There’s little cutie speech that the president gives called the State of the Union Address or as the wonks like to shorten it to, SOTU. Sounds kind of like a fun drink in our opinion, but it’s literally a look at from the president’s eyes the state or status of the nation at the juncture that they give said speech. This one is sure to be a banger, and to prepare and react we brought on USAFacts President Poppy MacDonald to bring us through the numbers. The cold hard numbers and facts on the stat...
Mar 06, 2024•52 min
Have you heard about what’s been happening with school boards? If you haven’t, you’re about to, with our conversation with the Co-Founder of Run for Something’s Amanda Litman. She provides the 411 on how the far-right has long had their eyes on this educational and powerful prize, and where their efforts have led… ya know like to book bans that have the dictionary on the no-go list… Yea… so it’s been a ride the last few years for school boards to say the least, and even more so recently a la Mom...
Feb 28, 2024•41 min
The fentanyl crisis has impacted individuals and families in every corner of this country. But how did this crisis start? And where are its impacts the deepest? Many of those answers start in West Virginia. As told by our guest JoAnna Vance, a Program Coordinator at WV Economic Justice, the crisis has taken a huge toll and a huge amount of lives. It’s a crisis that she’s actively a part of turning around through her advocacy. It’s also a crisis rife with stigmas around solutions and treatment – ...
Feb 21, 2024•57 min
The topic on the tip of everyone’s tongues right now is immigration. From the border bill to the Trump theatrics to the meltdowns on team GOP, the issue is getting thrown around like a Superbowl football. But what is this messaging really doing? And how will it impact this year’s elections? In a classic look at words matter, this episode brings Beatriz Lopez, the Deputy Director of the Immigration Hub in to talk about the difference in messaging in the different camps on this vital policy vertic...
Feb 14, 2024•44 min
It’s 2024 and the GOP is coming for birth control. But the thing is this isn’t just a ‘whoops yolo’ by the ultra-conservative crew, it’s the definition of the political long game. It’s this very long game that we dissect with none other than longtime repro rights advocate, Mini Timmaraju, the President & CEO of Reproductive Freedom For All. We look at how this plan came to be, what’s different about the repro rights landscape now from when Mini first dove in, and how we can fight back now. W...
Feb 07, 2024•58 min
Did we take out our calculators for this episode? No, but we considered it because this interview focuses all on campaign finance and how to cultivate a career in this very needed piece of the successful campaign puzzle. We talk challenges, we talk strategy, and we talk about how we need more young people to explore this vital path with Sydney Levin-Epstein, Director of Development at Arena who is an ace at campaign finance, having come to Arena having worked Senator Markey’s Deputy Finance Dire...
Jan 31, 2024•41 min
If you’re an OG, you know that we love to put the spotlight on various political careers, sharing the BTS on what they’re like. If you’re new here, that’s a little bit about some of our episodes, including this one with Special Envoy for Global Youth Issues, Abby Finkenauer. In this episode, Abby tells us about her career journey, first as a state rep, then a member of Congress at age 28, and the current role in the State Department. We get into what a Special Envoy does, how they’re appointed, ...
Jan 24, 2024•55 min
What do legislators talk about behind closed doors? What happens when they get together? What ideas do they share? How do they collaborate? For leaders and legislators a part of The NewDEAL, they convene, they collaborate, and they bring ideas to the table that help their communities. They also, looking at this election year, are focused on protecting democracy. It’s central to conversations happening right now according to our guest, the amazing Debbie Cox Bultan, the CEO at The NewDEAL. In thi...
Jan 17, 2024•46 min
Bipartisanship is back and we’re so freakin’ glad about it. Working across the aisle is not an easy feat and yet it’s something that members of Future Caucus do regularly. The org brings together young legislators from across the aisle and provides a space for them to talk out issues, ideas, and work together to get shit done. In today’s polarized enviro, it’s uber impressive and something we needed to get the scoop on. Cue, our guests, VT Rep. Mary-Katherine Stone, a Democrat and VT Rep. Casey ...
Jan 10, 2024•46 min
If you asked us if we were surprised that Senator Manchin decided to retire, we’d say 50/50. If you asked candidate for Senate, Zach Shrewsbury, he’d say nope, not at all. Zach has had a pulse on how Manchin plays politics for quite some time, interacting with him as an organizer. He’s also had a pulse on West Virginia politics and the needs of WV residents as a result. And those needs, those issues need to be communicated and represented in the Senate. Zach is running to be that representation ...
Jan 03, 2024•35 min
Who is ‘Big Hospital?’ Going once…going twice…going three times… anyone?! Yea, it was an answer we did not have, so we brought in the expert dujour, Sophia Tripoli, the Senior Director of Health Policy at Families USA to give us the scoop. We also brought her on to talk about the role they play in hospital transparency, or the lack thereof, and overall the not so great consumer practices going on in this section of the healthcare industry. Naturally, we also had to dive into WTF is going on with...
Dec 14, 2023•39 min
2024 is literally right around the corner. How?! Couldn’t tell you, but here we are getting prepped for a critical election year. Ya know, just another election year where the future of democracy hangs in the balance. #casual. Anyways, back to the prep end of things, this episode is get ready for primary season through general election season 101. And most importantly, it’s made possible by the wonderful Rudy Garrett, who is the VP at Alliance for Youth Action. If you want to get amped for votin...
Dec 06, 2023•1 hr 6 min
The way we consume media, the way media is shared, and the speed at which it’s shared has evolved rapidly in recent years. What hasn’t caught up is media literacy, a critical understanding of how to decipher media. The consequences of this gap are dangerous – they change the course of world events with too many clicks of a share button on fake videos; they put people in danger and spur hate crimes with comment sections filled with false claims; they sow division with unverified claims, so much m...
Nov 29, 2023•54 min
Campaigns are like mini start-ups – they require a lot of minds to move and get off the ground effectively. Those minds fit a range of roles, from finance director to organizer to marketing manager, and beyond. But, how does one prepare to take on those roles? They look to Arena, which provides training for a wide array of campaign jobs. They also help to connect trainees with jobs across the industry via tools that we discuss at length with Lauren Baer, who is the managing partner at Arena. Hav...
Nov 22, 2023•49 min
What would passing a federal Transgender Bill of Rights look like? How would it work? What does the current federal landscape look like for legislation like this? These questions, along with a look at what LGBTQ+ protections are being considered at the federal level are answered in this week’s episode with special guest, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal. In our discussion, we also put eyeballs on the Senate and their love for the filibuster – perhaps we’ll do a follow up on the filibuster altogethe...
Nov 15, 2023•41 min
Every once in a while we like to drop a solo episode, which is really like a duo episode, because there’s two of us. Details, details, details. Anywhooooo, this week we chat about hitting 200 episodes of the pod, what we’re most excited for about the next 100 eppy’s, and some of the funniest moments yet. We then get into what’s ahead for 2024, our dream blunt rotations versus nightmare blunt rotations, and a zillion random takes and rabbit holes on the current political landscape in the U-S-A. A...
Nov 08, 2023•45 min
We did it, Joe – we officially have hit 200 episodes of Girl and the Gov, The Podcast! Cue the balloons! The champagne! The confetti! And this episode is def big 2-0-0 energy because we’re talking about the fight for student debt cancellation with Melissa Byrne, the Founder of We, the 45 Million. We’re looking at the background like how many students in the US have student debt, we’re getting into the weeds with members of Congress who’ve had their PPP loans canceled, we’re looking to the future...
Nov 01, 2023•1 hr 8 min
2023 is considered an off-year election year, which we think we need to rebrand because every election is important **adds to to-do list**. But without turning the description of this week's episode into a meeting about marketing and messaging, let us pivot to the core of this week's interview -- the interview with Ofirah Yheskel the Director of External Affairs at Democratic Governors Association [DGA], puts a spotlight on the year's governor races, including those in Mississippi an...
Oct 18, 2023•40 min
What is the foster care system? And who is it set up to help? Does it work? And, what about the system needs to change? Colorado State Rep. Lindsey Daugherty , who prior to her elected role worked as a guardian ad litem, walks us through all of these questions and more. Our conversation serves as a virtual tour through what the system looks like, who it leaves behind, and what improvements need to be made to protect the kids it's intended to protect – at age 18 and beyond. We look at legisla...
Oct 04, 2023•42 min
By the time we hit release on this episode, we can only imagine another Clarence Thomas corruption scandal will have broken. I mean, one seems to drop every other minute, so the odds are in our favor for that, just not for fair and just outcomes of cases heard by the Court. Anyways, onto fixing that issue and the many others in the ethics department that impact not just the court’s operations but Congress’s too. Those solutions, which include term limits, are a part of Congressman Ro Khanna’s fi...
Sep 27, 2023•40 min
If you’ve tuned into any of the interviews your beloved co-hosts [hi, that’s us] have done, you’ll know that when we’ve been asked what our favorite episode that we’ve done is, we say our interview with Kat Calvin. One of our first interviews ever was with Kat and she blew our minds by painting the picture of America’s ID crisis – how without an ID, you can’t get a job, housing, access shelters and medical care, receive your veterans benefits, and pretty much access any/all basic services. And t...
Sep 20, 2023•58 min
According to our friends at Remake , garment workers experience the second-highest rates of wage theft of any group of workers, with some earning as little as $2.68 an hour. How, with a federal minimum wage, is that possible? Good ol’ loopholes and worker exploitation, with factories able to use the piece rate system . The system of pay doesn’t pay by the hour but instead per garment sewn. The soon to be reintroduced FABRIC Act [this week] would nix this loophole, creating an hourly wage require...
Sep 13, 2023•44 min
When we first scheduled our interview with Hawai’i State Representative Kapela early this summer we planned on talking about how climate change is affecting Hawaii and what that looks like for the islands. We were also going to talk about bringing a state level Green New Deal to the table. Then, tragedy struck – one interlaced with climate, tourism, and more. And this turning point expanded the depth and urgency of our conversation with Rep. Kapela on climate change and what needs to be done. To...
Sep 06, 2023•46 min
If you’ve been curious about what it’s like to run a political campaign, this episode is going to be your holy grail. Save it, send it, listen to it time and time again because it’s a walk-through of how to get into campaign management with the former campaign manager for Colorado Governor Polis, Sarah Andrews. She gives us the full lens on what it was like, how she got there, and what anyone needs to know about going into that role. We also talk about her story on the campaign trail and what sh...
Aug 23, 2023•57 min
What is disability justice and how is it achieved? And, what’s the difference between disability justice and disability rights? Wait – and another Q, what about the ADA? What does that do? And what policies and legislation do we need to build upon the ADA legacy? These questions are just a few of the many asked and answered by our guest Mia Ives-Rublee who serves as the Director of the Disability Justice Initiative at Center for American Progress. In this episode, Mia, who is also the founder of...
Aug 16, 2023•48 min
You’re going to walk away with a new vocab word coined by the one and only Fraidy Reiss, Founder/Executive Director at Unchained At Last by the end of this episode. And you’re going to use it to describe vile behavior and vile people. We’d tell you what it is here, but that would ruin the fun wouldn’t it? But we will tell you how this vocab word came to be and that is through the incredible work Fraidy is doing to end forced marriage in the US. A survivor of a forced marriage herself, and the fo...
Aug 09, 2023•58 min
This summer’s SCOTUS decision on affirmative action yielded an array of reactions across the sociopolitical spectrum. And, it also yielded many questions. Some focused more on what affirmative action is or perhaps at this stage, was. Other q’s were pointed at whether affirmative action worked and who it helped if it did. And more questions were aired on what will happen next and who this decision will leave behind. These questions naturally made it to this episode with Dr. Shaun Harper, who is t...
Aug 02, 2023•54 min
It’s the summer of the strike, and this week’s episode features an interview with an expert that explains how we got here. Michelle Eisen, of Starbucks Workers United joined us for a convo on strikes and fighting corporate power at large, but also to talk about the Starbucks workers movement. From the chain of events that catalyzed it to the union busting they’re facing, and the tactics they’ve employed, we get into it all. We also chat about what consumers can do to help, and what employees int...
Jul 26, 2023•54 min
Rikers hasn’t just forged its reputation from the likes of Law & Order, but for the continual humanitarian crisis that’s ongoing across the island to this day. The crisis has led to a campaign for a federal receivership with a long term plan to close Rikers by 2027. But will that happen? And then what happens next? And also, how did this crisis begin? Oh, and where has NY’s current mayor, Mayor Eric Adams been on this? These questions and so much more are covered in this interview with DeRay...
Jul 19, 2023•56 min
If you’re a long time listener of the Girl and the Gov, The Podcast, you’ve without a doubt heard us reference our friend Zak. But who is he? What does he do? Well this episode is his big reveal [minus the people at our last NY event, sorwz for the spoiler]. He’s been working to connect young philanthropists with young future political leaders at his PAC, The Next 50. To date, over 80% of the PAC’s endorsed leaders have won their general elections - love to see it. The work done has also made th...
Jul 12, 2023•51 min
