Girl and The Gov, The Podcast

As Beyonce once said, ring the alarm! In this episode, we dive into the alarm being rung by Let’s Green CA as they look to have a climate emergency declared in the state of California. Led by Heidi Harmon, Senior Public Affairs Director at the Romero institute and former Mayor of San Luis Obispo, this initiative has you guessed it – nuance – and provides context to how we got here and what’s ahead...

If you love us for our tangents, this episode is going to hit it out of the ball park for you. Why is that? Because the tangent queens met a tangent king, and his name is Congressman Tom Suozzi (NY-3). Our very first federal elected official on the show, Congressman Suozzi helped us understand the Ways and Means Committee, Taxes (yes, seasonally appropriate AF), and the issues he’s running on as h...

We often waiver between calling this organization the TMZ of politics and the Deux Moi of Politics, but either way OpenSecrets brings the tea. Piping hot in fact, because in the world of politics it’s all about that money honey. Some may follow the yellow brick road, but OpenSecrets follows the money, seeing which politicians are funded by who, what companies are throwing their dollars to the dark...

We’re back baby and we’re back with Brian Derrick for an episode on redistricting. You’ve heard us talk about it before, but redistricting is in full swing (still) as we get into the 2022 midterm elections year. And now, we have updates. There are so many avenues in which to take this topic and we try to drive down many of them. Hop into the episode and get an update on where redistricting is curr...

2022 midterm elections are heating up in every state and every edge of the ballot. California, and more specifically Los Angeles, is included in this mix, with one the many positions voters will be casting their ballot for being the mayoral seat. With lots at stake for the iconic American city, City Attorney Mike Feuer (and his mustache – check out his campaign video if you don’t believe us) has t...

If we were looking for favorite word pairs, two of them would be ‘digital media’ and ‘voter participation.’ Combined, these concepts marry themselves into a powerful force and a magnetic conversation about the methods that can be and should be used to mobilize new voters. This week’s episode focuses on exactly that through a fun conversation with Tatenda Musapatike, CEO/Founder of the Voter Format...

The data does it for us. And what we mean by that aside from the fact that we may throw that phrase on a sweatshirt at some point, is that looking at data and the studies that produce these elements of interest can provide tangible evidence for particular policy measures. In the case of studies undertaken by our guest Dr. Jody Herman, who is a Reid Rasmussen Senior Scholar of Public Policy at the...

We love firsts, and this episode presents one for us - our first time on the show digging into early childhood education. Covering the waterfront in terms of policy and politics in this realm, we chat with expert in the field, Rebecca Feinglos Planchard, a Senior Early Childhood Policy Advisor, at the NC Division of Child Development and Early Education on what’s included in this policy bucket. We...

Ohioooooo, we’re here! Okay, not physically but via Zoom with a must-learn-about candidate for US Senate - Morgan Harper. Previously, the Director of Policy & Advocacy at the American Economic Liberties Project, a former tenure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and able to tout testifying before Congress, Morgan opened the gate on the conversation about monopolies in the 21st centur...

Gooooood morning Los Angeles (said in news anchor voice) voters, we’ve got a candidate you’re going to want to know all about. Her name is Yasmine Pomeroy and she is running for Los Angeles City Council District 3. Part get to know the candidate, part get to know the personality of LA politics, this episode opens the door to the unique functions and forms that make up the Angeleno political landsc...

If you’ve been scratching your head about what on earth is going on with the Build Back Better bill, this episode is going to be your bread and butter of reference points. We go IN on the bill with Brian Derrick, Political Strategist & Founder of Oath to get a grasp on what’s included in the bill, what’s not, and what the process looks like for potentially passing it. Naturally, since we love...

Us when talking about healthcare in the US and singing our favorite Avril Lavigne throwback: “Why'd you have to go and make things so complicated?”  But, seriously, healthcare in the US is no walk in the park. In fact, it’s more of a walk in a corn maze -- disorienting, confusing, and altogether spooky. To break down some of the basics, we had the honor of hosting Julie Oliver, Executive Direc...

Gender equality is a complex and nuanced topic, and discussing it at a global level is no exception from this qualification. In this episode, we begin the conversation around it, peeling back some of the many layers involved in what the status quo is at large, why in 2021 we are only so far, and how geopolitics play an important role. Joined by the amazing mind that is Dania Gharaibeh, Team Lead,...

What are worker’s rights? What is collective bargaining? What in the literal world is the Taft-Hartley Act? Okay, and what about the Pro Act -- is there a cheat sheet somewhere? For this episode, we tapped Melanie D’Arrigo, Congressional Candidate (NY-3) to give us the answers to these q’s, which had us scratching our heads and trying to hit the good ol’ Google machine. Giving us the 411 on worker...

If you’ve ever had a conversation with Sammy about politics, you KNOW she’s mentioned the term ‘gerrymandering.’ Thus, it’s only appropriate that we dedicated an entire episode to the term and its many siblings. Cue, our conversation with Arizona State Director at All On The Line, Kendra Alvarez, who took us past just gerrymandering to the terms beyond including ‘grid map,’ ‘packing,’ and ‘crackin...

We’ve got California’s housing crisis on the mind and more than a few questions as to how it emerged. To shed light on these q’s, we tapped none other than Senator Scott Wiener (CA, SD-11) to tell us the tales of the past, present, and future of the housing crisis and the related homelessness crisis that has made a name for itself in the state. We start with the basics and then get into the bills,...

If we had a penny for every time we heard the phrase “Haitian border crisis” over the last few weeks, we’d be richer than Jeff Bezos (don’t tell him, thanks). That phrase begs many questions - is it really a crisis? Who on earth was and is responsible for what we are seeing unfold at our southern border? Is there a reason these people aren’t being granted asylum? And, what is this ambiguous Title...

The concept of sex education might bring you back to an array of incredibly awkward classes taught begrudgingly by your gym teacher. It might also conjure absolutely nothing if you’re from a state where parents can opt their children out of sex education at school. Sex education, its depth and most importantly, its accuracy varies state to state. Far from a one size fits all sitch, sex education h...

Our first dive into this issue in depth, albeit a very important one, this episode takes us through the background and the basics of gun reform in the US. An often touchy topic, as well as one with many behind the scenes players, the expert we brought in, Nico Bocour, Government Affairs Director at Giffords Courage, shed light on it from a data-based perspective, and provided the current and past...

How can running for office be more accessible for working parents? Sarah Hague, political director at Vote Mama PAC has got the 411 on a solution that tackles one of the many critical hurdles parents face. Eyeing the need for a more diverse and important set of voices at the table (hello, young working parents), Vote Mama takes aim at changing the campaign finance game. Specifically, the two-prong...

The last few weeks have been headline city as it relates to the US’s longest war -- the war in Afghanistan. A departure from the past 20 years, where the war received little to no press coverage, the past few weeks had many of us constantly at a loss for words and left with many questions as to how on earth we got to this place. Cue, this week’s episode where we were honored to be joined by Vetera...

Grab your cowboy boots and get ready to head to Texas in this episode where we get into the complexities of the Lone Star state’s politics with congressional candidate for TX-35, Claudia Zapata. Tackling a few of the many controversies that have taken to the headlines as of late, our conversation touches on voting rights legislation, the strategy of the politicians who made moves to DC to prevent...

When you think ‘Iowa’, you may think of presidential campaigns and the buzz that surrounds the infamous caucuses. However, politics happens in the state 365, 24/7, especially in Cedar Rapids. In this episode, we had the pleasure of speaking with Cedar Rapids Councilmember Ashley Vanorny (D-5) about the politics of her district, the politics of city council, and what inspired her to run for local o...

In this episode we take a virtual road trip down to Louisiana to chat with State Representative Mandie Landry (LA, D-91) on what it’s like to be pro-choice in a heavily red (and anti-choice) state. Walking us through her experiences, her conversations with colleagues, and painting the picture as to the political landscape of the state, we learned there is much more than meets the eye when it comes...

This week we virtually traveled to Philly to get the skinny on a district that will be the talk of the town, or dare we say the talk of the City of Brotherly Love, as we head into the 2022 midterms. In our explorations sans cheesesteak, we chatted with candidate and congressional hopeful, Alexandra Hunt about her campaign, the ins-and-outs of Philly’s political landscape, and the change she hopes...