Cheddar News sits down with Lauren Baer, managing partner of Arena, a non-profit working to increase diversity in the political realm in a novel way. Arena trains people from diverse backgrounds to run and work on campaigns. They believe political staff should look like the communities they campaign in, and eventually represent.

Cheddar Politics

Progressive Organization Works to Diversify Political Staff

machado in new york, a lack of diversity in american politics. It's not just a problem when it comes to whose name appears on the ballot. It's also a pretty big issue when it comes to staffers and those who work for those elected officials and those who are also seeking office as well. Joining us now is Lauren Bear the managing partner over at Arena. That's a nonprofit that is working to fix this problem when it comes to progressive campaigns and representations. We should also know. She's also a former candidate for the U. S. House And also a former official within the Obama administration. Lauren good to have you back here on Cheddar News as always. Now, you guys at arena started this back in 2016 and you initially worked to get Democratic candidates elected in 2018. But what happened in 2016 that made you think that we needed to make change now on this? Well, thanks so much for having me baker. Um, so the first thing I want to note is, if anything of the news of the last week has shown us it's that everything's on the line this year, reproductive rights are on the line, voting rights are on the line. L. G B. T. Q. Rights are on the line. And so we know that we need to be fighting uh in electoral ballots up and down up and down the ballot. But we also know here at Arena that it doesn't just take strong candidates to win. They need teams around them and teams that reflect the diversity of the communities that individuals are running in. And so that's why we at arena are making and really unprecedented investment In training the individuals who will run campaigns, who will provide the boots on the ground to ensure democratic and progressive victories in 2022 and beyond. We've heard a lot during the Supreme Court confirmation process of Catania Brown Jackson that the Supreme Court needed to look more like America. What are the benefits of having a diverse staff and a diverse backgrounds for people that are working on staff here? Sure, so baker, we we value diversity not only for diversity's sake, but because diverse campaigns that reflect the communities in which individuals are running, that reflect the Democratic Party that reflect the country as a whole are better run campaigns. They are more attuned to the communities, they make better policy and they ultimately help democrats win. We are Arena are incredibly proud of the fact that of the more than 6200 staff and volunteers we've trained since 2019. The majority of them are women, the majority of people of color, more than 30% are L. G. B. T. Q. And we know that when we train talent that looks like America, we stand a better chance of taking America with us and securing victory for democrats. Alright, let's talk about where your organizations are really at right now. You guys are really focusing in on texas and Arizona, Those two states we saw obviously more so Arizona with the 2020 election. How important those are, are those sort of areas that Democrats think down the road are going to trend more in their favor? Well, bigger. You're talking to me from Arizona right now where we are training 175 future campaign staffers this week. Um, and we're doing it because we know in Arizona just two seats, uh, stand in the way from Democrats recon gaining control of both the state house and the state Senate. So this is an investment for us that will pay dividends in 2022, but also down the road in 2024, and beyond. In terms of building that critical on the ground infrastructure and organizing power, the same stands for Texas. We don't see the chances of electoral success there as great in 2022. But we know that if we want to win in the future we have to start building. Now. If you look at 2020 what happened in Georgia, everyone was so impressed with the fact that we were able to win those two critical United States Senate seats and we did that because Stacey Abrams and others had organized for over a decade. Arena is looking to those places where we need to start building power. Now, even though it's difficult if we hope to win in the future. We know obviously the midterms, just from a historical perspective usually tend to not favor those who are in power, which is why a lot of, you know, analysts believe that republicans are likely going to win the house come november. But how much do you think that this row situation with Samuel Alito in this draft changes the narrative here? Does this motivate democrats more than maybe they were a few weeks ago to go to the polls here? Well, the first thing I'll say baker is that we know six months out, it's really hard to predict what's going to be salient for voters. On Election Day just a week ago, we wouldn't have been talking about this draft roe opinion but it has galvanized voters. It has galvanized democrats. And it is also galvanized individuals who don't identify as democrats because abortion is overwhelmingly popular across the country. Despite the policies that republicans in the Supreme Court would like to make what our job to do as democrats and as progressives is is to remind voters now and every day until election day exactly what's on the line this year and allow me to reiterate, it is not just reproductive rights, it is voting rights, it is L. G B. T. Q rights, it is gun violence prevention. It is climate and energy policy. If we can convey that message to voters, then I feel confident we will see victories in november and beyond All right, Lauren bear the managing partner of arena that's a nonprofit that works to recruit and train diverse staffers for political campaigns and elected officials. Lauren, always good to have you here on Cheddar news. Thank you so much.