Vote Run Lead

The Elevate Prize would provide a game-changing opportunity to fuel RUN/51, Vote Run Lead’s sure-fire strategy that will transform every state legislature in the country into women-led legislative bodies (≥51% women, reflective of the U.S. population). 

For decades, research has shown that women excel as leaders. They consistently rank higher in leadership qualities than men (Harvard Business Review), sponsor and co-sponsor more bills in Congress than male counterparts and send more money back to their districts (American Journal of Political Science), and in a 40-year analysis of 150,000+ public bills introduced in the House, women are much more likely to sponsor and co-sponsor bills focused on civil rights, health, and education (Political Science Research and Methods)—issues that need specific attention in the U.S., right now. 

RUN/51 will leverage Vote Run Lead’s award-winning, proprietary, nonpartisan Run As You Are(™) curriculum to train future female candidates. We will target a highly diverse cohort of anti-racist, pro-democracy, feminist leaders who will identify and articulate their unique platforms. As they run and win their state legislative races, their influence will create system-wide structural reforms that increase voter access, broaden engagement, and shape inclusive policies to elevate all.

Erin was hired at 22 years old to lead an effort to activate a diverse group of women nationwide to consider electoral politics. In that position, she met women with varying levels of political experience, yet who were already experts and innovators in their local communities. They focused on health, child services, economic innovation, other ideas often left out of traditional policymaking. 

After eight years, Erin traveled the globe, training leaders internationally, meeting activists during the Arab Spring, further understanding the power of digital connectedness. In 2014, she launched Vote Run Lead to help seed a revolution in America to be led by an intersectional group of women. 

Erin coaches women nationwide who battle misogyny and racism in city councils, school boards, and state houses. Some simply ask to be recognized and get for their communities what others benefit from so easily. Others make major changes and impact thousands of constituents. 

After seeing hints of incremental change over 20 years, Erin believes the U.S. is at a pivotal moment. If we don’t make significant progress toward parity now—delivering more just policies to improve our democracy for generations—then we’ve lost an historic opportunity to bring a compassionate, feminist leadership to America. 

Despite research that shows women excel in leadership (cited above), U.S. government is still 70+% male and overwhelmingly white. In fact, the system as-is excludes millions of citizens who cannot participate in democracy due to archaic voting rules, money in politics, and gerrymandered districts—and bills to further restrict voting rights now increase in popularity. Key voices are absent from government, while COVID19 further reveals the fragility of our democracy and grave consequences when leaders are unwilling to create fair systems. Inequity like this affects our entire 332 million-person population—in health, civil rights, even the cumulative GDP. 

Yet women are the solution and the social innovators that our country needs at scale, and they are ready to step up. RUN/51 will reach women in varying geographies in key pilot states (GA, MN, NY, and OH), paying particular attention to women of color and rural women. We will provide free trainings to propel them to run for state legislative office in 2022 and 2024 and, in four years, we will have transformed key state legislatures to be ≥51% women. From this pilot, Vote Run Lead will create a playbook to expand to all 50 states, sharing it with values-aligned partners.

RUN/51 is a comprehensive, solutions-oriented, scalable plan—and the first-ever—to target a specific government office (state legislature) to test the impact of majority women’s leadership. 

Nevada, as the only state with a majority-women lawmaking body, is the only proof of how productive and disruptive a majority-women legislature can be (https://19thnews.org/2021/01/nevada-legislature-majority-women/). From paid sick leave to prevention of sexual assault and human trafficking, historically underfunded issues are getting attention there. Yet this is just the beginning.

RUN/51 combines Vote Run Lead’s 15+ years of nonpartisan leadership training expertise and 40+ points of analyzed data—including geographical analysis, filing deadlines, open seats, voter turnout, and more—for each of our RUN/51 pilot states (GA, NY, MN, OH), in order to deliver tangible, policy impacts by women that will shape the way the U.S. strengthens and reforms democracy and eradicates systemic inequities. This effort will elevate humanity by creating a gender equity transformation model, leading to improved policies and practices, that can be scaled and replicated around the world. With RUN/51, we hope to finally be able to demonstrate what happens when a majority of women are in power.  

RUN51 directly serves women, particularly those who have historically been underrepresented in elected office. It serves them by guiding them to identify and articulate their values and to mobilize their inherent leadership; they impact tens of thousands of people in their constituencies. For RUN/51, we chose state legislative office because we know such legislation can have an avalanche effect: For example, marriage equality legislation, passed and normalized by a significant number of states, followed at the federal level. 

Erin's experience providing leadership training to Fortune 500 companies, helping women elected leaders in countries such as Bosnia, Mexico, and Ireland, have informed how to shape an effective program to build on women's power and momentum. 

To achieve planned impact, Vote Run Lead has spent the last year researching the voting conditions and unique factors affecting state legislatures in RUN/51 pilot states. State Directors are researching districts to understand their ecosystems, and will help trainees influence the narrative about new leadership through OpEd writing, radio / television PSAs, and other cultural touchpoints. We will engage them through a relational organizing model to connect with one another on issues, nominate women to run, and create circles of support around future candidates.