“I heard it over and over again—‘she can’t win.’” ~ Jessica Mackler, President of EMILYs List
Every day, we’re reminded of the cost of misogyny and sexism—the cost of undervaluing women’s leadership, of failing to invest in women candidates, and of placing too much faith in men who haven’t earned it.
And today, that cost looks like a president threatening, via social media, to annihilate an entire “civilization,” while the men with the power to intervene—Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and Vice President JD Vance—are nowhere to be found.
But this year, we have a chance to do something different: to let go of outdated assumptions about who is and isn’t “electable”—assumptions that have long sidelined women candidates. And those assumptions are beginning to break down.
In this episode, I speak with Jessica Mackler, President of EMILYs List, about what that shift looks like in real time—starting with Illinois Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton’s recent primary win.
Despite being outspent and underestimated, Stratton’s victory reflects a broader pattern: women candidates are winning competitive races—even without the traditional advantages long seen as necessary.
We discuss the myth of electability, the structural barriers women candidates still face, and what it will take to turn this momentum into lasting political power.
The Locker Room as Political Theater
When the men’s hockey team won a gold medal at the Olympics in Milan, the medal wasn’t their only prize. They were granted an additional reward — an awkward, fist-pumping session in the locker room with a seemingly inebriated FBI Director, Kash Patel. And to sweeten the pot, a congratulatory call from the commander in chief, who promised them an invitat…
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No voting bloc has quite captured the hearts, the minds, and the microphones of mainstream media like the patrons of America’s rural diners. After the 2012 election, journalists from major media outlets began flocking to America’s Heartland, drawn there by a rightward shift in counties that had helped Barack Obama secure a decisive 365 electoral votes j…
