Everybody’s Doing It. Why Not You?
By: Nicole Yelich
Business gurus, high techies, optometrists, health care entrepreneurs, environmental rock stars – even popular TV characters — are all doing it. What is it? Running for office next year. And these are just a few of the new faces taking the plunge into politics, thanks to The 2012 Project.
The 2012 Project, a national, non-partisan campaign of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, aims to elect an unprecedented number of women to state legislatures and the U.S. Congress. Do you remember 1992 – known as ‘The Year of the Woman’ – when more women were elected to Congress than ever before? The 2012 Project wants to beat that record by reaching out to executive women in the public and private sectors across the country and encouraging them to run for office.
2012 presents a unique opportunity when redistricting (which creates new districts and open seats) coincides with a Presidential election year (which means higher voter turnout) to make a perfect playing field for fresh faces to step up to the political stage. Once a woman steps forward to run, The 2012 Project team connects her to resources and networks to help her launch a successful campaign.
To increase the number of women candidates, The 2012 Project is taking its national strategy to a more focused, local level. State coalitions are forming across the United States with organizations committed to women’s political leadership working together to share strategies for identifying new women to run in 2012. Alabama was the first state to bring a large coalition of bi-partisan political, community, business and professional organizations to the table. Since then, Texas, Washington, Illinois, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Arizona have all launched similar efforts. Nevada, Iowa and Missouri are next.
Check out www.the2012project.us for more information and contact The 2012 Project Team at info@the2012project.us to find out how to start your own state coalition or launch your own campaign for public office.
With just over a year until the 2012 elections, the time to run is now! We’ll have to wait another 20 years for this same opportunity to elect new women to office….
And if we don’t do it, who will?
P.S. Watch The 2012 Project’s new video with Aisha Tyler, actor and stand-up comedian, for your official invitation to run!
Nicole Yelich is Candidate Coordinator for The 2012 Project. A native of Pittsburgh, she has eight years experience in political campaigning and public affairs consulting. She lives in San Francisco.