announcer: this evening, maryland governor moore will be joined by other officials with an update on officials sort -- from officials surrounding the collapse othe francis scott key bridge, scheduled to start at 6:50 p.m. eastern. we will have coverage here on c-span. announcer: this evening on q&a ,, and author discusses what was like growing up in the u.s. foster care system, the hurdles he overcame, and what he learned about class divisions in america well obtaining degrees in psychology from yale and ivy league universities. >> the vast majority of, students were raised by their parents in april universities where is where i grew up, then the rest were raised by nine or both of our parents. there were a lot of single mothers, people being taken in by grandrents. and that nurse the statistics

overall. you know what the q&a interview with rob henderson at 7 p.m. eastern on c-span, c-span now, our free mobile app, or online at c-span.org. rnal" 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

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 -- one of them 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 the 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 i am really proud of our vice president, and also eric speaker

of the house, nancy pelosi. i am so tired of the women that have stepped up and have come out -- first, ok, audrey. i will leave it there because it was very difficult to understand you. you have to your television. what role did nancy pelosi play, do you think, and kamala harris #-- and republican women as well , sandra day o'connor. what role do they play in paving the way for we who wanted to seek public office? guest: there are two public impacts to women in public office. one is the policymaking. second is the representative effect, the role model effect. when you see women who look like you, women bring their children to the capitol. when you see how -- the inner lives of how these women make it work, it there is a positive

effect on women & girls seeing themselves in that leadership position. that role model effect is across industry, not just government, it is when we see women ceos, women astronauts, it makes us believe it is possible to do those jobs. it also normalizes for men and boys that women belonging these positions, that women are capable of doing this work. it undercuts some of the quiet sexism that gets built into how we are raising girls and boys. so it is important that we have that role model effect, that we see women at that stage, and that they get covered by the media in a way also that shows there for several -- their full selves. host: c-span sactown with late supreme court justice sandra day o'connor in 2009 and she talked about the first woman to serve on the high court. here is she said. >> i didn't believe for a minute that i would be asked to serve.

i went back to arizona after those interviews and said to my husband, how interesting it was to visit washington, d.c. and to meet the people around the president, and indeed to meet the president himself and talk to him. but i said, thank goodness i don't have to go do that job. i didn't want it. and i wasn't sure that i could do the job well enough to justify trying. i have always said, it is wonderful to be the first to do something. but i didn't want to be the last . if i didn't do a good job, it might have been the last. and indeed when i retired, i was not replaced then by a woman, which gives one pause to think oh what did i do wrong that led to this? but i am sure that 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 for about 10 years or so. and in a population which, these days, produces at least 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. host: erin, what did you hear there from her? guest: it was well said. she really nailed what it means to be a first and only. what it means to be a pioneer and have the weight of his presentation on your shoulders. we see it every day. we are continuing to help elect women who are the first women to their county board or the first woman of color to hold that seat in the legislature, or the first queer person to hold that body. we are seeing that those

individuals really do feel the weight of representation, the way that 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. i heard that every -- heaviness. she wore that heaven is like a crown. she was a pioneer. you see a greater gender diversity on the supreme court today. you can see the continued rise of women in law schools. i think she had a direct effect on women believing they could be judges, believing that they could go to law school that probably will never be able to quantify. that role model effect is so important. host: commenting about that doubt there almost, the fear of being the first and then the last. is that something that you hear when you are recruiting? guest: absolutely, it is the double burden of wanting to come in and be a great legislature, and also knowing that you are representing this larger

community. a member of our board, first state latina -- latina, only was she the first, the full population, the form letter no population was coming to her even though she wasn't there direct representative, right, because they saw someone who look like them. her job was bigger than some of the other jobs that her counterparts had. understanding that, making sure you are able to provide the sort of mental, physical, financial resources to those legislatures that have that -- i will not collect a burden -- that have that privilege of being able to serve their communities, but also to be a resource in a way where they understand that they do have a job to do, they are representative of a larger 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 -- the mental 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 why the coaching program is critical to have a one-on-one conversation and say you are not crazy. no, that is misogyny or yes that is a bit of quiet 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.

synchronize a sequence of events. 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 state, each county, core that -- correlate that 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. thank you for your hospitality.

guest: i am excited that rick is supporting the leadership 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 synchronizing 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 realized 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 that dictates how well a 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 declarative statements and don't think of the great variety of biological and social and so on functions throughout the history of the species. played by women. 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 -- the same time. host: from kentucky. republican. caller: [indiscernible] let's have 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 the define what a woman question is. it is a bait. having 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.