The Matriots

Tim Fulton 0:12Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Confluence Cast presented by Columbus Underground. We are a weekly Columbus-centric podcast focusing on the civics, lifestyle, entertainment, and people of our city. I'm your host, Tim Fulton. This week, just in time for the elections, we talk with the executive director of The Matriots, an Ohio nonpartisan political action committee, about their big, hairy, audacious goal of equal representation for women in office. We cover how they evaluate candidates, the importance of being intentional, and the correlation of women being involved in politics to women being elected to office. You can get more information on what we discussed today in the show notes for this episode at theconfluencecast.com. Also, the Confluence Cast is on Patreon. Find out how to support this podcast on our website, theconfluencecast.com, or at patreon.com/confluence. Enjoy the interview. Sitting down here with Alyssa Snyder, the executive director of The Matriots. Alyssa, how are you?

Alyssa Snyder 1:22Good. How are you?

Tim Fulton 1:23Good.

Alyssa Snyder 1:23Good.

Tim Fulton 1:24Tell us about The Matriots.

Alyssa Snyder 1:25So The Matriots is a political action committee.

Tim Fulton 1:29Mm-hmm.

Alyssa Snyder 1:29Uh, we're nonpartisan, committed to getting more women elected to office in the state of Ohio.

Tim Fulton 1:35Okay. I just want to address it up front.

Alyssa Snyder 1:37Yeah.

Tim Fulton 1:38You say nonpartisan.

Alyssa Snyder 1:39Yeah.

Tim Fulton 1:39And it's literally, some could perceive that as being sort of a liberal ideal.

Alyssa Snyder 1:45Mm-hmm.

Tim Fulton 1:45Can you talk to that a little bit?

Alyssa Snyder 1:46Yeah, sure. So when we say nonpartisan, we are intentional, um, of not using bipartisan.

Tim Fulton 1:54Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 1:54So we are, um, intentionally not in connection with either party.

Tim Fulton 2:00Mm-hmm.

Alyssa Snyder 2:00Uh, frankly, we don't believe that the political parties have been best serving women, and women candidates in particular. And so thinking about that, um, we are mindful that this isn't just about one party or the other. We also know that if we wanna get to our big goal, which our, um, big, hairy, audacious goal-

Tim Fulton 2:24Mm-hmm

Alyssa Snyder 2:25... is to get to 50%, uh, women, uh, in elected office in the state of Ohio by 2028, so 10 years.

Tim Fulton 2:33Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 2:34In a decade we wanna get to equal representation. And so to get there, right, cannot be done with one party.

Tim Fulton 2:42Right.

Alyssa Snyder 2:42I mean, like just that's bad math, right? And so thinking about that, it's important for us that we're embracing women of any party or no party at all-

Tim Fulton 2:52Okay

Alyssa Snyder 2:52... um, to get to that goal.

Tim Fulton 2:54And so how do you, I wanna talk about sort of your methodologies in a minute, but how do you evaluate candidates? Is it simply this person is a woman or identifies as a woman, and hence they will receive an endorsement? Or is there an interview process that candidates go through regarding issues? I noticed on your webs- literally there's no, you know, it's not even men who would represent women's issues well. It is literally just women.

Alyssa Snyder 3:18Yeah. So as far as representation within the organization, so we are a membership-based organization, so anyone who, um, makes a contribution-

Tim Fulton 3:30Mm-hmm

Alyssa Snyder 3:30... into the political action committee is considered a member.

Tim Fulton 3:33Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 3:34Members can be men and women, uh, people who serve on boards, in committee, and who are involved and engaged in the work of The Matriots, men and women.

Tim Fulton 3:42Mm-hmm.

Alyssa Snyder 3:43And, uh, the place where we, um, r- strictly limit it to, um, females is in our candidates. So we only endorse female candidates.

Tim Fulton 3:54Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 3:55And frankly, right, thinking to that big goal-

Tim Fulton 3:59Mm-hmm

Alyssa Snyder 3:59... um, you know, men who may be good on women's issues, right, may vote the way, um, that many women, uh, feel is positive, right, may be supportive of women, um, while they're in office, and those men certainly exist, uh, what they don't do is get us any closer to equal representation-

Tim Fulton 4:18Okay

Alyssa Snyder 4:19... in the state of Ohio.

Tim Fulton 4:19So that's the true goal at the end of the day.

Alyssa Snyder 4:21So that's the true goal at the end of the day. Um, that's really what we're working towards is equal representation.

Tim Fulton 4:29Is there any additional sort of evaluation factor there?

Alyssa Snyder 4:32Yeah.

Tim Fulton 4:33Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 4:33So let's talk through, um, so our endorsement process is a, a pretty involved process. So, uh, during a open application time, candidates can, um, go onto our website and download a, um, application.

Tim Fulton 4:48Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 4:49And, uh, the application is probably not too much different than other political action committees that endorse. There are some basic questions on there, right? Um-

Tim Fulton 4:58Similar to what, like the questionnaires that a newspaper may have a candidate fill out.

Alyssa Snyder 5:02Perhaps, yes.

Tim Fulton 5:03Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 5:04Um, or a union.

Tim Fulton 5:05Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 5:06So we're asking things like, um, you know, have you ever been commit, convicted of a crime? Some like basic things, right, that you just wanna know-

Tim Fulton 5:13Yeah

Alyssa Snyder 5:14... um, right off the bat. And then, um, uh, the second question on our application is simply, um... So we're really evaluating candidates based on our values. So for us, this is about, um, shared values, not shared party lines.

Tim Fulton 5:33Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 5:33Um, and specifically, that's really, um, for us, we ask those questions right off the bat. So for example, one of those is a commitment to women's economic independence.

Tim Fulton 5:47Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 5:47And so that's a question that we then will ask a series of probing questions about how do you, um, exhibit that in your own personal life, in your campaign, uh, when you're in office or when you have been in office, right?

Tim Fulton 6:02Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 6:03And then, um, from there, uh, we have an endorsement committee, and that committee sits down and looks at- All of those candidates, and makes a decision about whether or not we wanna move the candidate on to the next part of the selection process. And the next part of that selection process is a, um, in-person or phone interview with at least three people from the endorsement committee.

Tim Fulton 6:27Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 6:28So for-

Tim Fulton 6:28How many people are on that endorsement committee now? I'm just super interested in sort of structure and how you wanna keep-

Alyssa Snyder 6:32Yeah, sure. Um, so there are, uh, 16 people-

Tim Fulton 6:37Okay

Alyssa Snyder 6:37... on that committee, and, um, three of which sit on our board of directors.

Tim Fulton 6:42Got it. And that's by design.

Alyssa Snyder 6:45That is by design.

Tim Fulton 6:46Got it.

Alyssa Snyder 6:46Correct.

Tim Fulton 6:47Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 6:47Um, and that committee then, with the candidates that move forward then into the interview process-

Tim Fulton 6:53Mm-hmm

Alyssa Snyder 6:54... um, it is another series of questions about our values, and then it's a, a series of questions, really we're looking for three things. So one, yes, uh, are they matching up with our value set?

Tim Fulton 7:07Mm-hmm.

Alyssa Snyder 7:07And then, um, after we've decided yes, then the next thing for us is really around three different things we're looking for in a specific candidate that we're go- that we will endorse. Um, number one, we're looking for a candidate, um, that's running a compelling campaign. So compelling campaign to us, right, are they raising the amount of money that's needed-

Tim Fulton 7:28Okay

Alyssa Snyder 7:29... for that, um, race. And I will tell you that's really varied, right? Even two people who are running for, um, Ohio House of Representatives, for example, uh, it could take in one seat $100,000 more than another seat.

Tim Fulton 7:42Right.

Alyssa Snyder 7:42Right?

Tim Fulton 7:42'Cause it's all about the district and how-

Alyssa Snyder 7:44Sure

Tim Fulton 7:44... competitive it is.

Alyssa Snyder 7:44Absolutely.

Tim Fulton 7:45Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 7:46And so then from there, you know, do they have, um, a website? Can they talk about the issues in their community that their community's facing, and what they wanna do about it?

Tim Fulton 7:55Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 7:55Right? So that's really, number one, a compelling campaign. Number two, are they a rising star? And rising star for us is not about age. I can tell you in our endorsed slate for November, there's a rising star that's 70.

Tim Fulton 8:08Mm-hmm.

Alyssa Snyder 8:08Um, it's really about is this candidate going to run again? Are they in this for the long haul? Do they wanna be involved in the political process for some time to come?

Tim Fulton 8:20Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 8:20You know, what we know is men, um, tend to, uh, run and run and run again, right? And often after, uh, an election, they'll wake up the next morning and say, "All right, what are we gonna run me for next," right?

Tim Fulton 8:35Right.

Alyssa Snyder 8:36And a woman wakes up-

Tim Fulton 8:37Or how am I gonna continue to secure this position?

Alyssa Snyder 8:40Right. Um, and then, uh, assuming they've lost, right? And a woman wakes up the morning after election when she's lost, and goes through and thinks, "Okay, what are the 92 things that I could have done differently," right?

Tim Fulton 8:52Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 8:52And do I wanna go about this again, and how does that affect my family, right? Those are questions that women are rightly asking. It's also part of why women are so great in office.

Tim Fulton 9:02Mm-hmm.

Alyssa Snyder 9:02Um, but what that means is that women are often not running again, and it often takes running more than once to get into elected office.

Tim Fulton 9:12Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 9:12And so we are looking for women who are really willing to put that time and energy in. Um, so if they might not win this time, but are they gonna be around-

Tim Fulton 9:22Right

Alyssa Snyder 9:23... for several, several elections?

Tim Fulton 9:25That's interesting.

Alyssa Snyder 9:26So much of it's about name ID, right?

Tim Fulton 9:27Mm-hmm.

Alyssa Snyder 9:28And so, um, we want women who are, are committed to that, and committed to continuing to push forward. And then number three is, um, are they moving the needle?

Tim Fulton 9:40Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 9:40And when you hear moving the needle, right, often that is a conversation you'll hear on, you know, MSNBC, and it's really about flipping seats-

Tim Fulton 9:48Okay

Alyssa Snyder 9:48... often, right? From R to D or D to R, right? And for us, it's not about that at all. What it's about is, is this woman running in this seat making a difference in that district for women? So is this the first time a woman's run in that seat?

Tim Fulton 10:06Mm-hmm.

Alyssa Snyder 10:06Right? Is seeing a woman in that position, even if she does not win, seeing her behind that microphone really, hm, playing that part, right?

Tim Fulton 10:17Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 10:17Um, which isn't something that we're, we're seeing that often from women. And so if this is the first time a woman's run in that, that seat, if a woman can, um, get a higher percentage of votes than the man who ran in there the last time, right, those are the kinds of things we're really looking for.

Tim Fulton 10:34And so are you worried then, what if you end up in a election where there's more, uh, more than one woman running? Is it sort of a situation where you guys have to decide based on that criteria? Or do you sort of say, "We're gonna stay out of this race because a woman's gonna r- win anyway"?

Alyssa Snyder 10:50Mm-hmm. Um, yeah, that's a great question. So-

Tim Fulton 10:53I don't imagine you've-

Alyssa Snyder 10:54And going back, right-

Tim Fulton 10:55... had to deal with that yet

Alyssa Snyder 10:56... um, given this lengthy process of who we're going to endorse and the thoughtfulness that goes into it-

Tim Fulton 11:02Mm-hmm

Alyssa Snyder 11:02... um, for us it isn't about just spreading, you know, our money and influence around like peanut butter, right?

Tim Fulton 11:09Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 11:09We really are being intentional about where we wanna focus our power, our financial resources, right, and influence. And, and so it's not about just every single woman candidate, right-

Tim Fulton 11:24Mm-hmm

Alyssa Snyder 11:24... being supported by the Matriets. Um, although that's nice enough, it isn't necessarily going to get us, um, to our big goal, right? Um, because once we start diffusing all of that, what does the endorsement mean, right?

Tim Fulton 11:37Right.

Alyssa Snyder 11:37How, how are we ultimately helping? And so we are really intentional. Um, our endorsement committee has a set of guiding principles, and we are looking at, um, races where there are multiple women, um, in a race, or two women running against each other, and we are often picking one over another. Now we don't-

Tim Fulton 11:57Okay

Alyssa Snyder 11:57... have to do that, right?

Tim Fulton 11:58Right.

Alyssa Snyder 11:58There are races we can decide to sit out. Um, we could dual endorse. I will tell you that we haven't made that decision up until now. We have always made a decision to, um, back one candidate in those scenarios.

Tim Fulton 12:12But theoretically you could.

Alyssa Snyder 12:13But theoretically.

Tim Fulton 12:14You guys have an- had an internal conversation, what, what happens when this happens? Maybe there's a dual endorsement.

Alyssa Snyder 12:20It is possible, yeah.

Tim Fulton 12:21Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 12:21Yeah.

Tim Fulton 12:21Interesting. So a large part of what you guys do is sort of that evaluation process, and it comes down to the endorsement, which means they can put Your name on the literature, does money come with that automatically? How does that choice get made with you guys, and is that materially different from other political action committees?

Alyssa Snyder 12:41Sure. Um, I think that our process is a little different in the way that we're looking differently than many political action committees, and I guess I'm thinking particularly a corporate political action committee-

Tim Fulton 12:55Okay

Alyssa Snyder 12:55... is really looking at, um, what a contribution to a candidate will yield for their specific issues-

Tim Fulton 13:04Mm-hmm

Alyssa Snyder 13:04... or business, right? Um, and, and who aligns best with that, right? And ours is really about aligning with values, and our ultimate goal is just to get this woman into office-

Tim Fulton 13:17Mm-hmm

Alyssa Snyder 13:17... and let her do her thing, right?

Tim Fulton 13:18Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 13:19Um, and so I think that that's maybe a slight difference. Uh, so what happens is that after, right, we've talked about those three things, the rising star, compelling campaign, and moving the needle.

Tim Fulton 13:30Mm-hmm.

Alyssa Snyder 13:31From there, the endorsement committee then has a robust conversation about all those candidates and all those conversations, and then, uh, we additionally have a research committee that does background research on that district and on that candidate-

Tim Fulton 13:45Okay

Alyssa Snyder 13:46... um, and that candidate's opponent, and then all of that, um, conversation results in the endorsement committee making recommendations to the board of directors of who they'd like to endorse.

Tim Fulton 13:58Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 13:59After that decision is made, then the endorsement committee, uh, has conversation about candidate contributions. And so, um, in this last cycle, we did make a contribution to all 34 women that we endorsed.

Tim Fulton 14:16Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 14:17Um, it is not required that if there's an endorsement that there's, um, definitely a cam- a contribution-

Tim Fulton 14:25Okay

Alyssa Snyder 14:26... uh, to the campaign. But, um, it's important to us. So, you know, one of the things that we know is when we started the, the political action committee, which was started, um, by six women.

Tim Fulton 14:38Mm-hmm.

Alyssa Snyder 14:38And six women went to the Women's March and, uh, came back inspired and, um, moved to act.

Tim Fulton 14:49Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 14:50Right? And sat down, and the six of them, uh, are now board chairs. Ellie Crane-Cox sat everyone down. I think the original intention was maybe one of them was gonna run for office.

Tim Fulton 15:01Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 15:01And all of them said, "No, thanks."

Tim Fulton 15:03No, thank you.

Alyssa Snyder 15:03Mm-hmm.

Tim Fulton 15:04That's-

Alyssa Snyder 15:04Uh, no surprises, right?

Tim Fulton 15:06Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 15:06We know, we know it's hard, um, to run, and it's even harder, right, to run as a woman. And so, uh, they then looked at what existed in the landscape and, uh, where help was really needed, and looked at, you know, there's a lot of programs that exist right now and are continuing to sort of pop up, um, in our current environment around pipeline, encouraging women to run, um, training about what it takes to run.

Tim Fulton 15:36Mm-hmm.

Alyssa Snyder 15:36Um, most of those exist either mostly on the progressive side or on the conservative side.

Tim Fulton 15:40Mm-hmm.

Alyssa Snyder 15:41Um, but there really are, um, more and more programs around that, and so felt like that was a piece of the pie that didn't, that was already being taken care of, right?

Tim Fulton 15:50Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 15:50So the piece that felt missing was power, influence, and equality, right? So what are those pieces, um, that are m- missing once a woman runs for office, right? So what is it that, um, she's not getting in equal measure to a man?

Tim Fulton 16:07Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 16:08And that's financial resources. It's influence. Um, and so we're really concentrated on those two pieces of the pie. How is it that we can make sure that a woman has a well-funded campaign-

Tim Fulton 16:21Mm-hmm

Alyssa Snyder 16:21... and that she has, um, the influence and collective behind her to be able to run for that office?

Tim Fulton 16:28So in addition to the endorsement, the financial contribution to the campaign, what, are you helping sort of set up additional infrastructure for them, hosting events on their behalf? Can you talk about sort of what the other... I was gonna ask sort of what the other activities you guys-

Alyssa Snyder 16:44Yeah

Tim Fulton 16:44... are participating in. You're obviously fundraising for yourselves.

Alyssa Snyder 16:47Sure.

Tim Fulton 16:47You're staying out sort of, of that, let's call it the education piece-

Alyssa Snyder 16:51Mm-hmm

Tim Fulton 16:51... where it's like, here's how you run a campaign. Here's how, you know, here are the resources available to set up a website. Here's the timeline you need to be focused on. You're sort of staying out of that. There's enough programs available for folks-

Alyssa Snyder 17:02Right

Tim Fulton 17:02... who are truly interested. What are the other empowering efforts that you're doing to help these women, uh, one, have that influence, and two, how else are you contributing-

Alyssa Snyder 17:13Yep

Tim Fulton 17:13... beyond those dollars?

Alyssa Snyder 17:14So what we know, um, interestingly, so in the state of Ohio, in the Ohio General Assembly, right?

Tim Fulton 17:23Mm-hmm.

Alyssa Snyder 17:23So Ohio Rep- S- State Representatives-

Tim Fulton 17:26Mm-hmm

Alyssa Snyder 17:26... and then Ohio State Senate, right?

Tim Fulton 17:28Mm-hmm.

Alyssa Snyder 17:29Um, in both of those chambers combined, there are 22% women-

Tim Fulton 17:34Okay

Alyssa Snyder 17:35... this year, today, as we speak. Um, representation has stayed the same for about 28 years.

Tim Fulton 17:44Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 17:44So interestingly enough, um, which is really interesting for the times that we're in, but, uh, representation by women in the Ohio General Assembly was, uh, right around, uh, 11, 12, 13% until 1992.

Tim Fulton 18:01Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 18:02And 1992 has also been discussed as another year of the woman, right? Um, Anita Hill hearings-

Tim Fulton 18:09Mm-hmm

Alyssa Snyder 18:09... uh, were happening. A lot of women didn't see themselves represented in that room and in that space, and that, um, really triggered a lot of women to run for office.

Tim Fulton 18:19Mm-hmm.

Alyssa Snyder 18:20Uh, in the state of Ohio, that resulted by 1994, we were at 23% women in elected office. So it really did make a marginal jump-

Tim Fulton 18:29Mm-hmm

Alyssa Snyder 18:30... in 1992 to '94. And then from that time- Uh, from 1992 to today we're, we've really, uh, stuck right around an average of 23%.

Tim Fulton 18:42Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 18:42So occasionally it will spike up to 26, 27%. There are years where it will go down to 19. Uh, we've averaged-

Tim Fulton 18:50But it's hovering there.

Alyssa Snyder 18:51It's hovering there.

Tim Fulton 18:51Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 18:52Yeah. So it essentially bumped up in '92, and then we have a, a slightly squiggled straight line, right?

Tim Fulton 18:59Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 18:59Um, uh, between now and then over the last 28 years. We have not made measurable change in representation in the State of Ohio. So knowing that, right, what's also interesting is 22% also happens to be the number of, um, the percentage of women who give politically.

Tim Fulton 19:22Really?

Alyssa Snyder 19:22Yeah.

Tim Fulton 19:23Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 19:23So, and the number, um, on the national level hovers similarly to the State of Ohio. We are not all that unique.

Tim Fulton 19:31Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 19:31Right? And so w- what we know is that there is this correlation between women being involved in the political process-

Tim Fulton 19:39Mm-hmm

Alyssa Snyder 19:39... right, period, not just running for office, but giving to political campaigns, uh, being involved in their, um, party.

Tim Fulton 19:47Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 19:47Right? Uh, running campaigns, working in the political sphere. There are less women in all of those spaces, and when more women are involved in any one of those spaces, the percentage of women who are in office also goes up.

Tim Fulton 20:02Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 20:02So thinking about that, and thinking about the other parts of our work, it really is about, um, building that collective of women who are involved in the political process. So we have, um, 600 members across the State of Ohio, and for us, it's really about connecting those women to our 34 candidates, and to their stories-

Tim Fulton 20:28Okay

Alyssa Snyder 20:28... and having them build relationships, and then also having them advocate for those campaigns on their own behalf.

Tim Fulton 20:35Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 20:36So part of our work, right, isn't about educating candidates or any of that side of it, but it is about getting more people involved in the political process, bringing more women and men, um, to the political process, giving politically-

Tim Fulton 20:51Mm-hmm

Alyssa Snyder 20:51... whether it's to the Matriets or to, um, to our endorsed campaigns-

Tim Fulton 20:58Mm-hmm

Alyssa Snyder 20:58... or other campaigns, right? All of that frankly, um, is important to women having more representation.

Tim Fulton 21:05Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 21:05So for us it really is then about, uh, the collective become m- becoming more involved and engaged, and then sharing their influence and their network, right, with our candidates.

Tim Fulton 21:16What are the activities that you're doing to try and bring more women i- to help out campaigns, to contribute to campaigns? How do you... What are the activities surrounding that?

Alyssa Snyder 21:27Sure. So a couple of things, um, that we're doing right now. One is what we call Matriets Monday, and that's an event that happens where our candidates have a, uh, the opportunity to speak and to share their stories, and then, um, also for people to become involved and engaged and know more about the Matriets and what we're doing.

Tim Fulton 21:46Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 21:47Um, and then that gives, right, all those groups an opportunity to be in relationship with each other, and that's important. Um, another thing that we're doing is, uh, there are 34 emails that are going out for the, um, really 50 days before the election-

Tim Fulton 22:06Mm-hmm

Alyssa Snyder 22:06... um, where we're doing questionnaires, and these questionnaires are, um, uh, a little not typical. We're asking, um, questions that hopefully help our members and anyone, um, related to the PAC know a little bit more about our candidates in a different way.

Tim Fulton 22:27Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 22:28Right? So, um, not just simply the kind of information that you might find by going to, you know, any one of our candidates, Beth Liston, right?

Tim Fulton 22:37Mm-hmm.

Alyssa Snyder 22:37Beth Liston's website-

Tim Fulton 22:38Okay

Alyssa Snyder 22:38... um, and seeing her platform and/or her issues. We're asking some deeper, more probing questions about why she cares about those things. What else is important in her life? What's one thing that none of us would know about you-

Tim Fulton 22:51Okay

Alyssa Snyder 22:52... right, as a person? And so a profile goes out on every single one of our candidates to our members to really give them the opportunity to know them more.

Tim Fulton 23:02Okay. How... The organization was only founded a year ago, roughly. Um, this is the first cycle that you guys have endorsed, right?

Alyssa Snyder 23:11Yes. Yeah.

Tim Fulton 23:11And you purposefully don't... It is simply Ohio. You don't endorse national candidates, correct?

Alyssa Snyder 23:18That's correct.

Tim Fulton 23:19You don't endorse Congressional or Senate candidates.

Alyssa Snyder 23:21Yep.

Tim Fulton 23:22Um, is there a reason for limiting that scope? Is it a, um, is it a paperwork thing? Like, do you, are you li- are you prevented from endorsing those candidates?

Alyssa Snyder 23:31So, uh, we are legally a Ohio PAC right now. We are not a federal PAC.

Tim Fulton 23:36Got it.

Alyssa Snyder 23:36And so there are s- certainly, um, legal reasons why we're not, um, participating in federal races.

Tim Fulton 23:44Mm-hmm.

Alyssa Snyder 23:44That said, filing as an Ohio PAC was intentional-

Tim Fulton 23:48Okay

Alyssa Snyder 23:48... on the part of the founders, and the reason for that really was knowing that this is about power and influence, thinking about that and where it is that we could, um, provide the most power, influence, and money, and have it really matter-

Tim Fulton 24:05Mm-hmm

Alyssa Snyder 24:06... um, really felt like it was, uh, the State of Ohio. And, you know, further building on that, it's also quite a bit about, um, making sure that we have the kind of resources to really make that difference.

Tim Fulton 24:24It's not that it may not happen in the future, but it's simply this is where we're focused right now.

Alyssa Snyder 24:29Yeah. We, um, yes, and there's plenty of work to do to be done, right? To get s- from 22% to 50%, uh, uh- Women in elected office is a big jump. That's never been done, and it's also never been done in any state.

Tim Fulton 24:44Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 24:44Uh, there is actually, uh, Nevada has a chance this year, uh, for their state legislature-

Tim Fulton 24:50Okay

Alyssa Snyder 24:50... uh, to hit 50%, but this is really largely unexplored in the United States. We've never had, um, a situation where we have more than 50% women. Now, there are, you know, uh, small situations where a city council might hit that-

Tim Fulton 25:07Right

Alyssa Snyder 25:07... right, some, some different bodies, but, um-

Tim Fulton 25:11Certainly not statewide

Alyssa Snyder 25:11... for example, state legislatures, um, or statewide, um, we've never hit 50%.

Tim Fulton 25:18If you guys, let's say you're, what is it, 34 endorsed candidates this cycle?

Alyssa Snyder 25:23Mm-hmm.

Tim Fulton 25:23If let's say all 34 go through, what, you know, what percentage you'd be at then?

Alyssa Snyder 25:28There are, of those 34 candidates, uh, 23 are what I'm calling, and this is like a made-up term.

Tim Fulton 25:35Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 25:35Um, again, because a lot of this measurement just has never existed, and-

Tim Fulton 25:39Right

Alyssa Snyder 25:39... you know, we could have a conversation about you measure what matters, right?

Tim Fulton 25:42Yeah.

Alyssa Snyder 25:42And maybe that, uh, that hasn't happened yet. Of those 34 candidates, 23 would be what we call a net lady gain. So that would be... Yeah. Right?

Tim Fulton 25:54Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 25:54Um, and so that's-

Tim Fulton 25:56Trademark

Alyssa Snyder 25:56... where Right. Right, right. There you go. Uh, The Matriets is trademarked legally.

Tim Fulton 26:00Good.

Alyssa Snyder 26:01Uh, yeah. So what that means for us is in that seat, that would be an additional woman, right? And so we have, um, several seats where we have inc- we have six incumbents-

Tim Fulton 26:14Okay

Alyssa Snyder 26:14... running, right? Um, and that isn't going to take the, that number down, of course. We want them to win.

Tim Fulton 26:19Right.

Alyssa Snyder 26:19Um, but that isn't going to add additionally to the percentage, um, of women in that particular office. So-

Tim Fulton 26:25So what about the other-

Alyssa Snyder 26:27... thinking about-

Tim Fulton 26:27... five, then... I'm sorry, I'm just doing math in my head. 23, you said 23 of the 34, right?

Alyssa Snyder 26:33Yep. So six are incumbents, and then-

Tim Fulton 26:35Oh, so that is net-

Alyssa Snyder 26:36Right

Tim Fulton 26:36... that's all of them.

Alyssa Snyder 26:36That's net.

Tim Fulton 26:37Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 26:37Yeah. That's not, that's not a positive gain. That would just be-

Tim Fulton 26:40Got it

Alyssa Snyder 26:41... um, netting out when they win. Um, there are also, uh, seats where women are replacing another woman-

Tim Fulton 26:48Gotcha

Alyssa Snyder 26:48... if they win, right? And that also isn't going to increase that percentage number, and I think that's important, too. There's, uh, some research on the national side of things, uh, that when you really look at, right, this is a record year for women running-

Tim Fulton 27:06Mm-hmm

Alyssa Snyder 27:06... which is step one, of course. Um, but in congressional seats, so on, and I'm talking about national, um, congressional seats now, uh, there are some seats that are so far out of reach, right, that are unlikely to win, that would be a real, really, really hard... That if you look at even with record numbers running-

Tim Fulton 27:28Mm-hmm

Alyssa Snyder 27:29... uh, best case scenario, and this is with, you know, seats that are in play-

Tim Fulton 27:33Okay

Alyssa Snyder 27:33... congressionally, there would be 5% more women in elected office, even with that-

Tim Fulton 27:40This record year

Alyssa Snyder 27:41... this, this record year. Right.

Tim Fulton 27:42Which is why it's important for you guys to continue to stay engaged and to sort of see this through.

Alyssa Snyder 27:49Yeah. This is going to be, this is a long-term, um, situation, to be sure.

Tim Fulton 27:55Got it. Do you see... I don't wanna get too into national politics, 'cause it's, you know, this is a Columbus-focused thing, but what didn't happen in 1991 and '92 to continue sort of things moving forward that can change now? Is it sort of better organization and communication among folks that in order to keep things engaged?

Alyssa Snyder 28:18I think, one, really measuring our progress and where we're at-

Tim Fulton 28:22Mm-hmm

Alyssa Snyder 28:23... and being continually committed to it I think is something that didn't happen in 1992. We started to, you know, w- women's, um, place in leadership has changed a lot-

Tim Fulton 28:36Mm-hmm

Alyssa Snyder 28:36... over the last 32 years, and, um, and in some ways hasn't changed all that much. And I think, uh, without really looking at hard numbers or even having hard numbers to look at-

Tim Fulton 28:47Mm-hmm

Alyssa Snyder 28:47... I think we often will feel like things maybe have changed, right?

Tim Fulton 28:52Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 28:53Um, when in fact that representation, um, really hasn't. This is also, right, this is a s- a system that was built by men-

Tim Fulton 29:03Mm-hmm

Alyssa Snyder 29:03... perpetuated by men, right? Um, and it is hard to-

Tim Fulton 29:09And protected by still

Alyssa Snyder 29:10... break. And protected by, right.

Tim Fulton 29:11Right.

Alyssa Snyder 29:11And, and some of that's intentional and some of it's not.

Tim Fulton 29:13Mm-hmm.

Alyssa Snyder 29:14Right? Um, but, you know, we as a society still have some work to do to respect and understand the value of women in elected office.

Tim Fulton 29:28Mm-hmm.

Alyssa Snyder 29:29And, um, and frankly too, right, we're at a time now where many people are, um, not exactly, um, excited about the state of the country.

Tim Fulton 29:42Mm-hmm.

Alyssa Snyder 29:42Not excited about where we're going. And, um, and I think a lot of people have a lot of apathy towards our government being able to get anything done, right? To really, um, move things forward for the people in their communities, and that often, um, increasingly it feels like government is not a place-

Tim Fulton 30:05To do that

Alyssa Snyder 30:05... where those things are happening, right?

Tim Fulton 30:07Mm-hmm.

Alyssa Snyder 30:07And people are not working together, right? We're in a situation right now where things are more partisan, um, and more divisive than they ever have been. And, and we think that, that women are a solution to that.

Tim Fulton 30:25Can you talk about sort of the grander scope of, like, why it's important to have women in office? It's not necessarily both equal representation, but you see other... Your thesis is that, that the solution gets better for all with women representing.

Alyssa Snyder 30:44Yeah. W-we believe more women, period, right, um, is better for government. And there is research that shows that women are better collaborators.

Tim Fulton 30:59Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 30:59There is research that shows that women pass, um, more legislation and make more legislation, um, happen.

Tim Fulton 31:08Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 31:08Right? Uh, these are, are not just, uh, ideas that we have, um, about women or things that we intrinsically know or feel, although, um, that's true, too. Um, there is hard research around, uh, in particular women being, um, better collaborators and able to get more done.

Tim Fulton 31:29Got it. I just sort of wanna go back a little bit to where we began-

Alyssa Snyder 31:34Mm-hmm

Tim Fulton 31:34... in sort of the questionnaire that you guys give out to your candidates. If a third party were to look at that questionnaire, does it feel nonpartisan? Because you talk about sort of economic prosperity, that's something that you focused on. But, you know, I assume that there's also women's health issues addressed there. Can you sort of address that a little bit?

Alyssa Snyder 31:53Yeah, sure. So I think those values really could be construed towards one party or another.

Tim Fulton 32:02Mm-hmm.

Alyssa Snyder 32:02I think, you know, one of those issues that often comes up is reproductive rights, and we are committed to supporting candidates that are not actively working against-

Tim Fulton 32:14Okay

Alyssa Snyder 32:15... current, uh, legislation around women's access to their bodies. And so, um, that is a wedge issue, right?

Tim Fulton 32:24Mm-hmm.

Alyssa Snyder 32:25What we're really attempting to do here is create a bigger tent. So for example, again, taking, going back to women's economic independence, right?

Tim Fulton 32:34Mm-hmm.

Alyssa Snyder 32:35What we know is that when we ask that question, there are 34 different answers-

Tim Fulton 32:42Mm-hmm

Alyssa Snyder 32:42... right, to that. And we work really hard. We are not issue-specific, so the answer to women's economic independence does not have to be X, Y, or Z issue and where you support it, right?

Tim Fulton 32:55Okay.

Alyssa Snyder 32:56One woman might talk about living wage. Another one may talk about paid time off. Another one may talk about FMLA changes, right?

Tim Fulton 33:04Mm-hmm. Somebody may talk about divorce law.

Alyssa Snyder 33:06They might.

Tim Fulton 33:07Right.

Alyssa Snyder 33:07Yeah. And all of those things are great answers, right-

Tim Fulton 33:11Mm-hmm

Alyssa Snyder 33:11... to that. And so it is about understanding and honoring, um, while still keeping that value base, right? Understanding and honoring that women are not monolithic-

Tim Fulton 33:24Mm-hmm

Alyssa Snyder 33:24... in their views, right? And, and that's important to us. And so we want to be able to build a big tent. You know, right now we're in a political situation where it feels like there are two tiny white tents on the ends, right?

Tim Fulton 33:38Mm-hmm.

Alyssa Snyder 33:38Um and, and that, you know, increasingly it feels like you've got to run to one of those.

Tim Fulton 33:45Right.

Alyssa Snyder 33:46Um, and that's where we need to exist. And this isn't about each of our candidates not having strong opinions on certain issues, um, because they all do. That's part of why they run for office, right? So this isn't about being moderate per se, but it's about being able to be in community and in collaboration, um, and for us to honor that big tent in the middle.

Tim Fulton 34:09Mm-hmm.

Alyssa Snyder 34:09And to hopefully create a cohort of women who exist, even if it's just in relationship to this PAC, together in that big tent, and continue to work together and know that they do have some shared values.

Tim Fulton 34:24Great. Alyssa, thanks so much for your time.

Alyssa Snyder 34:26Yeah. This was fun. Thank you.

Tim Fulton 34:39Thank you for listening to the Confluence Cast presented by Columbus Underground. Again, you can get more information on what we discussed today in the show notes for this episode at theconfluencecast.com. Please rate, subscribe, share this episode of The Confluence Cast with your friends, family, contacts, enemies, your favorite politician. If you're interested in sponsoring The Confluence Cast, get in touch with us. We can be reached by email at info@theconfluencecast.com. Our theme music was composed by Benji Robinson. Our producer is Philip Cogley. I'm your host, Tim Fulton. Have a great week.