Under the Influence (with Jo Piazza) - Are You Ready to Run for Office？

00:00:00.000 hey y'all joe here and you are listening to under the influence it's been a week it's been a couple

00:00:12.200 weeks it's been a month it's been wow it's just the world has been a lot lately and i just keep

00:00:18.560 spinning in circles trying to think about what can i actually do to change anything to fix anything 0.99

00:00:25.940 And then I also hate myself for talking about fixing things because I'm so sick of women having to fix the stupid world. 1.00

00:00:32.780 But alas, if we don't, who is? 1.00

00:00:35.680 No one.

00:00:36.480 No, I mean, it's just it's us.

00:00:38.040 OK, it's just us.

00:00:39.520 So I have an episode that I think is going to be pretty useful for you today.

00:00:43.760 And maybe if not for you, for someone else in your life, it was definitely useful for me as I just kept racking my brain thinking, like, what can I do?

00:00:53.060 I have to do something.

00:00:55.620 My friend Amanda Littman is the co-founder of Run for Something.

00:00:59.360 She's also the author of two books, Run for Something and When We're in Charge.

00:01:03.020 And by we're, we mean women. 0.99

00:01:04.580 Okay. 1.00

00:01:05.660 She is very, very good at taking the enormous, overwhelming, insane idea of getting involved

00:01:11.880 in politics and turning it into, okay, I can do this.

00:01:16.100 This is literally what I do next.

00:01:18.420 And that's what I needed.

00:01:20.360 Because it turns out that you don't have to quit your job, raise a million dollars, or wake up one morning magically transformed into a politician.

00:01:28.240 You could run for school board.

00:01:30.400 You can run for community board.

00:01:32.320 Sometimes you could just volunteer for some of these positions.

00:01:35.520 Or you can help someone else run.

00:01:37.800 You can donate $50.

00:01:39.640 You can harass your therapist about whether or not they're voting.

00:01:43.060 These are things that we can actually do.

00:01:46.360 I love Amanda. 0.87

00:01:46.960 I also wanted to get on the microphone with her because she's pregnant with her third baby.

00:01:51.080 And it was a decision that she did not come to lately, but I'm very excited for her.

00:01:54.920 And I love talking to anyone about how they came to that decision

00:01:57.060 and shouting about how much I actually love having three babies.

00:02:00.180 I do.

00:02:01.040 They're great.

00:02:02.980 So today's episode, running for office, making babies.

00:02:06.840 Also, maybe a little bit of kittens.

00:02:08.220 I mean, the kittens are my whole personality right now.

00:02:10.760 That and telling people to continue buying The Parisian Heist.

00:02:14.220 Okay.

00:02:14.780 It's a great book.

00:02:15.520 It's an amazing book.

00:02:16.500 people love it. Get a copy today for a friend, for a colleague, for a man, because when men get it in 0.87

00:02:24.220 their hands, they really adore it. They're not going to buy it for themselves because a woman's 0.99

00:02:28.600 on the cover. But after they open it, yeah, they're in. They're hooked. Okay. So let's run

00:02:33.800 for something and buy the Parisian heist. Oh, hello, Amanda Littman. Hi, Jo. So happy to be

00:02:44.820 with you so happy to have you here not happy about anything else happening in the world right

00:02:49.580 now I mean what a disaster every woman that I know feels insane right now like we're just I'm

00:02:57.980 not okay I don't think any of us are okay are you okay no no so I'm just like both radiating with 1.00

00:03:05.940 fury and also just like shocked at how unsurprised I am you know that's the really tricky part about

00:03:12.720 this right so yes i'm radiating i have so much rage i don't know where to put this rage and yet

00:03:18.940 i'm also like i'm not surprised at all i went to college in the 2000s like the things that we've

00:03:24.740 witnessed men do and and not held them accountable for are are insane and i think that's where so

00:03:32.500 much of my rage is coming from because i'm just i'm it's just all bubbling up to the surface right 0.98

00:03:37.820 now yeah it's it's it's this it's do you remember the assholes who said me too went too far 0.96

00:03:44.180 oh i do that the college students now who were teenagers when trump won after like you know 1.00

00:03:51.500 bragging about sexual assault it's all it's it's the sea of bullshit that we are in and 0.98

00:03:56.020 i don't know about you but why is my side of the internet telling me that it's it's 0.98

00:04:00.600 mom's fault somehow or mom's responsibility to fix i'm deep in parenting internet for like

00:04:06.700 slightly littler kids and it's a lot of like moms how are we going to raise our sons not to be

00:04:11.500 rapists how are we going to make sure they understand consent how are we going to make 0.64

00:04:14.300 this changes for the next generation it's like why are we giving women more work to do why why

00:04:20.000 is this a women's problem to solve no no and no and yet i mean i've also thought about that i'm

00:04:26.020 like am i doing enough and the fact is because i'm even asking of course i'm doing enough i'm

00:04:30.820 doing all of the things um and i think a lot of us are doing all the things but you're right

00:04:35.840 this I don't it's also not a mom problem to solve like I keep thinking about these men's moms what 0.99

00:04:44.220 if you were the mom of the free pussy guy or the shop still open guy I mean any of the guys is bad 0.99

00:04:51.220 but those two lines stick in my gut what is that guy's mom doing right now and I'm sure I'm sure 0.99

00:04:57.640 she's thinking about every interaction she ever had with him like do you think she didn't didn't

00:05:04.060 want like that this was the kind of son she wanted to raise no no i would hope not i would hope not

00:05:11.780 i would but i because i but there's very few women that are like i just wish i could raise a rapist

00:05:17.180 i mean so i blaming moms is not useful blaming the freaking blame listen it's men okay it's just 0.95

00:05:25.040 men like what i want to put on the table is that for the history of men men have been raping and 0.97

00:05:32.060 pillaging their way around the world. It is so commonplace in history. We're just going to go

00:05:36.100 rape now. It is so commonplace in history that this is a man problem. This is not a mother problem. 0.96

00:05:42.940 Yeah, I like I'm having such a hard time even processing, like, where do you go from here? 0.98

00:05:47.040 Because the answer is fucking nowhere. We've been here before. We come back around and I don't want 0.86

00:05:52.220 to feel hopeless about that. Like, I don't know. I don't like feeling like there is no agency that

00:05:57.140 We have to solve this.

00:05:58.940 No, no.

00:05:59.960 But that is kind of how it feels.

00:06:02.280 It is how it feels.

00:06:03.680 And I mean, I'm also getting that when I've been having these conversations with men, with good men, with people I know are good men.

00:06:09.060 I've vetted them.

00:06:10.140 And they're like, well, they just they're not excusing any of the bad behavior.

00:06:15.280 But the conversation always just ends with. 0.99

00:06:17.720 But I'm like, but it's men's need to put their penis in places their penis should not be. 1.00

00:06:24.100 This is a very basic fact. 0.99

00:06:25.400 I also keep thinking I'm like if aliens came down they could spend maybe a day on our planet and be

00:06:30.760 like well there's the problem it's those ones those ones right there and yeah and I don't but 0.99

00:06:38.880 I don't have answers that's the other thing like I'm like all right I'm I'm enraged every woman I

00:06:42.640 know is enraged I just just adopted myself some some anti-rage kittens and I but I do not have

00:06:50.520 any answers because I feel like right now I'm doing all of the things I can do.

00:06:54.680 Although one of the things that I put forward in today's newsletter is what I want to talk to you

00:06:59.120 about. It's more important than ever for women to run for something, right? That is one thing we can

00:07:04.840 do. We can support more women in office, more progressive women in office and run for something 1.00

00:07:11.940 ourselves. Is it time? Is it time for me to run for something, Amanda? Yes, it is. I'm so glad

00:07:17.480 you ask i think there are municipal elections in philly next year we can talk about it all right

00:07:23.440 all right fine fine it's time it's time uh but yeah like that is one thing that we can do so

00:07:31.500 so talk to me about this talk me through this your wonderful paperback just came out to the world

00:07:36.520 we're giving away a ton of copies it's not easy for women to run for office i know this you know

00:07:43.300 i know this very well i've written books about it i've been on the campaign trail with brilliant 1.00

00:07:47.380 women who did not win, where can people even start? If a listener is thinking, she's like,

00:07:55.080 all right, I'll raise my hand. Where does she start? Okay, so step one. So if you're thinking

00:08:00.540 about running for office, the first thing you do is you go to runforwhat.net. This is our hub where

00:08:04.300 you can look up what offices are available to you next year. It is not too late to get started,

00:08:09.880 and it's definitely not too early. So you will look up your address, just tell us a little bit

00:08:14.400 about yourself and we'll tell you here are the exact offices that you can run for based on where

00:08:18.320 you live that's step one step two is like do a little bit of self-interrogation what is the

00:08:22.820 problem you care about solving how does the office you might run for give you power to solve it and

00:08:27.860 then why should voters want you to win which is different than why do you want to win you want to

00:08:31.620 win because winning is great and losing sucks voters want you to win because you're going to

00:08:35.060 do something for them once you have answered those three questions for yourself you've gotten your

00:08:39.800 friends and family and your partner if you have one on board people around your life know that

00:08:44.140 you're like eager and ready to do this and no one has any red flags everything else about a campaign

00:08:49.800 is logistics it's how do i raise the money how do i like file the paperwork to get on the ballot in

00:08:55.160 the right order because i need to have a bank account before i file the paperwork but how do

00:08:58.760 i open a bank account without paperwork it's a kafka-esque nightmare but we are here to help

00:09:03.220 you figure that stuff out and to help you figure out how do you effectively and efficiently talk

00:09:07.680 to the number of voters you need to talk to before the deadline of election day it's just math you 0.98

00:09:13.260 can do it we can do this so what i what i hear from a lot of women and and this is me included

00:09:20.520 right i think i hate asking people for money what what can what can we do how can we make fundraising

00:09:26.860 a little bit easier is there any way because every every politician i've ever talked to is like this

00:09:31.460 is the worst part of the job oh it's absolutely the worst part of the job and how i like to think

00:09:35.860 about it and maybe this is cope because i have to ask people for money a lot is that when you are

00:09:39.480 asking people for money, you are doing them a public service. You are giving them a way to make

00:09:44.220 a difference in their community that is concrete, that they can feel, that they can see, especially

00:09:48.440 when you're running for local office. If I was like, hey, I want a way to really make sure that

00:09:52.860 my streets are better paved, that my water is clean, that my kids are safe. You know what the

00:09:59.160 best way for me to do that is? Invest in a city council candidate or invest in a mayor candidate.

00:10:04.320 It is a very concrete way for me to do something specific that will improve my life.

00:10:09.480 it's a gift. I'm giving you a gift of an opportunity. It does feel bad, and it will

00:10:14.560 always feel bad. If it doesn't feel bad, you're like a little bit of a sociopath. But I will say 0.99

00:10:20.400 you will be surprised at who says yes. Every year, I am surprised at who says yes and disappointed

00:10:25.260 in who says no, but surprised by who says yes. Okay. Okay. I mean, that does make me feel a

00:10:31.360 little bit better. The other question I get from women, again, myself included, does this have to

00:10:36.340 be my full-time job. Can I add it in? Yes, you can absolutely add it in. I would say 95% of our

00:10:43.660 candidates have full-time jobs outside of this or full-time caregivers or our students are in some

00:10:48.960 way doing something besides running and serving. Now, it may be your full-time hobby outside of

00:10:53.800 your full-time job, but that's okay. Unless you're serving and there's a couple state legislatures

00:11:00.000 that are full-time and that pay sort of full-time, most of them are not full-time positions and

00:11:04.880 they're not paid, if at all. They're expected to be served as volunteers. Now, this is a structural

00:11:09.140 thing that makes it really hard for people who have kids or who are not independently wealthy.

00:11:14.240 It's meant to keep you out. You sort of have to fight through that structural bullshit. But 0.98

00:11:18.260 we have folks who have done it and can give you some advice. There are ways you can change the

00:11:22.120 rules to make it easier. There's a lot you can do around the margins to ease your entry into this.

00:11:28.240 You really can do this. It is absolutely possible. And to really put a fine point on it,

00:11:32.960 think about school board as an example. Stats are a little bit out of date, but not substantially

00:11:37.020 so, so it'll give you some directionality. 75% of school board races cost $1,000 or less. 85%

00:11:43.680 cost about $5,000 or less. So unless you're running for school board in like Miami or LA,

00:11:50.360 these races are affordable. You know, the average run for something candidate's budget is about 10

00:11:54.660 grand. It's a lot, but that's not the hundreds, thousands, or millions that you see on TV. That

00:12:00.560 is an amount that you could feasibly raise if you talk to everyone you've ever known

00:12:05.040 over and over and over again.

00:12:07.520 Right, right, right, right, right.

00:12:08.320 Because, I mean, I do think about the millions because I've been covering Senate races for

00:12:12.660 so long, right, and presidentials.

00:12:14.380 And like the money is just so freaking much.

00:12:18.120 I mean, especially, my God, Pennsylvania's Senate races have been obscene.

00:12:22.200 But that amount of money feels more doable.

00:12:25.620 Local races feel so much more doable.

00:12:28.340 school board this this is what everyone tells me too is a great place to start right yeah you don't

00:12:34.300 need a ton of experience you need to care you're willing to listen you need to do the work but the

00:12:38.940 place where you become a politician is at these local offices and actually i think about politics

00:12:43.700 the same way i think about writing or art or music the way you become a writer or a musician

00:12:48.600 or an artist is by writing by making music but creating art the way you become a politician is

00:12:54.360 by running for office. It's not something you're born to do. It's something you you become by

00:12:58.600 doing. So the way that you become a public servant or a politician in this circumstance is by running

00:13:03.380 for school board. That's a really awesome way of putting it, right? Because I don't think about

00:13:09.020 something like that. But I think about that with writing. I'm like, I tell people all the time,

00:13:12.340 they're like, how do I write a book? I'm like, you sit down and you write a frickin book.

00:13:15.760 And so, yeah, I mean, it is just you're not born a politician. You just do it. You do all the

00:13:21.320 little things, all the nitty gritty, all the annoying crap to become a politician. 0.98

00:13:27.360 OK, let's take let's take a break.

00:13:28.740 And then I want to talk about some things that are giving us hope right now.

00:13:32.880 You know, what what races are feeling good?

00:13:35.300 You had this great post the other day about young people being electable.

00:13:39.440 I want to hear about all those things.

00:13:47.980 OK, we are back.

00:13:50.000 Talk to me about young people.

00:13:51.320 You do these great feel good updates, which I really need.

00:13:54.300 I mean, I need more of them in addition to I guess I need more kittens.

00:13:58.220 But, you know, you young people are electable, electable, and there's data to prove it.

00:14:02.740 Talk to me about this.

00:14:04.200 So what this showed is that Politico did some polling asking people sort of against a baseline of like a, you know, 35 or 40 something white dude.

00:14:13.080 Would this would a particular trait make them more or less electable?

00:14:16.400 Would this be someone you would vote for?

00:14:17.480 What they found is that younger candidates, like under 40, under 35, way more electable than folks over 60, 70 or 80.

00:14:25.880 Now, there were some other, depending on party, like trans people, less electable, unfortunately, with Republicans.

00:14:32.120 Single women, less electable with some core demographics.

00:14:36.120 But generally speaking, young people in particular, voters are hungry for change.

00:14:40.620 They're hungry for people who were not part of getting us into this mess, who can then help get us out of it.

00:14:44.800 And they are hungry for folks who have a perspective that is meeting the moment where it's at.

00:14:51.280 Like, I don't know, I've been watching all these interviews over the last couple months of older politicians trying to explain how they use AI, which they don't, and saying they don't know what child CBT is.

00:15:01.900 They just learned about what it is a couple weeks ago.

00:15:04.460 Talking about housing in a way that is so divorced from how young people experience the housing market right now, who have no sense beyond the stats of how much child care costs.

00:15:13.180 like they don't get it and that's not to say they're bad people or it's a moral failure it's

00:15:18.020 just like they're not living it so they don't understand it so they can't communicate it

00:15:21.940 and i think that is a real challenge they also don't understand how we get information

00:15:26.600 one of my favorite things to ask older politicians really any politician i mean is like

00:15:30.420 tell me what apps you're on tell me what social media you see like not what your

00:15:34.120 your like um office is on but what you personally experience and the ones who like don't understand

00:15:40.220 the question to begin with. Red flag. The ones who will just say Facebook. But you can tell when

00:15:47.500 people are enough of a producer or a consumer, rather, of like Instagram reels or TikToks or

00:15:54.300 Pinterest posts, whatever it might be, that they understand how to speak the language of how people

00:15:59.020 get information now. It matters. Of course it matters. And you have to be in the trenches. You

00:16:05.080 have to constantly be figuring out how people, as you said, are getting their information or

00:16:10.560 getting their news or forming their opinions. It's like me as an author saying, I wish I could

00:16:15.220 sell more books on Instagram and TikTok and not being on Instagram and TikTok. You have to speak

00:16:20.240 this language. And I think it does a real disservice for any politician to be burying their

00:16:26.420 head in the damn sand at this point. Do the freaking work, y'all. Like we need politicians 0.99

00:16:32.060 who are not so online 0.92

00:16:33.460 that they've got the brain worms.

00:16:34.920 Like, I think J.D. Vance has brain worms.

00:16:36.920 But I think people...

00:16:37.680 Oh, I think J.D. Vance

00:16:38.520 has a lot wrong with that.

00:16:39.860 Yeah, 100%.

00:16:40.760 Yeah, a lot of worms in all places. 1.00

00:16:43.440 Gross worms.

00:16:43.960 I can tell, like, 1.00

00:16:45.080 Zoran Wamdani absolutely

00:16:46.180 has a TikTok for you page.

00:16:47.720 And, like, he's got an algorithm

00:16:48.660 that's feeding him a certain amount of things.

00:16:50.100 AOC as well.

00:16:51.000 Like, she's definitely

00:16:51.640 looking at Instagram

00:16:52.500 in her own free time.

00:16:53.620 Maxwell Frost is scrolling the internet.

00:16:55.740 These are folks who understand it

00:16:57.220 enough to participate in it

00:16:59.080 in a way that breaks through

00:17:00.340 and that really, really matters.

00:17:02.060 Yeah, it does. Yeah, it does. What else has given you hope right now?

00:17:07.040 I'm excited because I think we're going to win.

00:17:10.040 You know, I was talking to my friend Sherry Luce, who does the red, white and blue work here, motivating, activating suburban women in Pennsylvania.

00:17:22.040 And she picked up a bunch of books from me for an event today.

00:17:25.940 And I asked her the same thing and she said, I think we're going to win.

00:17:28.700 Talk to me about this. Talk to me about this, because I can't get to I can't get my hopes up about literally anything right now.

00:17:34.620 I think we are going to flip the House. I think the Senate is absolutely in the realm of possibility, if not probable.

00:17:40.780 I think we're going to win a record number of state legislatures.

00:17:43.380 And it is possible that when this election is over, Democrats will control a majority of state legislative seats for the first time since 2009.

00:17:50.140 I think we're going to win in places that nobody was expecting in R plus 5 or R plus 10 or R plus 15 districts because people are pissed.

00:18:00.800 I think Democrats have shown and we've seen this in every special election, in every primary and in all the polling, they will crawl over broken glass to vote in this election.

00:18:08.700 And Republicans are like, eh, either actively not thrilled or proactively thinking, how do I show, you know, the president who broke his promise to me around no new wars and prices will go down, like, fail and fail, how do I show him I'm mad?

00:18:27.300 I think it's going to be a good election, which makes me nervous for other reasons, but I think it's going to be good.

00:18:33.400 And that's like such a weird place for a professional Democrat to be, but here we are.

00:18:38.700 That does feel like a weird play.

00:18:39.940 Like, we feel very uncertain.

00:18:41.480 We're like, what?

00:18:43.080 We can have nice things again?

00:18:45.340 That's bananas.

00:18:46.160 No, we can't.

00:18:46.620 We are not allowed to have nice things.

00:18:48.780 I feel great.

00:18:49.940 I mean, but we can't get too complacent.

00:18:51.980 We can't just sit still.

00:18:52.940 If you're not running for something right now, how can you support?

00:18:55.400 What can you be doing to make sure that this is the outcome that happens?

00:19:00.100 You know, I think there's obviously all the top races.

00:19:02.320 They're going to have all the money they need.

00:19:03.840 I would start looking at one, always go local at your local school board or city council, your state legislature, especially whether in your district or a neighboring district.

00:19:13.940 Find one of those candidates you can lend a hand to, whether you knock doors or make calls or give money.

00:19:18.280 It goes such a long way.

00:19:20.400 I would also take a look at some of the races that are a little further off the radar.

00:19:23.940 So like Scott Cologne, who's running for Senate in Mississippi.

00:19:27.100 Angie Nixon is running for Senate in Florida. 0.94

00:19:29.700 Gina Hinojosa, who's running for governor in Texas.

00:19:31.920 these amazing candidates who are super compelling, who, you know, in a normal year, it'd be like

00:19:36.760 pretty hard. In this year, anything is possible. So a little bit goes a long way then. The final

00:19:44.100 thing I would say is if you're looking for something to do that helps build long-term power,

00:19:48.780 think about giving to an organization that will plan to exist post-election day. Because I will

00:19:52.660 tell you, both from my experience and all of my peers and colleagues, if you're not working on a

00:19:57.580 House or Senate race actively in a campaign, you're having a tough time raising money this year,

00:20:01.180 which is just is what it is so you know whether it's run for something or the alliance for youth

00:20:06.440 action or a state party or a state and local election alliance or whatever might like fit

00:20:11.720 your your interest bucket give to an organization that plans to exist post-election day because

00:20:17.320 we're going to need to keep the pedal to the metal um in order to like move forward into 2027

00:20:23.480 and 2028 on a right foot okay okay all good all good advice you are naming you are naming a lot

00:20:30.020 of people where where can people find these kinds of resources i do i hear so much from people saying

00:20:35.560 i have information overload i want to know where to go where do i go to find these things that i

00:20:39.880 want to know um my best recommendation is to always go to run for something's website you

00:20:45.180 can look up on our directory your address and find that local candidates we've endorsed near you

00:20:49.680 i'm also always trying to promote the most interesting and compelling folks whether it's

00:20:53.640 on run for something sub stack or my own to make sure you know like here are places that could

00:20:58.300 really use the support okay great great like that again that's good to know i think you know

00:21:04.840 especially from where i sit i i think i wake up every morning and i think about two things

00:21:11.500 i think about am i doing enough for like to try to fix this dumpster fire and then i think about

00:21:19.440 how to sell books that's being being very honest okay i also love money i can't fix the dumpster

00:21:23.740 fire without money. I can't pay the mortgage. So I think about those two things every day when I

00:21:28.440 wake up. First thing in the morning before the children pile on top of me. And what I'm trying

00:21:33.780 to do is this, right? What we're doing right now, talking, using my platform. Everyone has a

00:21:40.180 platform. You don't have to have a gazillion Instagram followers. You have a group chat.

00:21:44.780 You have school drop off. You have school pickup. Think about what your platform is

00:21:49.380 and how you can spread the word about these things through the networks that you have through your

00:21:55.860 circles. We all have a circle. We are all influencers. And I think that, you know,

00:22:00.880 we often need reminding of that. 100 percent. My perhaps most toxic trait is among many is that I

00:22:09.800 like to GOTV everyone in my life. And that includes my therapist. So every election cycle.

00:22:14.760 Wait, explain to people what GOTV is, though, because, you know, again, especially when you're someone in the industry that has worked inside the political complex for a long time, we have acronyms out the ass and people don't know what they are.

00:22:30.600 That's a really good reminder because sometimes I forget.

00:22:33.040 So GOTV is the term for get out the vote.

00:22:35.020 And it seems very silly, but we use it as a verb to be like, OK, we're going to GOTV

00:22:39.920 this weekend.

00:22:40.760 That means going to knock doors or make calls or talk to people explicitly about how to

00:22:45.140 cast their ballot.

00:22:45.920 Did they make a plan to cast their ballot?

00:22:47.540 Have they already voted?

00:22:48.900 Do they need additional information?

00:22:50.720 If you're going to do canvassing and you're afraid to have conversations where you might

00:22:54.180 have like a hostile conversation, GOTV kind of work is almost always positive because you're

00:23:01.360 just doing a service. You're helping people make sure they have the information they need.

00:23:04.520 So when I do this with my therapist, I will often say, do you have a plan to vote? Where are you

00:23:08.460 voting? What time are you voting? What day are you voting? Do you need any help figuring out

00:23:12.400 your ballot? And I have done this for every election for the last almost 10 years. I've

00:23:15.740 been seeing the same therapist. It is like so inappropriate probably, but also, you know,

00:23:20.820 he's someone in my life and I want to make sure that he makes his voice heard.

00:23:24.440 I don't find that inappropriate, although I am still trying to weasel out of out of my therapist

00:23:30.680 where he gets all of his mid-century modern furniture and won't share won't share that

00:23:35.780 information with me. And I don't like it. I don't like it at all. Yes, exactly. That is a good point.

00:23:41.320 I have canvassed. Canvassing can be one of the worst experiences on the planet. I mean,

00:23:45.880 really knocking on doors sucks, y'all. It just sucks. But you can canvas like I mean, 0.99

00:23:50.300 I also think about Emily, Emma, can I talk about this a lot? You can canvas through your social

00:23:54.960 media. I DM people. OK, like I'm just like I DM people and ask, yo, is everything like do you know

00:24:00.600 where to vote? Do you know how to do this? Like, can I help you with anything? You don't have to

00:24:04.800 think about it in terms of door knocking. You can think about it in like innovative ways of how do

00:24:09.160 you talk to people in your normal life? You can do that with voting. And especially with more local

00:24:13.420 folks, like even if you're just, you know, double tapping on Instagram, that helps the algorithm

00:24:16.780 and share it with more people like that is literally the bare minimum you can do especially

00:24:21.760 with smaller candidates or smaller raises it goes such a long way it goes such a long way i

00:24:27.200 remind myself i have a sticky i'm looking at it right now um i remind myself to double tap on

00:24:33.680 my local candidates right to share my local candidates it's like something i do once a day

00:24:37.680 because i brick the phone most of the time but i'm like uh that is part of my work for the day

00:24:42.580 That's part of my social media work is to to share from the local candidates that I'm supporting and then also to share about my books again, because money.

00:24:53.120 I love this. I mean, we shill books until we die. This is just what we do now.

00:24:57.680 Right. Well, exactly. Well, I also I mean, your book obviously is a very prescriptive guide for how to run for something.

00:25:04.920 It is a wonderful book. It's a book that I it's one of the books that I give young women when they graduate because I think I have a whole young lady graduation section in the bookcase books.

00:25:20.000 But this is a great one because I think it's so inspiring. And I think that too often women need permission to do things. 0.99

00:25:28.180 and the book gives you permission it also gives you a blueprint it also tells you what to do and 0.96

00:25:32.640 how to wade through the bureaucratic quagmire of running for office which is not nothing but you

00:25:39.080 guys you guys do really simplify it you make it great so if you have have a young woman in your

00:25:44.020 life this and and democracy and retrograde uh emily's book they're the two that i just give out

00:25:51.640 like a weirdo in a van with candy love that the best kind of candy candy that inspires you to do

00:25:57.640 better for your community too the the best kind of weirdo okay let's take one more quick break 0.99

00:26:03.080 and and when we get back let's just let's shoot the shit about some personal news 0.96

00:26:07.360 okay we're back uh congratulations you are joining the it's very chic to have a third baby club 0.97

00:26:21.600 i love it chic not crazy chic not crazy man i say this all the time i like my third baby is

00:26:29.240 the best it was one of the best decisions we ever drunkenly made after um having too many beers at

00:26:36.240 an elton john concert in fargo north dakota uh making this third baby and i'm like i knew what

00:26:43.100 i was doing i knew what i was doing uh and it's it's wonderful i'm so excited for you it's it's

00:26:49.840 an adventure so you you wrote a great great post about this that a lot of people sent to me because

00:26:55.840 I talk about third baby stuff all the time like how did you how did you know you were ready and

00:27:00.160 I want to talk a little bit about that like how did you know how'd you know you could do this

00:27:03.820 I mean we'll find out if I can um you can I have two older girls um my older will be four in

00:27:12.360 November and then the baby just turned two last week um and I thought we were done with two like

00:27:17.360 i was convinced we were done too i got rid of all the baby stuff i got an iud put back in i was like

00:27:22.860 gonna get my life back together and then the girls the baby turned about eight months and the girls

00:27:29.020 started interacting and i got on zoloft which helped my postpartum anxiety oh it's the best i

00:27:34.280 love i love some zoloft yeah just and the combination of that where my mental health

00:27:39.780 was in a good place and the girls started interacting and i i began obsessing over what

00:27:44.960 it would be like if there was a third like what would this day be like what would this bath time

00:27:48.260 be like what would this bedtime be like what our lives be like and so because i'm a psychopath i

00:27:53.300 started going down an aggressive research rabbit hole i like had you know claude make me a child

00:27:58.620 care calculator with whether we could afford it and how much cash we would need it what month when

00:28:02.180 i went down reddit rabbit holes there's a whole reddit sub thread about or subreddit about should 0.87

00:28:07.780 i have another where it's just like mostly women interrogating should i have another kid and i was

00:28:11.420 But I'm glad I'm not the only one.

00:28:14.020 TikTok was feeding me like video after video.

00:28:16.540 And I was asking basically every woman I know, how did you know you were done?

00:28:21.080 What's it like with three?

00:28:22.700 Like, what's it like with more?

00:28:23.960 What's it like with us?

00:28:24.580 Like, how did you know?

00:28:25.820 I took people out for lunch just to ask them.

00:28:28.180 Like, they were very generous with their time.

00:28:30.740 And ultimately, there was two things, two conversations that really stuck with me.

00:28:33.700 One was a friend who always knew she wanted to have three.

00:28:37.120 It was like, Amanda, if you are obsessing over this, it's because you want to do it.

00:28:40.300 Like, you don't think about the things you don't want to do.

00:28:42.460 You don't think about climbing Mount Everest.

00:28:43.960 I'm like, no, absolutely not. 0.99

00:28:44.920 It sounds fucking terrible. 0.95

00:28:46.260 I love that line. 0.99

00:28:46.980 You don't think about climbing Mount Everest.

00:28:48.440 Nope.

00:28:49.080 Nope.

00:28:49.440 Not even a little bit.

00:28:50.580 Not even base camp.

00:28:51.860 Nope.

00:28:52.220 I'm good.

00:28:53.080 But I did think about this unendingly.

00:28:55.780 The other was a friend of mine who was three kid curious as well.

00:29:00.400 And she was talking to her mom about it.

00:29:01.900 And her mom said to her, you know, I looked up when you and your brother were nine and

00:29:05.220 seven and I wished there was another.

00:29:07.220 And that to me, like, really hammered home.

00:29:08.980 it is so hard with little kids like i had two under two it was briefly very very very difficult

00:29:14.060 and i shouldn't make a permanent life decision based on how hard it temporarily is

00:29:19.040 and that sort of like really helped for me come to terms with my husband of we want to do this

00:29:25.480 we just gotta figure out logistics and logistics is a problem we can solve we can solve and now

00:29:30.140 i'm um 13 and a half weeks pregnant with a little boy until doing it and it's very it's exhausting

00:29:37.680 It's so pregnancy is no joke.

00:29:40.640 I hate being pregnant. 0.95

00:29:41.880 I'm a person who hates being pregnant.

00:29:43.340 I love to tell everyone how much I hate being pregnant because I just don't think that's

00:29:46.680 been talked enough about.

00:29:49.140 Yeah, I also don't really love newborns that much.

00:29:52.260 They're fine.

00:29:53.260 Well, you know what I will tell you that is really nice?

00:29:55.520 They are boring.

00:29:56.200 They're so boring.

00:29:57.440 I liked my third newborn the most.

00:30:00.020 I was able to actually enjoy her and enjoy it because I had none of the terror and

00:30:07.460 nerves and all of the stuff that i had with the first two i had like i had a rhythm and a cadence

00:30:13.040 i knew what i was doing and yeah that was that was my best postpartum it really was and i still

00:30:18.980 remember like she felt she was squishy and joyous and lovely um in a way that the other ones were

00:30:24.840 not but i think because i was stressed all the time i do i find it very comforting to now know

00:30:29.260 like two kids in basically nothing i do matters i'm just nothing matter keep them alive and they're

00:30:34.920 pretty sturdy so whatever works for us we'll be fine i'm totally totally i mean i'm also i'm like

00:30:43.040 the i'm probably too chill of a parent at this point i am like the most chill parent on the

00:30:47.720 playground uh to the extent that like first-time parents get very nervous around me like parents

00:30:53.240 with one kid are very nervous around me all the time there's like such good seth meyers jokes

00:30:58.020 about this have you watched those where yeah he's like you know you hang out with someone with three

00:31:02.680 kids and they're like oh my god we just we just saw a raccoon and you're like is the raccoon okay

00:31:10.040 what what did you do to that raccoon uh so yeah my kids my kids are fully feral but also super happy

00:31:16.900 and yeah i think i'm just so excited for you everything you said is true like if you're

00:31:22.600 obsessing about something and you don't think you're done you're not done i know i'm done now

00:31:25.920 i look at a baby now and i'm like not for me not for me you know we you just you know your body

00:31:32.280 knows the men don't know the men have no idea it's up to us to decide no this i think was like

00:31:37.640 the really clarifying thing so i would talk to people who were like done with one or done with

00:31:42.020 two and there's there like certainty about that like i caught myself being envious about it it's

00:31:46.860 like if i'm jealous of this then i don't have it so i miss one more exactly then so it's one more

00:31:51.560 and i had given away all my stuff too i had to take some stuff back took a stroller back i was

00:31:55.960 like i'm so sorry but um i really love that stroller so uh yeah and that's okay don't worry

00:32:03.060 and also every buy nothing group on the planet wants to give you all their stuff it's the circle

00:32:07.440 baby stuff life it will come back to me tenfold probably it will always come back to my good

00:32:13.900 girlfriend in the cat skills had a newborn a couple weeks ago and i'm just making making a

00:32:18.480 basket making a basket of all the stuff that we are ready to get out of here yeah well this i

00:32:25.620 I mean, I am so excited for you.

00:32:27.280 I was telling you before we started recording, I'm the most productive I've ever been in

00:32:31.080 my life with three children.

00:32:32.540 Like, I think that, you know, we don't have to worry about that.

00:32:35.540 We don't have to worry about our creativity.

00:32:37.440 Like, we are women.

00:32:39.420 We can, if we are allowed to, if the world lets us, we can do it all.

00:32:44.060 We can do it all.

00:32:44.660 I think about this, like, when I was pregnant with my second, I wrote a book in the nine

00:32:48.220 months that she was growing inside me.

00:32:49.960 Like, I can do anything.

00:32:51.440 Yeah, you can do anything.

00:32:53.240 Yeah, no, no. 1.00

00:32:54.180 again like i said women we should just be obama gave a great speech a couple days ago where he's 1.00

00:32:58.940 like i would just like to put the women in charge for a little bit and see what he's like i think

00:33:04.600 it would be better i just think it would be better my husband did tell me because we're

00:33:08.780 having a little boy i have to stop saying boys can't be president yeah i was like well our boy

00:33:16.480 can be president maybe but i only after a bunch of girls do it first yeah fair fair you know that

00:33:22.880 is a that it's a tricky tricky needle to thread um being a you know ardent very public feminist 1.00

00:33:31.220 and having a boy child with you know everything that we say out loud all the time uh there were 1.00

00:33:38.520 a bunch of girls running around in the playground i remember a couple years ago and who were like

00:33:42.420 girls rule the world girls rule the world and my son was like you don't have to tell me he's like

00:33:48.600 have you met my mom like yeah i i got it i'm good uh and so yeah it is is a thing to be like girls

00:33:56.180 can do anything oh my god i'm so sick of men love you you're a good man you are you are you're great

00:34:01.420 you are you can you can also do things man uh yeah but you figure you you figure it out and also

00:34:09.320 it's our job to well again we're going back to like i don't want to say it's our job to raise

00:34:13.880 the good men but i think it's i think it's a really important thing to be raising raising good

00:34:17.900 right now and we were having a boy she's like the most important social justice project of

00:34:22.180 your life like well that's good it is it is the most important social justice project of your

00:34:26.960 life uh so it shouldn't be ours to fix and alas we we do it and also oh my god a little boy with

00:34:35.280 two older sisters that is just heaven he really is a unicorn costume it's six months in he's gonna

00:34:42.400 to be frolicking his nails will be painted before he comes out of the hospital you know this easily

00:34:49.420 yeah all all of them toes fingers everything everything his hair his hair might he may be

00:34:55.300 wearing makeup when he comes home and you know you just fine fine look beautiful my oldest really

00:35:01.440 wants to name him silly boy which is great no bad ideas in a brainstorm better than any ideas i have

00:35:07.380 so totally yeah i'll i've got to say i think boy names are really hard i had a i i thank god i had

00:35:15.700 two girls after charlie because i'm like i got nothing in the tank so yeah well we've got like

00:35:22.100 you know six months to figure something out totally well you know my silly boy litman has

00:35:26.900 a nice ring to it silly boy litman sounds nice yeah um my friend that just had the baby they

00:35:32.220 they waited a couple days until he was out to finally decide the name and i'm like i like that

00:35:36.800 you gotta look at this thing you gotta look at it and be like what are you what are you really

00:35:41.780 that's why i can't name the kittens yet i will name them we'll yeah they'll they will come into

00:35:47.060 there i'm speaking of i should go downstairs and see when these kittens came to my house an hour

00:35:50.220 ago and i'm just like all right i have an interview to do now kittens i love it i will say

00:35:56.080 we got the puppy in like over memorial day so we've had the puppy with the two toddlers and it

00:36:01.180 is magical to see kids like grow up with a with an animal i know i know i thought i didn't want

00:36:08.440 kittens i thought i wanted like an old cat and i'm like and we just an old cat did not call to

00:36:12.920 me we went to the cat cafe over and over again and then it was these rambunctious identical

00:36:17.740 orange boy kittens that were found at the philadelphia zoo how we ended up with chili

00:36:24.640 rainbow dog chili rainbow dog chili rainbow dog again named by my children that is her name

00:36:30.360 to yeah that's that is and all right i'll email you tonight after the kids decide their name i'll

00:36:35.200 let you know yes yes well this is wonderful tell everyone where they can find you where they can

00:36:40.720 find your book to order it for for everyone in their life everyone because you know what men

00:36:46.540 should read men men need to be reading more books about how to get women elected to office as well

00:36:51.940 that's right um you can find me anywhere on the internet either amanda litm or amanda litman i'm

00:36:57.340 on Soundstack, same thing. My books Run for Something and then When We're in Charge are

00:37:02.440 both wherever you get your books. When We're in Charge is hardcover, paperback, audio.

00:37:07.620 They're both great. And I think if you liked this conversation, you will like them.

00:37:11.520 You will like them. When We're in Charge and Run for Something, I adore them. So

00:37:15.660 absolutely. Absolutely. You're the best. Bye, babe.

00:37:27.340 Thank you.

00:37:57.340 You

Under the Influence (with Jo Piazza) - October 08, 2026

Are You Ready to Run for Office？

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