger as more women get into public office -- the mentor relationship is going stronger as more women get into public office. that is something we want to see more of, male allies when they look into the field of strong

political behind them -- they are not just looking at men, they are looking at women, non-binary folks, other people who have proven themselves worthy. not just -- going beyond the bias of people who look like you. host: how are you funded? you financially assist these women running for office -- do you financially assist these women running for office? guest: which are not -- we do not financially assist these women. helping with candidates financing -- with campaign financing. we have got a full body of resources for women to learn how to run for public office and how to win. we are most interested in making sure you have that know how to win your particular race.

host: what are the breakdown of women seeking your resources by age, by class, by color? guest: we have a majority women of color moving through our program, one in five are from rural places. we have 40% that our parents of 18 and under -- are parents of 18 and under. we have a left-leaning group but we have 25% do not identify with the two political parties which is huge when you're running a program on how to run for political office. host: what does that mean? guest: what your viewers are feeling, that it necessarily wanting to get a job done, wanting to serve your community, wanting to make sure the resources and the dollars coming through your state are well allocated does it always line-up

with the democrat or republican party. host: are they winning, those not running on a political ticket? guest: there are nonpartisan bases that have been at the school board level. our win rates are high, about 70% for women of color and 60% for white women candidates. host: our viewers can learn more if they go to voterunlead.org. erin vilardi is the founder and >> this evening rob henderson, author of "troubled," discusses growing up in the u.s. foster care system and what he learned about class divisions in america. watch the q&a episode on c-span, c-span now, or online at c-span.org.

>> dr. andrew pedigree is a british historian at st. andrews university in scotland. his specialty is the history of the book media transformation. he has written a good deal about the written word, with an emphasis on libraries. his latest book is titled "the book on war." in his introduction professor pedigree rights, in all nations once war broke out writers and libraries were expected to play a role in forging victory. after the second world war the allies would face problems of how to sanitize or exploit the collections of the defeated. >> andrew pedigree with his latest book "the book at war: how reading shaped conflict and conflict shaped reading." book notes plus is available on the c-span now mobile app or

wherever you get your podcasts. >> house will be in order. >> c-span celebrates 45 years of celebrating -- of covering congress. since 1979 we have been your primary source for capitol hill, providing unfiltered coverage of government. taking you to where the policies are debated and decided, with the support of america's cable companies. c-span. 45 years and counting. powered by cable. >> former connecticut senator and vice presidential candidate joe lieberman died yesterday at the age of 82. he was the first jewish-american to be nominated on either major parties ticket, alongside al gore in two thousand. in 2000 six he won reelection as an independent after