In Wisconsin, female politicians aim to turn the state blue

Read the Full Transcript

• ZAC SCHULTZ:

  When Alexandra Nugent and Emily Siegrist meet for playdates at the park, their conversations might sound a little different from the other parents.

• ALEXANDRA NUGENT:

  Did you do your 35 doors yesterday?

• EMILY SIEGRIST:

  I think I hit 25.

• ZAC SCHULTZ:

  That's because in between the park and the picnic…This is also a campaign strategy session.

• EMILY SIEGRIST:

  I don't know — should I order more yard signs?

• ALEXANDRA NUGENT:

  Wait till they're gone, I would say.

• EMILY SIEGRIST:

  And then order some?

• ALEXANDRA NUGENT:

  Yeah.

• ZAC SCHULTZ:

  Alexandra and Emily met in 2017 at a town hall for their Republican Congressman, Glenn Grothman.

• EMILY SIEGRIST:

  He had a town hall meeting in Sheboygan.

• ZAC SCHULTZ:

  They were among the hundreds of voters who showed up concerned about plans to overturn the Affordable Care Act.

• ALEXANDRA NUGENT:

  And we were both in the overflow area and just kind of kept nodding and looking over at each other.

• EMILY SIEGRIST:

  And that kind of stemmed our relationship of…" we should get together some time"

• ZAC SCHULTZ:

  They kept meeting and kept talking politics. Then Emily heard about a program called Emerge, which trains progressive women to run for office.

• EMILY SIEGRIST:

  If you want to get more active, you should check out this program.

• ALEXANDRA NUGENT:

  I didn't even know about Emerge But Emily looked it up, and saw it, and then told me to apply with her.

• EMILY SIEGRIST:

  Hi we're here and ready to do this.

• ZAC SCHULTZ:

  On a beautiful summer day, Emily and Alexandra joined 23 other women in a windowless room to learn about campaigning for office.

• GRETCHEN:

  So this is an experience. This is behavior change. This is how do you get more people to hear you.

• ZAC SCHULTZ:

  A few months later, their names would be on the ballot…Emily Siegrist for State Assembly

• MAN:

  My friend Emily Siegrist…

• ZAC SCHULTZ:

  And Alexandra Nugent for Town of Sheboygan Board of Supervisors

• ALEXANDRA NUGENT:

  Thank you all so much for being here tonight.

• ZAC SCHULTZ:

  But this wasn't the culmination of a lifelong goal for either Emily or Alexandra…

• EMILY SIEGRIST:

  You see, I've never been particularly politically active before.

• ZAC SCHULTZ:

  In 2016, they were both mothers to young children, working and living a normal life.

• EMILY SIEGRIST:

  And then the 2016 presidential election had happened. (crowd booing) Yes.

• ZAC SCHULTZ:

  Emily's biological mother immigrated from Mexico.

• EMILY SIEGRIST:

  I can't believe we elected an individual who doesn't want me in this country and besides my children as well. And realized, "OK, well what are you going to do about it?"

• ZAC SCHULTZ:

  Erin Forrest is the Executive Director of Emerge Wisconsin. She says the election activated a lot of women politically.

• ERIN FORREST:

  We had more applications come in in the next two weeks than we had had in the previous month and a half of applications being opened. Like it just went through the roof.

• ZAC SCHULTZ:

  Emerge was created in California in 2002 and has expanded to 25 states. It came to Wisconsin in 2007. The focus is on getting more women into public office.

• ERIN FORREST:

  We win at the same rate as men, we're just still only about 25 percent of the candidates.

• ZAC SCHULTZ:

  Forrest says there is a political ambition gap between men and women.

• ERIN FORREST:

  We're more likely to need to be recruited, we are less likely to hear that recruitment pitch as a recruitment pitch. We blow it off, as like 'oh that's someone trying to say something nice about me.'

• ZAC SCHULTZ:

  Chris Rahlf decided to run for the State Assembly because no one had challenged the incumbent the last two elections.

• CHRIS RAHLF:

  I remember going in to vote in off year elections, and there would only be one name at each office. And that's not exciting. That's not democracy. You got to have a choice.

• REBECCA CLARKE:

  When I ran in '16 I didn't know about anything.

• ZAC SCHULTZ:

  Rebecca Clarke made a late decision to run for the Assembly in 2016, and lost by 20 points.

• REBECCA CLARKE:

  And, I woke up like, "oh my gosh, we're gonna do this again." you know?

• ZAC SCHULTZ:

  Emerge gave these women training and technical advice.

• ERIN FORREST:

  Seventy to eighty percent of your money will be spent in the last 30 days. Why? That's when people care.

• ZAC SCHULTZ:

  But perhaps most important, Emerge gave them a support network.

• EMILY SIEGRIST:

  The sisterhood is, like, amazing.

• CHRIS RAHLF:

  Having other people, especially other women, that are going through the same thing that you go through, it's it's just critical.

• ZAC SCHULTZ:

  There are Emerge alums all over the state running in races ranging from school board to Congress. Many of them are running against established incumbents, in parts of the state where Democrats have not won in a long time.

• ERIN FORREST:

  For me, it's also important to have women running in places where maybe it is harder for them to win.

• ZAC SCHULTZ:

  That's the case with Alexandra, Rebecca, Chris and Emily.

• CHRIS RAHLF:

  it's fairly conservative.

• ZAC SCHULTZ:

  They live on the eastern part of the state-along Lake Michigan, where Republicans often go unchallenged.

• EMILY SIEGRIST:

  Someone needs to run against him. And here I am.

• ZAC SCHULTZ:

  Alexandra's election was in the spring, because she ran for a seat on the Town of Sheboygan Board of Supervisors.

• ELECTION NIGHT:

  So, final results. Dan Olsen got 585 votes. Alexandra Nugent 806.

• ALEXANDRA NUGENT:

  Yeah. It's been really exciting. It's everything I'd hoped for.

• ZAC SCHULTZ:

  Now's she dealing with issues ranging from parks to drainage

• ALEXANDRA NUGENT:

  As boring as drainage sounds, that's a real issue to people. If your basement is flooding, you can't really think about much else.

• ZAC SCHULTZ:

  Her win has resonated.

• REBECCA CLARKE:

  It set the tone for me, and I think, probably, some other Dems in the area, like, "OK."

• EMILY SIEGRIST:

  It kind of gives you this confidence.

• ZAC SCHULTZ:

  Polling has shown a surge in Democratic enthusiasm to vote in this fall's election.

• EMILY SIEGRIST:

  Hi, my name is Emily Siegrist and I am running for state Assembly in the 24th District and I'm just out knocking doors this afternoon.

• ZAC SCHULTZ:

  But first the voters need to know they're in the race.

• EMILY SIEGRIST:

  I just want to introduce myself-

• MAN:

  State assembly, never heard of you.

• EMILY SIEGRIST:

  Oh, well that's why I'm knocking doors so you can get to meet me. It's just all about doors, and making the connection with people, and saying, "there is another option out there."

• CHRIS RAHLF:

  I'm Chris Rahlf and I'm running for state assembly.

• CHRIS RAHLF:

  So we can actually go out and knock doors that probably haven't seen a Democratic candidate in, you know, more than 10 years.

• REBECCA CLARKE:

  I'm Rebecca Clarke, I'm running-

• MAN:

  You are?

• REBECCA CLARKE:

  I are.

• MAN:

  You are definitely not a Republican.

• REBECCA CLARKE:

  No. (he shakes her hand) Well, all right sir.

• ZAC SCHULTZ:

  But Democratic voters alone aren't enough…

• EMILY SIEGRIST:

  I'm not hitting strong Democrats. My universe is maybe lean-Dems, independents, unknowns and lean Republicans. That's the persuadable universe we're dealing with.

• CHRIS RAHLF:

  I have to run as somebody that's really going to represent the people of this district.

• ZAC SCHULTZ:

  Sometimes the person behind the door is perfectly satisfied with the way things are going.

• REBECCA CLARKE:

  I'm running for state assembly here in our district.

• WOMAN:

  Ok, as a Democrat.

• REBECCA CLARKE:

  Yeah.

• WOMAN:

  Uhh. Can't handle that one.

• REBECCA CLARKE:

  Really?

• EMILY SIEGRIST:

  There might be a handful, there might be, all right, well have a good day. Those are hard doors.

• ZAC SCHULTZ:

  That's when the Emerge sisterhood kicks in.

• CHRIS RAHLF:

  There's also a lot of emotional support. Because it is a very stressful process.

• EMILY SIEGRIST:

  If you had a rough door, and you're just, like, you just need to vent, having someone there that you can call.

• CHRIS RAHLF:

  I honestly, think I would have really struggled trying to do this on my own.

• ZAC SCHULTZ:

  Emily and Alexandra felt their lives change on election day 2016 and they don't expect to go back to the way things were.

• ALEXANDRA NUGENT:

  Are you registered to vote?

• WOMAN:

  Yes.

• ALEXANDRA NUGENT:

  I always ask people. It's a weird question but it's one of the first things I ask people these days.

• ZAC SCHULTZ:

  Alexandra is already in office and Emily hopes to join her on Election Day 2018. Their children are used to seeing their names on yard signs..

• EMILY SIEGRIST:

  It will be weird when we're driving and she's like, "Mommy, there's your sign!"

• ZAC SCHULTZ:

  And sitting down for interviews…

• ALEXANDRA NUGENT:

  This is real life. This is being a politician with a baby.

• ZAC SCHULTZ:

  This is their new normal.

• ALEXANDRA NUGENT:

  She's telling me she's done right now. This is the done sign. But we're just getting started Ruby.