zirin on book tv's "in-depth" on c-span two. ," author and "q&a journalist patricia miller, a sex scandal with a congressman sued by a former mistress. patricia: the number of names he had to signify the southern elite, he had been a confederate man in thelvary confederate how paris, and at the time of the lawsuit, he is in his fifth term in congress. his mistress was nobody. she was a corporal from kentucky with little aspirations, very hungry for an education. she was this hungry young woman who ran into birkin ridge -- breckenridge, she was desperate to get an education. >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span's "q&a."

next, house republican leadership members, female political experts, and former campaign staffers participate in a panel discussion at the launch of a least a phonic -- of elise stefanik's political action committee. this is about an hour and 25 minutes. welcome, everyone. sorry for the delay. we just finished up our votes on the floor. first of all, wow, i'm so excited that so many people turned out in support of this important initiative, and i wanted to welcome everyone here today to the official launch of epac, to engage, empower, elevate, and elect more republican women to congress. in 2020 and beyond. as you know, we are facing a crisis level of republican women in congress.

the number of republican women house members dropped from 23 to only 13 in this congress. let's think about that, that means republican women make up less than 3% of the house of representatives. we know that this is not reflective of the american public, and we can and we must do better. and we do not need to ask for permission to tackle this challenge. my commitment to supporting republican women running for congress stems from my own experience when i first ran in 2014. i was 29 years old at the time when i announced my candidacy. i was the long shot underdog who many said could not win the primary, let alone the general election in a swing district. but because of hard work, grit, and a strong campaign team with grass-roots support, we earned early investment and support and , and i am forever grateful for those leaders, many of whom are

in this room today, who invested in me early on. leaders like ann wagner, diane black, kathy mcmorris rodgers, susan brooks, paul ryan, and john boehner. i will never forget the faith they had in me and my team, and because of that experience, i have focused on how to improve our recruitment efforts for non-traditional candidates. i was honored to serve as the first woman recruitment chair for the congressional committee last cycle, where will we recruited over 100 women to run for congress. unfortunately, about half didn't make it through their primaries , and we only added one new republican woman in the freshman class, carol miller, who we love and support, but we need more of. i believe that one way we can attempt to change this trend is supporting strong women candidates pre-primary. as anyone can tell you, this is critical. proud to announce that

in the 2020 cycle, we will develop a slate of top republican women candidates pre-primary similar to the young guns program developed by a young kevin mccarthy, paul ryan , and eric cantor, these candidates will qualify for a formal slate by meeting certain benchmarks like fund-raising, campaign strategy, district data , and budget. the slate will consist of top tier women republican candidates in the country, and epac will support them with direct contributions as well as bundling efforts in washington and around the country. but unlike the young guns program, this program will be for women, and it will be pre-primary. early dollars. in addition to financial support, epac will focus on candidate development and mentorship. we will also work to elevate the profiles of these women candidates to ensure they earn media coverage, something that has often been overlooked for republican women candidates. as we build out this robust program, i want to say an enormous thank you to all of you

who have stepped up. my initial pie the sky goal for this event, that i thought was going to be impossible, was to raise $100,000. in just two weeks, with your support, we blew past that number, and i'm proud to announce today that we have raised over $250,000, shattering our goals. [applause] rep. stefanik: so i owe you a great thanks for that early support, and we will pay it forward to more female republican candidates. i also want to thank samsung for welcoming us into your awesome space. thank you for signing up early in support of this initiative. today, we will hear from a number of panels, and i'm exciting to kick it off with the first panel that features house leadership, and i will invite them up to the stage now. my friends and colleague, republican leader kevin mccarthy, come on up.

[applause] rep. stefanik: thank you. with a contribution, thank you, kevin. our conference chair, liz cheney from wyoming. [applause] and tom emmer, our nrcc chair, welcome. [applause] rep. stefanik: so first, thank you to all of my friends for your support and for appearing here today at this important launch event. kevin, i'll start with you. why do you believe it's important to support republican women, and what do they add to the conference? ok, well, first of all, i want to thank you for doing this. i remember when i first met elise when she was going to run. there were other people who ran before. enthusiastic,

like she still is, but she was a trailblazer, being able to do something others have not been able to do before. we serve in a body that is supposed to be reflective of our country. a microcosm of our society. today, republicans are missing a broad spectrum of that. and thank you for your recruiting effort. we have a lot of women who serve today who lost, but i will tell you where i was two weeks ago, i was in south dakota for the swearing in of christine nome as the first woman governor of south dakota. [applause] rep. mccarthy: if you want to be a representative government and reflect america, we need more women in congress, especially on the republican side. and we have to find out what the challenge is. the number one challenge we have becomes women or minorities. the biggest challenge they have in election is not the general election, they do better in the general election, it's the primary. we have to get people through where we have the opportunity , and when we do, i think we'll be the majority, and i thank you for your effort.

rep. stefanik: thanks, kevin. liz, i was proud to nominate you to serve as our conference chair. that is the highest position of women in the republican conference, and we think you're a huge asset in that role. one of the things you and i have talked about is the importance of not just supporting women candidates but reaching out to women voters with our message. talk about how you plan to tackle that as conference chair. rep. cheney: thank you, elise. let me add my comments to kevin's in terms of just thank you so much for doing this, thank you for taking a leadership role on it. it's important for the party and

for us in the house, and i think it is crucial. we need to get more women to run, we need to find what it is that are obstacles to women in . in my view, women spend more time assessing what they don't have, assessing experience they haven't had rather than just going for it, and i think it's important for us to encourage women to jump in. and i think that at the end of the day, we have to get more women voters and a large part for us at conference will be making sure our message is coming out. making sure we are demonstrating that if you put our policies as republicans up against the policies of the democrats and in particular the very far left policies, that you're seeing now coming both from a lot of freshmen democrats but as well as their presidential candidates that it's our policies that , provide opportunity. it's our policies that provide security for people. our policies help to ensure that everybody has an equal shot. we have an economy that is growing and providing jobs and that we're listening. a huge part of making sure we're attracting women voters is demonstrating we're willing to listen to people's concerns and that we're willing to have conversations in small groups around the country as well as the national level about the kind of future our party will build versus the kind of future the democrats will offer if they're voted in again, so i'm

very excited about it, and i'm thrilled to be a colleague of elise's and be working on these important issues with her. thank you. rep. stefanik: thanks, liz. tom, as chairman of the nrcc, can you talk about what steps the nrcc can take to prioritize women candidates this is cycle and ensure we're recruiting women candidates? >> well, actually we have to continue what you started in the last cycle. the good news is we have a leader in complete alignment with everything that needs to be done, and, elise, you started it. we've got susan brooks, our colleague who is going to head up the recruitment, but it's not just going to be about susan brooks. we are excited about what you are doing, because we're going to align with you and help with what you're doing to the extent

we can, but the mission is the same, and i don't think people realize but in the last cycle, elise stefanik is the chair of our recruitment committee and recruited a record number of republican women to run for office. everybody wants to make it look as though it only happened on the other side, but you had a record number of women who stepped up and ran, and they ran good campaigns, but money matters and the money was rained in from the other side, from the bloombergs, the steyers, the dccc, and they targeted not just women incumbents but the great candidates you recruited so much so that we only got one through the entire process. now, that's the focus. you have to find great female candidates, and i'll give you an example. we had ashley henson, a sitting state senator, rod blum's district, most recently rod blum was in that district. she approached us the day of -- i think the swearing in and said she's running, this is a formere swearing-in. anchor,a former tv news former state senator, incredibly polished. this will goid --

to susan brooks. give her the feedback, you give her the encouragement, liz, to your point, you tell them what they can do to run. we will start with what you started and hopefully we will all new womenth candidates. some ran and should run again. they've got to be more reflective of our communities. rep. stefanik: tom, i know you are very committed to this. you have been wonderful. every candidate who has reached talkedthe nrcc, you have to them. ashley is one of them. a younghen you were member, you started the young guns program and were very interested in making sure we develop metrics.

can you talk about the importance of those metrics? remember, it's not just that you encourage someone to run. what happens is, they come up and you let them sit there. they need more. they need financial resources. women candidates versus men candidates in the republican primaries, women would get less. we've got to change that. getting through the primary is the most difficulty. at electedt have knowledge or resources before. i did not want washington picking who the candidates should be. you can run in california. that's a whole different background, depending on who you talk to, what the issues are.

picking thehington candidate. the district is. you are giving everyone the opportunity. the other thing is not to be afraid if you june not win the first time. our first woman candidate did not win the first time. she came back and won again. there has to be seat money, but money.to be beyond seed expertise at so many different levels can provide that. michigan does this. they allow us to utilize that,

perfect,r, this is because it would be liz going in and explaining, telling what needs to be done. committee. what happens is a lot of people do not know about the successes of others. the first part, we've got to let they canderstand, yes, run and they can win. it may not look like it today, but it can happen. one of theik: challenges we have for women is making sure we elevate their voices when they are elected to serve. i think about amazing women in our conference. an example is all the amazing work that and wagner has done to human trafficking.

or jamie waggoner's legislation to address maternal mortality issues. it's important to elevate women's voices so they are leaving on not just women's issues, but all issues. tell me how you approach that. rep. cheney: you make a really good point, policelise. find to be very inaccurate in the way the democrats do it is to say there are women's issues and other issues. that, youat i look at assume that national security is not an issue that women care about. national security matters a lot to women. sure that women know -- our responsibility is making sure that people have an outlet, to make sure nationally and around the country we are

helping to book our women members and others, but i want to go back just one minute to the issue of the woman candidates. i have five kids. i have spent a lot of time in classrooms with my kids' teachers. if you go to any 2-year-old, three-year-old, four-year-old classroom, you will see the girls are running circles around the boys in those classrooms. [laughter] rep. cheney: that's right, elise. but then it starts to change. junior high, high school, girls are not running things anymore. i asked the third grade teacher once. why is this? why all of a sudden are the girls not out there in the lead? the girls stop taking risks. i am not an advocate for crazy risk-taking, but i think it's

really important for us to be able to say to women candidates, just because you have never run before, just because you have never been on tv before, don't let that stop you. most of the men candidates have not done that either. our womenat is where and conference, i lighting the important work they do on issues, highlighting them as n isples for young wome hugely important. it's a big priority and something we will be focused on. tom, last cycle you served as one of the deputies at the nrcc. i was one of the vice chairs. talk to me about your overall strategy. i know you are laser focused on getting back the majority. rep. emmer: this is a different election. the last election is what you refer to as a check election, a check on the new president.

this is going to be a choice selection. this is going to be a choice about which direction the country is going to go. all candidates, including many female candidates we hope to put up, will be about localizing senate races. i know the national talking heads want people to be theerned that we have political realignment taking place in this country. that's not true. this is still a center-right country. 34% of the voters in the last election identified as republican. it in a fight as democrat. 35% identified as independent. fell 12 pointent in the favor of the democrats less selection. those of the people that we have to target. this was an idea back in 2004. the idea then was, in order to maintain a majority, you not

only have to win these greater states, the rural areas of america, but you have to win for s,majority of the independent and that is the center-right substance, the educated women we lost in the last election. it's not just people who can connect to their district, but making sure those candidates are delivering a message to the suburbs. can hold our base and take back our majority. rep. stefanik: kevin, i know as a republican leader, you spent time working with the nrcc, working with our entire team and conference in how to win in 2020. can you talk to me strategically and how you plan on approaching this next cycle? rep. mccarthy: i want to give you one example. it's not just the nrcc to recruit.

it's all of us. before i got to congress, i was a state assembly member. i come from an area in -- i recruited the person who followed me in the state is simply. she went on to sit in the senate. she became the first woman leader in the senate, republican or democrat. member.ted the next i called her up. i said, you ever thought about running? she was the superintendent of schools. she never thought about running. i said, you can win and i will get behind you 100%. you know who got elected the new republican leader? the last three republican leaders in california have been women. can we win? can we win the majority? we are

supposed to lose 30-some seats. democrats read drew pennsylvania. election changed the law in maine where it is ranked choice. we would have one main again, but they changed the law. in california, they were able to harvest ballots. they one election, 4 seats. so, what does it look like now? a higher minority to claw back. we have to get 18 to get there. gain nine, sod to

we are halfway there. we have three seats we have to defend. they have 31. it's a whole different makeup. what has to happen is if you want to get a really good recruits, especially what we are looking for, reflective of this country, you have to put money into the race and not wait until the primary. willill go through, she have a tough primary. we will be there for her. we will lean in, right? to get to spend so much through, she will be going against an incumbent that has $2 million. if we raise the money now so when she finishes the primary there's a million dollars for her, we get a higher quality candidate and you will get someone willing to take a risk. is to askst challenge

someone what you want to run. if you are concerned about your country, you will be the very best candidate we have found. if the same question i asked elise. she was going to become the youngest woman in the history of congress. you know she had to break some china to get here. she was nervous to do it. what did she do? she did not stop. she put this together. you came because you cared and have a passion. don't just put it on to us and have to recruit. you can guide them. in courage. -- encourage. let's help, just like they said with the minor leagues. rep. stefanik: as we talked about the really strong ,andidates who ran last cycle young cam as one of those

examples -- they have no amazing personal story. an amazing background. i find that the stories do not get adequate coverage in the media the same way the democratic women candidates have. for me personally, that is one of the strategic goals, to elevate those stories. keynote here today, we have the daughter of cambodian refugees, a policy expert on the house foreign affairs committee and an entrepreneur. startedher brother businesses in the telecom industry. that story was not told until the last month of the election cycle. how can we and how can you as conference chair in sure -- ensure we are telling the stories yucca>s? that is exactly

true. i find this to be true across the board. and frankly in the house. you can sit down any member of the house and ask their life story and for the most part it is a fascinating, unbelievable set of experiences. part of those messages we have to convey -- and if the young people, the young women especially -- you can make a difference. you can have an impact. rare thingbelievably that we get to live in this nation where we get to decide who is in charge, we get to , and iwhat our laws are think we take it for granted too much. womenou think about young in particular, there is so much you see in the media about politics, about politicians, campaigns. maybe people's eyes glaze over, they roll their eyes. i think our job, all of us, as

elected representatives, is to remind people how special this nation is, and that one person can make all the difference. i think highlighting these stories, making sure that women have access to understand, this is what happens in the house of representatives and this is how one person can change things. that is one of the reasons i am so humbled to be here. and i am so proud to have police -- elise as a colleague. i want to echo everything kevin and tom have said and thank you for doing this. my wife, the only trip she wanted to go on, was to go to see elise. she was her first -- her favorite candidate before she even met her. i have a daughter. she inspired megan. she watched this race closer because whatrs,

she was telling them, this is a great opportunity. if she can do it, you can do it. it inspires others. you have to get that mentoring program going. so, i have one last question and i will ask each of the panelists. i will start with you, tom. recruitswith many across the country, women candidates and male candidates. what are the characteristics that determine success for a candidate? i have met with candidates -- here is what we are looking for. we want you to set these goals. you need a data driven campaign. talk to me. if there are candidates potentially in the audience today, about what specific metrics you are looking for

? whenemmer: it's incredible i sit here and listen to you, the things that you have done in your lifetime, it's really an honor to serve with you. had dealingsi have over the last four years, you're the best political person in our conference, the best fundraiser, and really the best judge of talent in our conference, and we are really lucky to have you as our leader. she was talking about inspiration. he is mine because his whole everybodyshe brings in, regardless of race, color, creed, and gender. it's about being on the right side of history and making sure this country provides the right opportunities for everybody. that is the first thing i do when somebody comes in, probably what you do, all of us, is -- do

they have the fire? are you just coming in because it looks like this might be fun to do? do you have any idea what you're getting into? going to run a business that, depending on where you are, you will be raising somewhere between $2 million and $3 million, and depending on the seat, it might be more over the next 12, 16 months. by the way, if you are fortunate to have the people you are selling yourself to say, yes, you are our boys, now you will run at least two businesses, if not more and these are seven-figure businesses. the first thing i want to do is know why do you want to run? i think what kevin said -- i am worried about the future of this country. i am worried about what we are leaving and passing on. that is the first thing. the second step is, do you know what you're getting into? -- by way, if you have

the way, if you have never done it, that's not a reason not to do it. if you have the fire, you have a lot of friends who will help. just seeing all of you in the room today, it shows there is a hunger for candidates, and if we can get candidates who have the hunger, we can get the resources, and yes, it is about being able to raise money. hire anyone as a consultant, you take the vast suite of services for the campaign, please call us. we will probably tell you see -- tell you you do not need that now. the first thing is, what is here and what is here. one other thing, family. , manur family is with you or woman, does not matter. if you have that kind of support, is going to be a good start and we can help with the

rest. liz, can you: answer that question? rep. cheney: sure. the logisticsver and specifics. i often just try to encourage people to do it. because it is such a special thing. i spent time working with the state department on the middle east, and one of these sets of programs i worked on was getting people -- giving women the right to vote. they made t-shirts. one of my prized possessions is a t-shirt that says "half a democracy is not a democracy." that is so important to remember. you've got the ability to fund raise. you've got the ability to organize. you've got the details, the logistics. i am so proud and honored and serve in this body

and what i do, and i incurred you to do it, there is such a unique opportunity we have to change the future and make a difference and i think it's really important for young candidates to hear that. and you've got to make sure you've got the fire in your belly. they do, absolutely get in this thing. rep. stefanik: and, kevin? bestmccarthy: it is the and one of the most difficult things you can do. every two years we get to learn the exact number of people who dislike us. [laughter] rep. cheney: with -- rep. mccarthy: with the internet much, the obstacles are so lower. it will be disruptive. comethat means is you can from anywhere, any walk of life. your voice can be amplified more

than ever before. i include to tell you right now. more people are going to listen to you. they are going to hear it. there's a better opportunity. you will think these certain people will do so much for you. they probably are not want to do that much. people are going to meet who will do more for you than even your family. give you the shirt off their back. it will either the -- one of the best experiences you have ever had. there was a publisher of books. about runningght for this. she had a great opportunity to be a supervisor. she ran and she lost. she is the mayor of our city today. i've watched this awards show where they had the best high school students competing like

this man got up. foraid, i would do anything goh.ng go -- karen she has inspired him. they had never met before. peopleernet has allowed -- so many different places, the people you work with that are just doing their job. you would be proud of them to represent you. rep. stefanik: before we close out the panel, i want to publicly thank steve scalise, the republican whip. he is not able to attend because he is on the house floor. when we launched this initiative just talking about the

importance of electing more republican women, steve picked up the phone and he was the first phone call and he was the first check to max out with this initiative. i want to publicly thank them. i want to thank all of our leadership for their support, for elevating the women serving in the house and understanding how important our voices are. thank you very much. [applause] rep. stefanik: now, i think we are running on time. ?eady for the next panel so, our next panel is elevating .ur current women leaders we have amazing women in congress. up to thisnvite

stage congresswoman susan brooks from indiana, who will be serving as our moderator. susan has lots of fans. congresswoman jaime herrera butler from washington. walorski,man jackie another hoosier. i will turn it over. brooks: thank you. we may be joined by cathy mcmorris rodgers, who is on her way. there you are. cathy mcmorris rodgers. perfect timing. perfect timing. i want to thank elise stefanik for organizing this event, for the vision, for all the incredible work she has done. we had 52 republican women on

the ballot. she was the recruitment chair during that cycle. she did in amazing job. i just want to thank elise. [applause] recruited strong candidates. but i think it has caused us all to reflect on this last election cycle because, while she helped the 52 candidates on the ballot, we did not finish the job. we slid back. only 13 women off our 52 made it across. i would like to remind people, we actually have 15 republican women. amazing panel. i want to jump into some of the questions to hopefully get you thinking about what role you can play and what role we all have to play and have been playing and what we need to be doing

differently in the future. going to start out with cathy mcmorris rodgers, who i have to tell you, when i ran for the first time in 2012 in a very was theprimary, cathy only member of congress to support me. i have never forgotten that. yes. but thank you. hy, can you please share with us what has worked in the o get strong, diverse candidates across the finish line. you have been at this for a while now. i want to thank you for your talking withd women who have never run before, like me in 2012. i know i was not your first. tell us about your experience. >> [indiscernible]

brooks: there we go. rodgers: thank you, susan. one of the best decisions i have always made. also jaime. elise. tremendous. a very important conversation we are having. 2018 was an extremely difficult cycle from republicans and republican women in particular, was in a tough race. i am in one of two congressional districts in america were more people voted in the 2018 election than in the 2016 presidential election. a toughy 10 points in cycle. when i reflect on what we did

right, it was the fund-raising. fundraising is key. this cycle, i raised more money than i have ever raised. it just underscores again the fund-raising. my opponent, who was also a woman, was raising a lot of money. we raised nearly $6 million and she was right on my tail in the end and there was outside money. the money matters. it continues to grow our efforts to support women financially. extremely important in getting women involved. i want to highlight the campaign we did in my district that was extremely effective in getting women involved.

2018 in february, we launched cap he represents politically, it was a very powerful campaign for these women to be able to say, you what, yes, women on the left are engaged, they're they're doing their thing. in a way to nts me engage politically in a way that made a difference. of that difference. as far as moving forward, i really believe that we need to continue the recruitment efforts. we need to continue to raise the money. pollsters re women that are republican, that are the message.ape so we need to be encouraging also, because how those

questions are written in the informs how that we develop the message that goes is an important piece right now that i believe too much of that is dominated by our party. >> speaking of men in our party, admit, i was asked to run by two young men in our party, actually who happen to be here. cam savage and maybe another guy cahill.ay i was asked to run. i didn't think of it myself. going, i areer path wasn't thinking about running for office. be too often, women need to asked to run for office. we often don't think of it ourselves. jamie, can you comment on that? run? you asked to >> this question always gets me, this is the going notion, you run.to be asked to i actually, came by as a result raised us, m

honestly. y mom used to take us to the state capitol every year, she used to take us to local city i remember ings and being drug to campaigns on saturdays. was like, i'm the darkest 12 meet.ld you would ever she planted that seed and really exposure. knew i was going to run. and i wasn was timing fairly young when i started this job. it did take someone like kathy saying, she helped me identify the right time. time you should step in. i would have assumed, yeah, i point, we'll see when. she helped me identify the time. bemoaned in our party, there are not a lot, especially when i was in high and l and in college wanting to get involved and wanting to find other women are from, ce to learn

mentors, so to speak, there just in this area.omen it just wasn't there. i remember having to seek it out historically. when i got the chance to work the athy, i jumped at it, first republican woman i ever got to work for. with s, we're natural relationships, that is a big piece of it. women, gosh, they are so -- i members in our conference, bless those hearts is bless their how my grandmother would say. these ladies, they will read the before the hearing, they will show up with questions ready to ask. homework.o all the the they'll put all the thought and effort into it. gents come in, who wouldn't going toere, what am i say? right? just a difference in personalities. ladies, they t could do this work well. i mean, i'm sitting up here with who, each subject area, i

would want to get into a fox the with them any day of week. some of the guys, ah, it's like class project, i don't want that person in my group. i think some of what we need to is make them more comfortable. i mean, susanna, jackie. imminently qualified to do this, it just took someone, this is an area for you. not -- when i get asked that question, when women get i get, not , defensive, it makes me feel like women aren't happening themselves. they are thinking of doing everything, we have to drill hard this is going fo be and y family.and your we want to create a place that they are wanted. there are times, i used to joke was a man cave. my husband, when we first came cluster, five women. there were five male spouses. the class of like

90-something in 2010. to the women o spouse events and talk about how they were outnumbered. going to like, we're boener. man cave.dome is a please don't do that. i think this is part of why this is critical. you are all here because you are interested. tremendous interest. it is no-brainer we want maybe know, f you or people you people in your association, people that you go to church with, know and think, ah, that's a good one. we need you to step up and you for the investment, make the ask. make those women understand, you are the right woman for the job. just plant the seed. we will water it and it will grow. i have to say, in case you didn't hear the news, i am in elise stefanik

be the nrcc will recruitment chair. [applause] >> i'm sharing that with you i need to hear from you. a team of to put people together to find candidates all across the country. women, women, people of color, people of all ages, backgrounds.iverse we need you to consider asking women in particular don't need to be asked. passed the gavel at a member caucus meeting to debbie lesko, a democrat woman said, yes, i to run.d it is not just a republican thing we are asked to run, women often asked or encouraged to run, rather than on their own raise their hand and jump in. got to change that dynamic, get more women to think about or us themselves

planting that seed and getting women. plant the seed. it is really cool when a woman invites her own self to the party. >> absolutely. >> that is where we are now. >> come comments from either of issue, more on recruiting and how do we get women to seriously consider running? tough. this isn't for everybody. briefly say, iry have been involved in recruitment through the years there are moreas women running and winning, that best things f the that we can do. women do react to the models. when they see someone is say, she did it, she did it. do it andd out how to do it successfully, they think, i can do it, too. there still is i find when i'm alking to women about wanting, encouraging them to run, they still look at it and they are kind of looking at their life thinking, how do i fit in

serving in congress. right? hey are active in their community. they have their family. whatever it may be, their business. and they just g are thinking, how does this work? difference when they can talk to someone who's here right now, making it happen. so i think the models are really important. >> thanks. jackie, when you and i won in 2012, it was the time indiana had sent republican women to congress in 50 years. had actually had a woman, 1949 toican women, from cecil harden, that was kind of a guy's name. c.c. as called we were the first women in 50 years to step up and run. been doing to keep that momentum going? yeah, share with us. >> thanks.

a lot to do with women. speakopportunity i get to in a school ear any place there high oups of girls, school, college students and those kinds of things, i always please consider runing and coming up in some of the places that we've been. it's passion. guys run for these seats for a lot of reasons. passed down ts are like football tickets at the bears. here is my dad was here, my combrandpa was here. women run because of one reason, it is passion. passionate about something. i don't care if i'm passionate i drinke kind of coffee and i think you should drink it, ounce of l use every energy i have, wherever i am and probably start in my local community. the tide that's turned in these last elections and see democratic women that empowered by

phenomenal groups of people, time, en i ran the first i lost by a half a point. hill, n i came to this after i -- i ran, i ran with ran with 2010 group, it i lost by half a point and lost because more than anything money s just a small edge. there was only one organization out here that would stand with me, that gave me money and believed in me, one upac.ization was you know what -- [applause] > i'm pretty competitive anyway, i didn't need a lot of charging on. when it came to someone to stand me, we'll put money on you and believe you can do this. let me tell you how this happens, driven by passion. i lost by a half a point. i'm married to a public school i look on that salary,

back and i don't know how we made it for two years while i time.igned full i have no idea, i wasn't working. he commitment i had to make to nail that seat took another run and we never stopped. twoead of knocking on doors rounds, i ended up knocking on doors 10 rounds. what color the inside the house. i knew the dogs names, kids names, the foot power it took to win. i really think instead of false pretenses for women, you got to be this and that, this profile that, no, you don't. you got to have passion, be out there willing to talk to everybody. raising money, it is my forte, raising money. a seat i me into thought somebody would help me carry the wire. i came in with nobody giving me of day. now i write checks, i max out. leadershipore in our

pack last year to take care of our entire conference, but to sure every women running got maxed out checks from me f. encourage all and them, we had to do that, too. it makes a difference before you here.he light of day i can tell you, the culture switchd and we see successful raising c women, we're money all the wrong way here. it took the shake-up two years engaged, i'm glad you are here. most of you supported me in the long-term. first come in, if you are not driven and there is not something that wakes you up in puts you at and night on passion, it is going to be very difficult. all being here. i can tell you for the folks that stood with me as we were literally, i don't know, probably took 50, 60,000 doors two-year period of time, that is how we ran, that is how we won. election, even though it was tough, it was a self-funder, nothing like be seat, these ng

ladies talked about and have a self-funder come in. raised more than 2.5, we had to raise 3.5, nearly 4, all country and were lagging behind everybody else in and 50 million dollar raises. self-funder came in to drop $5 head.on on my of all the commercials he ran, three weeks before the election, we started going down because if you got enough negative words being said about you, it will effect until of the guy went over the top. the difference in the win was ow many people looked at this guy and said, we know her. you can't go very far in my where somebody hasn't been served by our office. eterans, the most incredible representation, we've been able to turn story intoes successes i won on strict and one sentence. we know her and we know better thank god we could compete with money. i continuing is all about doing , all about

differently what we've done so long. get behind women early, be play in primarys and put money on the peep they'll can win because of the most be ionate and be there, there for them. i appreciate all of you that came. thanks, elise stefanik is our rock star. grateful to be here. out of, we probably all say we're grateful to be here at this point. thank you. jackie. you, yeah, that's passion. i will say she touched on started outat kathy with. i think we cannot, it is the lephant in the room and it has to do with money. it has to do with the fact that candidates, you know, on the ballot that only 13 of us got through. we lost some awesome candidates over to the sant. marsha blackburn, martha mcsally, some people left our chamber, but let's talk about the financial support and while vupac, and out with a lot of great organizations in

us, i that are helping have tell you, all of us had ough races, some tougher than others. we know and we sought the ability of the democrats to put of dollars in a couple of weeks, into some of these races.te people that did not have niem have ep they'll did not much backing before that entity went out and raised massive of money. but yet, we all have leadership lot of d have done a what jackie said and that makes a huge difference. rise?, can you talk about the entity, republicans inspiring success and empowerment project? yes. >> because we've got to have more of these types of projects, of initiatives. i would get monneleadership pacts, suzanne's supporting leaders and try to focus on women, but how can we those, how can

we really get the country behind efforts to help us compete and to get across the finish line? >> yes, thank you, suzanne. clearly the republicans are going to have to figure out how money to help women candidates in the primarys and also in the general election. blue raised $1.6 billion this cycle. on was a cycle focused house and senate candidates and were those contributors women. so we have a lot of work to do. encouraged that there is a number of organizations that have been stepping up. vupac, julie conway has been path for ng this years, working to get more money the lp republican women in primaries in the general and big shoutout to julie. right here ng her right now. >> she's here. >> vupac has done tremendous job. thank you, julie.

>> thank you, julie. [applause] more about e knows the candidates and how they are doing in their race than julie, -- day-by-day. maggie's list and oh, others. trouble. okay. but the project that we've been -- that i'm really excited been working on the last wo cycles and we did, we were raising money for many years into the women's re-election, which we need to do. we need to raise money into the re-election accounts and that and foremost to help them with their campaigns. cycles, we t two worked on a project, women's leadership series and julie riccio, i see her in the back, has been really spearheading it is to help women be are already in office, successful as leaders nationally

nd it is to raise money into leadership pacts and raising money, what we're doing here, elise and epac, equips that y individual to do more. it allows that individual, that to hero look really good peers, it helps when we're trying to get subcommittee congratulations, jackie, helps when you are in leadership. believe in you women, republican leadership on capitol hill, you really need to supporting their leadership pacts and in 2016, we $250,000 to the republican leadership pacts. $2 million to er republican women in the house that is money then that they can use, if they want to support we had some ues, womenc, really impressive that were running this last

cycle. job with a great recruitment. we were able to help them in we had the as women, resources that we need. we want to continue to grow that. do even double that this cycle because we need as any organizations as possible that are committed to helping women financially. pact is limited. 5000 in the primary, 5000 in the general. to be creative how you can get that money to the women women's leadership series i think has been a great helped them t has both in their official work look get and then also helped other women elected and businesses or others that want primaries, but sometimes don't want to do it directly, this is way to support, if you are supporting jackie's leadership pact and there was a woman who ran in

hope a, erin houchen, i she is here, from indiana. >> she will be here. >> she will be here. sarah wehr is looking at run excited ing cycle, i'm about that. this is a way we can help them get off to a great start, as that want to see them win successfully. run successfully. close out by really asking what would you and the people in this room obviously you have all been hopefully giving them things to what would you ask they leave this event later today, what would you like -- these are incredible all of ours and we thank you all for that, but what them to doike to ask us hey leave today to help not recruit, help us recruit, women p us get these across the finish line?

jamie, start with you, then to jackie. talked about a number of things. one thing that kathy touched on raising the profile of women here on capitol hill. ne of the struggles is the world's largest collection of asb presidents, everybody has are all a and they pushing it forward. leadershipl and with pacts, is to rise, the promise f the women, who maybe aren't going to toot their horn, but any day of the week, you want team, they are smart, effective, will get the job done. current circumstances illustrate, i think, we could be getting some of this done, things i one of the think you need to do obviously s make sure you have reis sources, we have resources, cusupport candidates n. you all work with a lot of our male colleagues. you all work, you see them, your companies, your members and

associations, you can in for eetings and talk to our leadership. share with them what you would like to see f. it is all working and you don't think we need more, don't say anything. because is you are here you support and recognize how desperately we need our to pective at this table represent this country. we're woefully underrepresented of the re over half american public. we need to be at the table. otherwise there will be people of the aisle, de when we see where policies are going, it will not help our our economy, elp not help liberty, women raise critical you is say something. i'm not trying to be like a tsa ad, but -- [laughter] -- the gentlemen who stage earlier are very supportive of this effort, einforce them when they step out and do something or they put a woman in a certain position or ack her up or you see them

making emphasis in these areas, we need e say it, but you kind of the team that you epresent, speaking that, reinforcing that, backing that up. who knows, we might get them right direction. >> out standing. >> jackie. exponential increase. we are 21 months away from next elections, right? what i ask tou do here and don't leave without this and i hope you night long,this all double down. we just talked about how far six, eight in four, and 10 years, exponential. not a 10% increase on what you do, exponential. 10-by-10, a 10-times-10 f. we don't come up with as much fruit we have in this place, exponential increases, we have a lew of women that ran and loss and could be right for the picking, but we'll have to be half o come to them with and not 50,000.

1 months, one month is gone, exponential increase. >> thank you, kathy. >> it's great to see everybody, are starting e this effort as early as we are. i'd encourage you to be involved, make sure that we are identifying early on those women in we want to get behind the 2020 cycle. after what we've been through pain to feel lose some colleagues that were just amazing women and and i'm hoping they will run again. i'm encouraged there are women are reaching at out, that are interested in running for office. don't believe the rhetoric you get from the other side if you re a woman in america, it is only about the democrat party. say the republican to n, we are here, we want grow the ranks and need your

help. pick candidates that you want to win in 2020. them thank you very much. >> last thing, speak up, speak men.o women and to we have to do this together. thank you, elise stefanik. thanks for having us. [applause] >> i am very excited to introduce our next panel. my friend adelle will serve as moderator, national political of real clear politics and former chair of the republican party. our panelistss, some come from a pollster or republican strategist perspective and one s heard of nonpartisan organization. i want to introduce kristen of the nderson, author selfie vote. welcome. and my friend. actually all these ladies are my friends.

christine, ews, president of bell weather result martin,sulting and bessy women in politics institute and executive and resident at government at american university. >> first of all, thank you so incredible what an vent and turnout, you had the ideas, energy and vision to put this together. you have been ahead of the curve on this. seen this problem coming for a while.

>> it is kind of a two-tier problem, electing more women, as well as getting more women to vote for republicans. about epac, it will be another resource for it is o turn to and certainly will be help part of the problem. the are here to define problem and i'm first going to turn to you, kristen. and in theen polling trenching, thinking about omen's issues and how to get millennials to vote republican in the message and the brand and going forward do different this on a path. kristen: sure. thank you so much. elise, i'm glad you are taking a bold stance to tackle this. somebody did. thrilled this event is happening and this room is packed. .is is crate cal o your question, today 10 a.m.

pew research put out first major poll of what generation z thinks about political issues. millennials, we are not the youngest anymore. z come in behind us. one question was, do you think more women o have elected to political office? or women in gen z and millennial generation, three of four say yes. more women in political office thing.ood but for men, including young answer disappointed me, high 50s. uys, we can do better, i think part of that, a challenge for specially for republicans, a lot of republicans say, i don't see gender. if you are male or female, if at the stop, i don't care, i want you elected perfectly understandable and valid opinion to have. have 13 of your members in congress of the house on.women, something is going

there are women facing different challenges. did a survey of republican voters before and after the last election to find out what do turns out and it two-thirds of republican voters unique at there is challenges faced by women running for office. herefore, a need for special efforts to try to help them get elected. >> we're going to pick up in a that thought. we have an exciting new addition today and erence scalise ublican steve is here and i would like to welcome him to the podium to make remarks. you know, come on stage, steve. we weren't able to have you on leadership panel, but he wanted to stop by. [applause] >> thank you. we're very excited to have

steve. steve was the first member who me and said i want to come out to this effort. thank you for all you were doing. on the house floor, slated to speak earlier today. he wanted to show commitment to program. couple minutes, steve and back to the panel. congratulations on get thanksgiving kicked off elise, thank you for the leadership. for being part of this, i heard it will raise $250,000. $300?hear come do an auction, jack it up to five for starters. higher than that because this is an important mission. we've worked for a long time to more female members of congress elected on the republican side. i remember when i was recruiting chair in 2012, the first person barely lost, he closest race in history of the country. had was to mia i love.

mia was another candidate who ame close, we needed her to come back and run again and she did. i'm sorry that she didn't win want to take a few minutes as i'm talking about his, to really feature what i've noticed over the years and elise, i've shared with and other female members that are important part of our conference. add more. i've noticed that when female members run on the republican nancy pelosi will spend a lot more money, in many cases, defeat much more to republican female candidates and incumbents. i go look back, in mia love's race, it was the most in the country the first time she ran and she in a recount. she ran two years later, that was the second most expensive in the country and she won. ou can sigh in the last cycle, pelosi spent millions of dollars

to take her out. thecan see that in a lot of races. we need to be aware, we need to do a better job of recruiting to recruit really good epac e candidates and what is doing, making sure we recognize that when female candidates run as republicans, nancy pelosi does not want our party to look diverse. the way, when mia ran the first time, that was the year she was the second most expensive. the most expensive was allen west race, they took him out. allen in our nt conference. look at how much they spent to carbelo.los etting diversity is important in our conference. democrats, pelosi worked extra hard, they will spend even more money. need to recognize that and raise more money so we can battle and win those races. win in the primaries, when we're able to recruit really good which we need es to work at and make sure they

have money behind them to be great in and members of our conference like the female members we have here. on this final ow note, my 11-year-old daughter, favorite member of congress is not me, it's elise stefanik. i brought madison up two years ago, i bring madison every year tis a treat to have her up during the summer and have her whole week and hang out with my daughter and show her what daddy does. every weekog a plane and having to leave madison and harrison, r-old toughest part of the job. during the summer to have them or a week on their own, one-on-one, it's a treat for me, they get to see what i do. it is a crazy schedule. happen to have one night, late-night vote, we were voting midnight, poor madison, 11:00, it was a series, 20 amendments on the floor, two-minute votes. it is chaotic and i was majority

hip, we'll get back in the majority. i'm working on members. madison.talking to madison is like, daddy, do what you got to do, i will get to elise, they hung out for an hour and a half. was i was back home, she like, how is mrs. elise doing, he does a great job of nurtureing and maybe one day madison will be up here. i don't want that burden on her, she will be a great recruit for the future. that is how hard she works recruiting process. to s important we are able elect more female members of congress and to have that voice of in our e conference. we appreciate what elise does, she's a leader in our we just finished steering committee meetings last few days and populating the tough ee, it's always a thing to do and we need more saw ne books and elise, i jackie and kathy and other

female members that are here. members, we great want more. this epac is going to help in process. thanks for what you are doing, let's broaden this coalition. to your here, talk friends about this, you will find there are a lot of people who want to help this initiative now that it is kickstarted. i was quick to support the roject because i believe in it and i believe in elise more than anything, i trust her judgment, thing she's nd of going to do to find good people who can win and that effort needs to be funded. thank you so much for what you are doing, thanks for your leadership and our female we want it ongress, to be a much larger coalition next congress. >> great. >> yield back. making you, steve, for the effort to come by when i know your schedule is crazy. sorry to ck over, interrupt, we want to get to the adele.ith >> that was great, thank you,

congressman scalise. defining ere we were, the problem and sort of the

one thing governor hogan did so well, he conveyed a sense that cared about all people. he was not interested in dividing people, he cared about people, white,all black, rich, poor. traight, gay, immigrants, whomever, people felt that. he also listened. that we learned in our research which is vital, the whoa, r had always been, losing my notes, had been speaking about education in way republicansut it as in terms of choice, which is basically no child should have inferior education based on where he lives or she lives. of is a very common way xpressing education opportunities in terms of choice. the women, how they talked about inequality. students in baltimore, students n the county shouldn't have a worse education than my kids in

other ery county or places. inequality, inequity coming up hat kept and coming up. they were expressing the same hing the governor was expressing, using a different term. we asked the governor, would you be comfortable saying inequality? yeah, that is basically what i'm willingness to adapt, willingness to listen and to meet peep where he will they of language. that was important. i think i will stop for now. back to you. betsy, you run the women in institute at american university and you recently on women anda poll the 2018 election and going forward. us a little about the findings. delighted to le, be here. thank you for your support at women of politics institute, we campus and you on students love to talk to you, as

well. polling that ur electing more women to office a priority among republican women. showed poll we did republican women were out of step when you compare them to and independent women. on the question, we asked, given womenate of the number of in congress and this was a poll that we did after the midterm but asking as of the midterm election, 20% of women, was made up of we asked them should there be is there enough, are there too many women?

10 what we found, six in republican women sort of gave us a virtual shrug and said ah, all is fine with the number of women we have in office, which was 30% ofing to me and only the republican women said we need more women. compared to 70% of democratic women who said we need more women in office tochlt me, that was the big flag. as you are thinking and talking motivate g how do we more republican women to run, i do we ou need to ask how encourage republican women and let them know it is important to that representation in washington. for women's rights will gather at freedom plaza in washington, d.c. saturday for year's women's march. our live coverage starts 12:15 eastern cspan. 2020 coverage continues tomorrow democratic senator

kirsten gillibrand, who recently presidential explor tory committee, speaking to downtown des moines live saturday 6 p.m. eastern on cspan. >> sunday on q&a, author and journalist patricia miller and "bringing down the colonel," on sex scandal involving a kentucky congressman sued by his former mistress. preston campbell breckenridge. in the southern elite, calva en a colonel, a ry, his fifthcalva term in congress. by contrast, she was nobody, she poor girl from kentucky hungry y aspirations, for education. she was a hungry young woman who ran into