A'shanti Gholar (12:36):
And I'm thrilled to be the first to welcome you tonight. I'm a former national board chair, a current advisory board member, and along with Dale Schroedel, a proud co-chair of tonight's 20th Anniversary Gala. Tonight, we're honoring Emerge's past, championing our present, and sharing a bold, inspiring vision for the future, and we have an exciting lineup for you tonight. You'll hear a special message from Governor Katie Hobbs and we'll also be joined by Former Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger, who was on the ballot for Governor of Virginia this year. You'll hear from this year's Cecile Richards Impact Award recipient, Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow, who's launching her campaign for the US Senate in 2026, and we're proud to honor this year's Kamala Harris Trailblazer Award recipient, New Mexico State Senator, Cindy Nava.
(13:33)
We'll also spotlight two inspiring Emerge women running in special congressional election this year, Former Houston City Council Member Amanda Edwards and Arizona's very own Deja Foxx. And of course we are going to hear from the original Emerge woman, Vice President Kamala Harris. Thank you so much for being here and for supporting Emerge. As many of you know, Emerge provides the training and the powerful network that gives power alums the edge they need to win. So I would be remiss in my role as co-chair if I didn't mention that every single dollar we raise tonight will help Emerge train even more women at this critical moment in our history. So I hope you'll feel inspired. Listen to the lineup that we have, you're inspired already, right? We hope you'll feel inspired to do as generously as you can. So now it's my great honor to introduce our first Emerge alum, Deb Haaland with a special recorded message. She wishes that she have been here tonight and she didn't want to miss the celebration so she's done this amazing video for us. So here is an Emerge alum, Former Secretary of the Interior and Current New Mexico gubernatorial candidate, Deb Haaland.
Deb Haaland (14:50):
Hello, Emerge, thank you for preparing this event along with the mentorship and programming you provide for our nation's future leaders. For over 20 years, Emerge has been a fierce fighter in the race for women to have leadership. You have supported and empowered us in positions ranging from the local school board to the US Senate, and yes, even the president's cabinet. Through intensive training and educational programming, you have been able to create a network for future and current candidates to run knowing that they always have someone in their corner. I am an alum of the first Emerge New Mexico class. Little did I know that by going through the program, I would have the tools to break many state and national barriers that women have faced for generations.
(15:53)
During my time, I gained the unparalleled knowledge and experience to help candidates and my own candidacy, this program truly empowered me and I gained a network of fierce women who are all working to support each other. Since then, I've served in many positions, from chair of the New Mexico Democratic Party, to US representative for my state's first congressional district, all the way to serving as the US Secretary of the Interior. Now I'm running to be the next governor of New Mexico. But it's not me, Emerge has helped flip New Mexico's State House to blue and turned other state houses pink, and now a majority of the legislators elected in New Mexico are women. Emerge has strictly changed the game.
(16:39)
Their comprehensive curriculum not only offers support and campaign strategies, but they've gone the extra mile to ensure that they are partnering with local communities to understand what will and won't work. We've seen just how effective their efforts have been. I mean, look at everyone in this room, we're living in a world with the fruits of these labors, but the fight is not over. We women make up about half of the population of the United States and yet we are underrepresented in all branches of government. We need democratic women, people in high places making decisions that include everyone rather than the catering millionaires and billionaires who just want to make tax breaks for themselves, we need diverse voices vetting our choices. So I encourage you to run for office, represent your communities, lead the ladder down for those who come after you. Thank you again to those involved with the legacy of Emerge, women have opened doors for themselves and others through this amazing network Emerge understands the importance of creating pathways for women in politics while sustaining a culture of lifting as we climb. They have empowered thousands of women to lead, so thanks to all of you.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Please welcome post committee co-chair, Dale Schroedel.
Dale Schroedel. (18:24):
Don't you just love Deb Haaland? Just amazing. And it's so exciting that she's going to be the very first Native American woman to be elected. So again, hello everyone and welcome again, I'm Dale Schroedel, I'm a member of the Emerge Action Fund Board and also a member of Emerge's Advisory Board. And I want to just welcome you again and thank you so much for joining us tonight and for supporting Emerge and being here with us to celebrate Emerge's 20th anniversary, it's such a momentous time. And it's really wonderful to gather with everyone, we all so desperately need this right now, and tonight is just an amazing time to come together and to find inspiration and hope, and I know that we're going to all find that together here tonight. And as co-chair of this exciting event, along with Rashmi, we want to extend our deep appreciation to the host committee. Thank you all, I can't ask everybody to stand and honestly I can't even see, but thank you all for everything you did because without you this event would never be possible, and what you did was phenomenal.
(19:39)
So many of us have been celebrating Emerge together for 20 years, and all of the long-timers who are here, and there are many of them, you know how this all began. It all started here in San Francisco in the early 2000s with a powerhouse founder, and some incredible
Dale Schroedel. (20:00):
Co-founders had a vision, Emerge's recruitment training program and network of support needed to go nationwide. We cannot celebrate 20 years without acknowledging and thanking these amazing women. With us tonight, we've got Emerge founder, Andrea Dew Steele, and six of the co-founders, including Dorka Keehn, Marie Mertaud, Nadine North, Tammy Pastor, Gretchen Schoenstein and Marya Stark, so please all stand and allow us to express our deep gratitude.
(20:24)
Thank you all so much for your incredible leadership. Your vision of what was possible back then and your hard work and dedication in bringing Emerge to life blazed the path that's led us to tonight and we are so grateful for that. Celebrating 20 years of building the largest network of women-elected officials and candidates and transforming the face of government.
(21:23)
And I have to add, we've only just begun. Tonight, we're here to celebrate and to also look forward and power the next 20 years. As Emerge's biggest and most important fundraiser of the year, tonight's gala will help fuel our work ahead and allow us to continue to build the bench and make the greatest impact in elections this year, next year, and in the years to come beyond. Please keep in mind, when Theresa Farrow, who is our inspiring auctioneer, when she takes the stage a little bit later, I'm hoping that everybody here will engage in a little bit of friendly competition tonight to make this Emerge's most successful event ever.
(22:16)
And it is now my great honor to introduce you to Emerge's President and CEO, A'shanti Gholar. A'shanti has been in the Emerge family since 2006, when Emerge Nevada was founded in her home state. She went from sitting on the Emerge Nevada Board of Directors to becoming the political director of Emerge in 2016. As political director, A'shanti expanded Emerge's strategy to include a staff, seeing it as a fertile ground for Democrats. And what we've accomplished since A'shanti became president of Emerge in 2020 is just nothing short of remarkable.
(22:59)
A'shanti led the organization in pivoting to center women of the New American Majority in this work. Black, Brown and Indigenous women, women of color, LGBTQ+ women, young and unmarried women, a political force for winning elections and for ensuring equal representation in government. This is why we're all gathered here tonight: To honor our past, celebrate our present, and to commit to our future. And the extraordinary woman who will lead us to the future is A'shanti Gholar.
A'shanti Gholar (23:54):
Good evening, everyone. Thank you. Thank you, Gail, so much for that kind introduction and all of your work. Thank you, Marya for also co-chairing this event. She was my very first board chair, Rashmi was, so I appreciate her, everything that she does and to the amazing host committee. I thank you all for everything that you have done to allow us to be here.
(24:24)
Good evening everyone. I'm A'shanti Gholar. I am the president and CEO of Emerge. We have a very big night. Tonight, we are celebrating our 20th anniversary. Thank you all for being in this room and thank you to everyone who is also joining us from home. We have a live stream happening and we have a global audience that is watching us tonight. We appreciate you live-streaming and everyone's commitment to Emerge.
(24:52)
It truly has been a pleasure to work for this organization since 2016, but to also be a co-founder of our Emerge Nevada affiliate since 2006. I pretty much have been around from the beginning. And now, at 20 years, we get to celebrate the fact that we have now trained over 6,500 women to run for office through our signature training programs. That's the first time we're announcing that tonight. And of course, we have over 1200 alums serving in elected office across the country.
(25:27)
And I am so thankful to have the original Emerge woman, Kamala Harris, who is going to be joining us tonight. I know everyone is so excited to hear from VP. But before we continue, I do want to take a moment to recognize the women in our network. Would all of the Emerge women in office please stand to be recognized? And of course, with them standing, I would like to recognize that we have our highest ranking California alum in the room, Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis is here with us tonight.
(25:27)
And perhaps you're not an alum, but you are a FOE, friend of Emerge, and I am looking at former Congresswoman Katie Porter and, of course, the iconic mayor-elect Barbara Lee. And I really appreciate him being here tonight, our new DNC chairman, Ken Martin is joining us. Now, would all of the Emerge alums in the room please stand to be recognized?
(27:09)
To our national board leadership, you have allowed us to usher in a new era of Emerge where we center women of the New American Majority and I am thankful for your support every day. Would the Emerge National Board members please stand to be recognized? We also have several of our advisory board members in the room? Would they please stand to be recognized? Rashmi, Gail, we have Gretchen. So many of you.
(27:09)
And of course, I do not do this work alone. Not one alum recruit, not one training, not one education event. Not one woman on the ballot would happen without the amazing, incredible staff that I get to work with every day. None of this tonight would have happened without all of their hard work and dedication. Will everyone on the Emerge team please stand to be recognized?
(27:09)
And with that, I would like to take a moment to recognize our longest serving Emerge employee, our chief operating officer who is celebrating 15 years at Emerge, Alicia Woodward Carlson. Alicia, I love you so much and I would not be able to do this without you. Now, I'd just like to take a moment of personal privilege and briefly reflect on my time here at Emerge. Many of the organizations that were doing this work when we started are no longer around. We have not only survived, but we have thrived. And it is not only because of the fantastic team that we have and the support from everyone in this room and everyone watching, but because we always remain grounded in our values. That is what has enabled us to reach 20 years.
(29:57)
Standing in our values means not only recruiting and training new women to run for office, but working with union vendors. That's why I want you to take a moment to recognize the servers that have set up from Unite Local 2 and the AV and Stage from Stagehands Local 16, let's give them all a big round of applause.
(30:11)
I'm very fortunate to do this job during this time because our women in office continue to inspire me every day. And it's an honor to lead our team of women across the country, training and developing the next generation of leaders in our country, so I have to say thank you all for believing in my leadership, for trusting me to reinvent Emerge as an organization, for trusting me to set a whole 15-year vision to help lead our movement, for trusting me to innovate new trainings and programming that have never been done before in politics, but have moved the needle in states across the country in ways that we never could have imagined.
(31:11)
All of this has led us, in five years, to not only become the largest network of Democratic women elected officials and candidates, but we can officially say we are the largest network of women elected officials and candidates of country.
(31:16)
Now, I'm excited to introduce our first conversation of the night. We're going to hear from some of our great Emerge women. Please welcome to the stage to join me, Emerge Virginia alum, former congresswoman and candidate for Virginia, Governor Abigail Spanberger.
(31:20)
Hello.
Abigail Spanberger (31:20):
Hello.
A'shanti Gholar (32:04):
So excited to have you here. The first time you were at an Emerge event out here in San Francisco, it was after you had won your first race for Congress, which is extremely exciting. I know a lot of us know you, but please give your formal introduction and tell everyone why you're such a badass.
Abigail Spanberger (32:26):
And I think, for that event, Deb Haaland and Lauren Underwood and Kim Schrier-
A'shanti Gholar (32:33):
We have this new Lucy McBath, Deb Haaland. You're part of the original Emerge Caucus in Congress, which was five back in 2018, and now is 13 in 2025.
Abigail Spanberger (32:51):
I first found out about Emerge because of my mother. My mother did one of the first Emerge classes in Virginia. The consummate advocate, my mother was focused on a wide range of issues and priorities and did Emerge. Ultimately ran for school board in Virginia. Did not win, but set a good example. And so, it was fun for a time to see yard signs with my mom's name on it.
(33:23)
And at the time, I was a CIA officer, I was undercover in that role. It never occurred to me that I was someday able to potentially run for office. But after I left CIA, we moved back home to Virginia and I had begun doing advocacy with Mom's Demand Action. And my mother would say, you should do Emerge. You should do Emerge. And everywhere I went, this is my Emerge sister, this is my Emerge sister.
(33:50)
And so, in the fall of 2016, I decided… I thought I wanted to potentially apply for Emerge. And what I think is so spectacular about Emerge is it's based in your state, so Emerge Virginia is a network of women in Virginia. And so, I started the application and then I thought, no, I'm busy and my kids are little and I don't think so. And I started it and then I stopped. And then the election happened and there was this email that went out. I don't know if it was just all of us who had started applications and not finished, and said-
A'shanti Gholar (34:35):
Yes.
Abigail Spanberger (34:35):
We've extended our deadline. And I think I rage applied and I was accepted into the class. And even at that time, my whole thought process was this will help me as somebody who had previously been on the Hatch Act. And it wasn't necessarily super comfortable in the political space, but this will help me with the advocacy that I believe in. And a applied to the program, was accepted, started, and what I found so amazing was to be in the room of other women who believed in the value of electing good people, strong people. In our case, in Virginia.
(35:16)
And so, there were some people in that class who never had any intention of running for office. Some of those people who really never had any intention, who by the end of the class, were running for Congress. But actually, one of my Emerge sisters is here today, just by coincidence. Johanna, where are you? And so, it's been an extraordinary journey and, certainly, I think among the valuable things that you learn in Emerge, to sit in a room of other people and to say out loud, I think I might want to run for office, is the most impactful, empowering thing that you can experience. And there's not a world in which I think I would have run for office had it not been for that experience. Obviously, the bottom line is my mother is always right.
A'shanti Gholar (36:14):
From Congress to governor, your race is this year and, congratulations, because you just secured the Democratic nomination, so it's official official. And as a Virginia resident, I love that because I get to vote for you and I just know how much we need you in that role because I see the destruction that is happening every day in Virginia with the current Republican governor. I know how horrible it would be if any of the Republican candidates were to ascend into that role.
(36:56)
Just tell everyone a little bit more about your race and what is that state, because so much has been accomplished in Virginia due to your leadership in Congress, our Emerge alum serving up and down the ballot, and we need to definitely get the state back on track.
Abigail Spanberger (37:14):
In 2025, the only statewide races are Virginia and New Jersey. And in Virginia, we currently have three statewide electeds. In Virginia, we're each elected independently and we have a Republican governor, a lieutenant governor, and attorney general. We do have a small majority, 51 out of 100 seats in the House of Delegates, and all 100 seats are on the ballot this year. We have amazing candidates running up and down the ballot in the Commonwealth this year.
(37:50)
What's at stake is, frankly, everything. When I first started running for governor, my focus was on affordability, endeavoring a lower cost, contending with the housing and the healthcare affordability crisis, endeavoring to put Virginia on the path towards having the best public education system in the country and recognizing the continuous attack on our rights, certainly across the country, but the need to protect them in the commonwealth.
(38:20)
Now, you add all of those individual issue areas to the reality that Virginia is home to more than 320,000 federal employees, our very economy is under attack and we need a governor who's going to stand up for Virginians, their livelihood, the service that they render to our country, recognizing that the federal employees we're talking about, they're researchers at the NIH, they're nurses at the VA. They are USDA employees who are supporting farmers and producers across our commonwealth. This is the impact that we see.
(39:05)
And at this time of chaos and challenge across the country, Virginia gets to be an example for what you can get right when we have good candidates running solid campaigns, endeavoring to defeat extreme ideas, ideologies, politicians who want to take public dollars out of public education, politicians like my opponent who would take us back as it relates to reproductive rights in the Commonwealth of Virginia. And so, every day is a motivating day in Virginia. We will win. It's a long way between now and November, but we're clear-eyed about the challenge before us. And I know that we can and we will flip the governorship, the
Abigail Spanberger (40:00):
Lieutenant Governor Schiff, the Attorney General, and here's the thing that's really inspiring. In Virginia, of those 100 House of Delegate seats currently held by 51 Democrats, we have 96 Democratic candidates running for election. In the bluest of the blue and the reddest of the red and everywhere in between, we have people who are standing up who want to represent their communities who recognize that this year is the year that across the Commonwealth of Virginia, it's the year to stand up for the policies and the people of our commonwealth. And I know that we will do right certainly by Virginians, but we will make an extraordinary example that I hope other states will follow in 2026.
A'shanti Gholar (41:03):
You mentioned that your opponent when it comes to reproductive rights is extremely scary because right now Virginia is the only state in the South where we still have access to reproductive freedom and they have promised to take that away. That is one of their goals. They tried to chip where they can, we have great alums, emerging alums who are fighting back. But just tell us a little bit more about that because it is going to be extremely scary when you look at a map and you look at the South and millions of women will not have the ability to control their own body.
Abigail Spanberger (41:44):
Virginia is the only state in the South that since the Dodd's decision hasn't further restricted abortion access. And the clapping goes to the State Senate who with a majority of 21 out of 40 blocked a bill before we got the majority back in the House of delegates, blocked a bill that would have restricted abortion access in Virginia that we know the governor would have signed, that my opponent was in favor of. That 21 out of 40 number is the reason that we were able to hold that back in Virginia. We're now in the process of putting forth a constitutional amendment in Virginia. It's a multi-year process. We're in the first year out of three in order to get a constitutional amendment enshrining access to reproductive health care.
(42:41)
But notably, the General Assembly took up a bill that would just make clear through legislation that access to contraception is guaranteed in Virginia and my opponent as lieutenant governor cast the tie-breaking vote against ensuring access to contraception, ultimately it did pass. We ultimately got it through, but the expectation is that the governor will veto it this week as he did last year when we passed it as well. So it's serious, the rights certainly of reproductive freedoms in Virginia. We've also, under our last Democratic governor made it more straightforward to cast a ballot. We have 45 days of early voting, which is essential to people being able to access the ballot, cast their vote, make their voices heard, and we know that the basic rights in the Commonwealth of Virginia are under threat if we see the election go the wrong way, which is not what will happen.
A'shanti Gholar (43:58):
We are so lucky to have you stepping up to run for governor. We have another Emerge alum, Shannon Taylor, stepping up to run for AG in Virginia, we have a great partnership with the Democratic Attorney General Association. So I do want to close this out by just having you quickly say, why do we still need women running during this time? Because one of the things that is really, really making me angry y'all is we actually have some women elected officials that have made comments that women shouldn't run, that they may not get elected. Y'all say it's [inaudible 00:44:39] but it's unfortunately real. So at Emerge we're always here to do this work. We're committed to this work. What would you say to those women who are thinking about running for office?
Abigail Spanberger (44:49):
Do it, run. And the most consequential piece of it is being able to utter those words, "I think I want to run for office, I'm going to run for office, I am running for office." And I'm running for governor, I love my wonderful commonwealth, so I'll center my answer on Virginia. The women who are running to flip seats in the House of Delegates and so many of the candidates who have been elected in recent years, and frankly some of the steadiest voices in our General Assembly are women, powerful women who bring their experiences to the legislature every day.
(45:34)
And in 2025, I'll just name a couple, Kimberly Pope Adams is a woman who ran for the House of Delegates and lost I believe it was 53 votes in 2023. She's an unbelievable candidate. She's a single mom. She is an auditor and gives this incredible speech that makes me feel like, "Oh, my gosh, we need auditors in the General Assembly. Lily Franklin, who is running in southwest Virginia, who when she ran in 2023, frankly speaking, lots of people said, "She's too young, it's a red area. No way will she win." And I went to the campaigned with her a ton and I was telling everyone, "This woman can win because she brought energy, urgency, and passion to the community that she was of and the community she wanted to serve." And in the end she came up 183 votes short. This year she will win and when she does, she will be bringing the voices of some students at Virginia Tech, which she'll represent a portion of them, but importantly farmers and producers in our agricultural communities in a portion of southwest Virginia, she'll bring those voices to Richmond.
(47:00)
And Leslie Mehta, who my last example, although I could go on because there's so many incredible women, she ran for Congress last year in the first district, came up short, but man, oh man, when she was considering running again, people said, "Well, you ran for Congress, so wouldn't you run for Congress again in 2026?" And she came to me and she said, "I just want to serve. I want to be able to bring voices to government." She's an attorney, she's an ACLU attorney, she's brilliant. I first met her, her late daughter had a genetic disorder and she's done a tremendous amount of advocacy for rare disease research. She's brilliant. And people said, "Well, why would you run for House of Delegates? It's much smaller, it's a smaller race." And I said, "It's perfect because when you bring that congressional race energy to your geographically far more compact House of Delegates district, your opponent's not going to have any idea what hit him. It's going to be awesome.
(48:07)
And these women, they're going to win. And frankly, when kids and not just little girls, when kids come to Richmond and they look at our General Assembly already on the Democratic side of the aisle, they see who they can be. They see it. And so anyone thinking about running, just do it and frankly recognize that when you win it's actually the fact that you may not fit the usual mold that will be your strength in government.
A'shanti Gholar (48:45):
Thank you so much for everything that you do. Thank you for being here and I can't wait to call you my governor.
Abigail Spanberger (49:26):
Thank you. Thank you.
Katie Hobbs (49:26):
Good evening everyone. I'm the Arizona Governor and Emerge alum Katie Hobbs and I'm excited to celebrate Emerge turning 20 with all of you. Since its founding, Emerge has been on the front lines of transforming our elected offices by creating a network of sisterhood for Democratic women and inspiring the next generation of leaders. I was recruited into the inaugural class of Emerge Arizona where I realized that if you can't change policy, you have to change the people making the policy. I started volunteering for local campaigns and became active in my local Democratic Party and I knocked on hundreds of doors in my community. That experience with Emerge gave me the confidence and tools to launch my own campaign for the Arizona State Legislature.
(50:13)
In 2010, I ran for the State House and I won. Since then, I haven't lost an election and I haven't stopped fighting for Arizonans [inaudible 00:50:24] in the State Senate, as secretary of state, and now as governor. I'm so proud of how much we've accomplished for everyday Arizonans in the last two and a half years. From canceling $2 billion in medical debt for over a million Arizonans to providing down payment assistance so that more Arizonans can live the American dream and buy their first homes, to protecting reproductive freedom from extremists by repealing a dangerous 1864 abortion ban and enshrining abortion rights into the Arizona Constitution. Working together, there's nothing [inaudible 00:50:56] So congratulations to Emerge and thank you so much for all of you watching tonight who support this organization. Without you, Emerge women in office couldn't do what we do. Here's to another powerful 20 years.
Speaker 2 (51:14):
Please welcome Emerge board member Gretchen Sisson.
Dale Schroedel. (51:24):
Hello everyone. My name is Gretchen Sisson and I'm a proud Emerge board member, an author, an abortion researcher, and a friend and mentee of the incomparable Cecile Richards. It might seem impressive to have had Cecile as a mentor, but I promise it wasn't only because Cecile was a mentor to everyone in our field and she took that role incredibly seriously. She always showed up for the next generation of leaders and thinkers in the abortion access and reproductive justice movements. She showed up with advice, with her network and with a shared purpose and moral clarity around the work that needed to be done. She was a fearless executive and she was a movement builder because while she was undoubtedly a once-in-a-generational messenger, she also deeply cared about getting stuff done. And I know I'm introducing a woman from Michigan, so I could say something else, but we're going to stick with stuff right now. Which brings me to tonight's recipient of the Cecile Richards Impact Award.
(52:35)
As we've seen in the last two cycles, a lot of politicians want to run talking about abortion access, but not everyone actually wants to govern on abortion access when it comes time to deliver for voters. But in Michigan, Senator Mallory McMorrow and her colleagues decided not just to promise but to deliver just that. After Michiganders passed a ballot initiative to protect abortion access, the Senate followed that up with the Reproductive Health Act that repealed the 1831 abortion ban, repealed the targeted regulation of abortion provider laws. You all might not know what those are. I am happy to talk in more detail than you want after the program. They repealed the law that forced patients to buy a separate insurance rider to access abortion care, and they ensured that students in their public university had access to accurate reproductive health information.
(53:31)
These are the types of policies that not only make reproductive choice possible, but make abortion access real. And these are the type of policies that Americans need implemented by the leaders they deserve, and they're the policies that Mallory McMorrow is going to fight for at every level of office. Mallory, I'm so proud to present you with the Cecile Richards Impact Award and I know Cecile will be very proud to have you receive it. Thank you so much for fighting for us.
Mallory McMorrow (54:18):
Good evening. I'm so proud to be here tonight and I want to tell you a little story. A video went viral the day after the 2016 Election. It was middle school students chanting, "Build that wall," at a Latina student. They were slamming on the tables and yelling. That was at Royal Oak Middle School, which was my polling place the day before where I stood in line hoping to end Trump's hopefully brief journey into politics by electing our first woman president. Then when that didn't happen, I did the only logical thing I could think to do next. I Googled how to run for office. I applied to Emerge Michigan thinking surely I'm going to be rejected. I had no political experience, I had never worked on a campaign. But it's a funny thing, when you raise your hand, you tend to be called on.
(55:21)
What struck me about the women in my Emerge class wasn't the ambition. Not one said, "I was born to be in it." We were there because we quite reluctantly saw running as the only solution to problems that nobody seems to be fixing. A Black woman in her seventies from Detroit said she lived through the '67 riots and had never seen things as bad as they were today. A childcare center director watched as women were demoralized and resources were cut. A scientist was horrified by the anti-science, anti-fact rhetoric coming from politicians like Donald Trump. And as for me, I wanted to believe in an American dream where decency matters, where everyone feels seen and heard, where our creativity and hard work mean that we are limitless, an American dream in stark contrast to the American nightmare unfolding, that celebrated lifting some up by tearing others down. In 2018, I took on a Republican incumbent whose father had served in Congress for 16 years and who had won his last election by 16 points. With an all-woman team, we beat him by four points, swinging the district 20 points and breaking the Republican supermajority in the Michigan State Senate. Then in 2022, after a Floor speech of mine went viral, I raised millions of dollars for other candidates running for State Senate and we helped flip the State Senate for the first time since 1984. And when we took that power, we weren't afraid to use it. We got to work Repealing Michigan's 1931 abortion ban, passing gun violence prevention measures, universal school meals, building thousands of new housing units, canceling medical debt for tens of thousands of Michiganders, expanding childcare and so much more.
(57:37)
Now I'm running for US Senate with that same why. Not because I ever wanted to be a senator, but because if you haven't noticed right now, our country is going through it. We need that spirit that I found with those 22 other women learning the hard way how to make our own seats at the table because we know damn well nobody else is going to make them for us because ours is a country that needs to be fixed, righted and restored to wake up from the American nightmare and write our new American dream because all of us in the room, we are the ones who are going to write it. Thank you very much.
A'shanti Gholar (59:04):
Congratulations Mallory, and thank you so much Gretchen, one of my amazing board members. All right, it's time. We are so honored to have our next guest joining us tonight. She is one of the main inspirations for our work and why Emerge exists. That's right. Her first campaign for district attorney started right here in San Francisco and helped spark the movement that became Emerge when her inner circle saw the need for a program to train women on how to run for office and men. That is precisely what Emerge was created to do and is what we've been doing for 20 years. She has spent a career in public service fighting for the people of California as Attorney General and US Senator, and then we got to watch her fight for all of us as our first woman vice president. I think we all know who I'm talking about. She is the original Emerge woman, the one and only our 49th Vice-
Speaker 3 (01:00:00):
-- original Emerge woman, the one and only, our 49th Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris. Just a moment. I'm glad y'all are excited. A little bit more. So we do have something in the network right now. You know what? Madam VP, they don't want to hear from me. They want you. Come on out.
Mallory McMorrow (01:00:24):
-- everyone. Hi. Good to be home. Oh, thank you. Oh, hi, Andrea. Hi, everyone. Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you. And Dougie's here too. Oh, please have a seat. Please have a seat. Oh. Oh, it's wonderful to be home. And thank you all. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, and 20 years, Andrea. My goodness. I mean, your babies are grown. Good evening, everyone. Thank you for supporting Emerge. Thank you for supporting Emerge. It is so wonderful to be home and to be back with all the leaders who are here, and to celebrate this extraordinary organization, which is an organization of so many exceptional leaders, those who found the courage to run for office and those who support them. Emerge…
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I will say something you know. Throughout my entire career and life, I have always believed in the ideals of our nation, the ideals reflected in the Declaration of Independence that all are created equal and endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights, ideals advanced and affirmed by the service and sacrifice of generations of patriots, the ideals that ground the constitution of the United States, that here in our country, power ultimately lies not with the wealthy or well-connected, but with all of us, with we, the people.
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Now, of course, I recognize that America has never fully lived up to these ideals, that for all the gains we've made, the American dream has for decades been slipping further out of reach for so many, and that the American people deserve leaders who make their lives better and make our country stronger. But sadly, we have seen quite the opposite over these past few months. Now, I know tonight's event happens to coincide with the 100 days after the inauguration, and I'll leave it to others to give a full accounting of what has happened so far. But I will say this, instead of an administration working to advance America's highest ideals, we are witnessing the whole wholesale abandonment of those ideals. And what we are also seeing in these last 14 weeks is Americans using their voice and showing their courage.
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We all know President Trump and his administration, and their allies, are counting on the notion that fear can be contagious. They are counting on the notion that if they make some people afraid, it will have a chilling effect on others. But what they're overlooking, what they have overlooked is that fear is not the only thing that's contagious.
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Courage is contagious, the courage of Americans who are banding together in the face of the greatest man-made economic crisis in modern presidential history; Americans across the political spectrum who are declaring that the president's reckless tariffs hurt workers and families by raising the cost of everyday essentials, devastate the retirement accounts that people spent a lifetime paying to, and paralyze American businesses, large and small, forcing them to lay off people, to stop hiring, or pause investment decisions; the courage of Americans, we are seeing, who are rallying at Social Security officers to protect their hard-earned benefits; of Americans who are speaking out to say, it is not okay to violate court orders, not okay, saying it is not okay to detain and disappear American citizens or anyone without due process; the courage of judges to uphold the rule of law in the face of those who jail them; of universities that are defying, unconstitutional demands that threaten the pursuit of truth and academic independence.
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And I will tell you, the courage of all these Americans inspires me, and I have been inspired by the movements like the one in Wisconsin that put Susan Crawford on the Supreme Court; by the State of the People Power Tour that is aiming to ignite a grassroots movement, to lift up voices, and advance freedom and justice; and by leaders across the spectrum, including congressional leaders, like Cory Booker, Chris Van Hollen, Chris Murphy, Jasmine Crockett, Maxwell Frost, AOC, and Bernie Sanders, all who in different ways, have been speaking with moral clarity about this moment.
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So here's one of the other things I wanted to talk about tonight, and to highlight. So look, some people are describing what's been happening in recent months as absolute chaos. And, of course, I understand why, and it's certainly true of those tariffs, tariffs that, as I predicted, are clearly inviting a recession. But friends, please let us not be duped into thinking everything is chaos. I know it may feel that way, but understand what we are in fact witnessing is a high-velocity event where a vessel is being used for the swift implementation of an agenda that has been decades in the making, an agenda to slash public education, an agenda to shrink government, and then privatize its services, all while giving tax breaks to the wealthiest among us. By the way, an agenda that is not lowering costs, not making life more affordable, and not what they promised. It's an agenda, a narrow self-serving vision of America where they punish truth-tellers, favor loyalists, cash in on their power, and leave everyone to fend for themselves, all while abandoning allies and retreating from the world. And folks, what we are experiencing right now is exactly what they envisioned for America. Right now, we are living in their vision for America, but this is not a vision that Americans want. We are living in a moment when the checks and balances upon which we have historically relied have begun to buckle. And we here know that when the checks and balances ultimately collapse, if Congress fails to do its part, or if the courts fail to do their part, or if both do their part, but the President defies them anyway, well, friends, that is called a constitutional crisis. And that is a crisis that will eventually impact everyone because it would mean that the rules that protect our fundamental rights and freedoms, that ensure each of us has a say about how our government works, will no longer matter. And if that happens, the one check, the one balance, the one power that must not fail is the voice of the people.
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And look, right now, I know a lot of folks are wondering, what's going to guide us through this moment? How are we all going to figure out how to chart the course? But that's not a reason to throw up our hands. In fact, please allow me, friends, to digress for a moment, okay? It's kind of dark in here, but I'm going to ask for a show of hands. Who saw that video from a couple of weeks ago, the one of the elephants at the San Diego Zoo during the earthquake. Google it if you've not see it. So that scene has been on my mind. Everybody's asking, what you've been thinking about these days? Well… So in the video, for those of you haven't seen it, here those elephants were, and as soon as they felt the earth shaking beneath their feet, they got in a circle and stood next to each other to protect the most vulnerable. Think about it. What a powerful metaphor.
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Because we know those who try to incite fear are most effective when they divide and conquer, when they separate the herd, when they try to make everyone think they are alone. But in the face of crisis, the lesson is don't scatter. The instinct has to be to immediately find and connect with each other, and to know that. So I'll end with this. I am not here tonight to offer all the answers, but I am here to say this, you are not alone, and we are all in this together. And straight talk, things are probably going to get worse before they get better, but we are ready for it. We are not going to scatter. We are going to stand together, everyone, a leader, and emerge. You have a special role to play. Organizing is as important as ever. Mobilizing is as important as ever. Running for office is as important as ever.
(01:16:06)
So please, everyone here, please keep doing what you are doing. And to everyone, let's lock it in. Lock it in. Gear up for the hard work ahead. And please, always remember, this country is ours. It doesn't belong to whoever is in the White House. It belongs to you. It belongs to us. It belongs to we, the people. Thank you. God bless you, and god bless America.
