BigTentUSA

Michael Waldman and Judge J. Michael Luttig: Is the U.S. President Above the Law?
2024-01-30 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | BigTent Zoom Room
BigTent was thrilled to host Michael Waldman, President of the Brennan Center for Justice and retired Judge J. Michael Luttig. They joined us to discuss the 2024 election, and whether Trump is ineligible for the presidency in accordance with Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. This section bars anyone who has violated their oath to uphold the US Constitution by “engaging in insurrection”, from holding public office. Judge Luttig has said that the Supreme Court’s decision to take up the question of Trump’s eligibility will be “one of the most consequential Supreme Court decisions since the founding of the nation.”
About our Speakers:
Michael Waldman is president and CEO of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, a nonpartisan law and policy institute that works to revitalize the nation’s systems of democracy and justice. He was director of speechwriting for President Bill Clinton from 1995 to 1999 and is the author of The Second Amendment: A Biography and The Fight to Vote. Waldman was a member of the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court. A graduate of Columbia College and NYU School of Law, he comments widely in the media on law and policy.
J. Michael Luttig served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit for 15 years, from 1991 to 2006. He was appointed to the federal bench by President George H.W. Bush, and served as assistant attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice and counselor to the attorney general of the United States. He was assistant counsel to the president at the White House from 1981 to 1982 under President Ronald Reagan. From 1982 to 1983, he was a law clerk to then-Judge Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. From 1983 to 1985, he served as a law clerk and then special assistant to the chief justice of the United States.

Jocelyn Benson, Michigan Secretary of State: Election Security in 2024
2024-02-13 12:00 - 13:00
We were thrilled to host distinguished guest speaker, Jocelyn Benson, Michigan’s 43rd Secretary of State and Wendy Weiser,vice president, Brennan Center for Justice. Secretary Benson is a celebrated figure in the realm of electoral integrity and accessibility, and she has emerged as one of the nation’s foremost authorities in conducting secure and inclusive elections. The conversation was moderated by Wendy Weiser who directs the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center. Her program focuses on voting rights and elections, money in politics and ethics, redistricting and representation, government dysfunction, rule of law, and fair courts. This event provided an unparalleled opportunity to hear directly from Secretary Benson about her groundbreaking work in overseeing Michigan’s 2020 and 2022 general elections. These elections not only set records in voter turnout but also established new benchmarks in electoral security and transparency.
Listen to their insights into the challenges and triumphs of administering elections that have shaped the course of our democracy.
About Our Speakers
Jocelyn Benson is Michigan’s 43rd Secretary of State. In this role, she has become one of the nation’s most prominent leaders in ensuring elections are secure and accessible. Benson’s work overseeing Michigan’s 2020 and 2022 general elections, both of which drew record-breaking turnout and were more secure than any prior election in state history, earned her national recognition, including the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award and the Presidential Citizens Medal. She also implemented new voting rights for all eligible Michiganders prior to the 2020 election, including the right to vote absentee, and oversaw more than 250 audits after the election, all of which affirmed its integrity and accuracy.
Jocelyn has been recognized for her work. She is a recipient of the 2022 Profile in Courage award from the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, the Defenders of Democracy award from the Center for Election Innovation and Research and most recently, was is serving in a leadership position with the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS), the nation’s oldest, nonpartisan professional organization for public officials.
Wendy Weiser is vice president for democracy at the Brennan Center and founded and directed the program’s Voting Rights and Elections Project, directing litigation, research, and advocacy efforts to enhance political participation and prevent voter disenfranchisement across the country.
She has authored a number of nationally recognized publications and articles on voting rights and election reform, litigated groundbreaking lawsuits on democracy issues, testified before both houses of Congress and in a variety of state legislatures, and provided legislative and policy drafting assistance to federal and state legislators and administrators across the country. She is a frequent public speaker and media commentator on democracy issues. She has appeared on CBS News, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, PBS, ABC News, and NPR, among others; her commentary has been published in the New York Times, the Washington Post, USA Today, and elsewhere. See link for more information here

Empowering the Youth Vote in America with The Civics Center Founder Laura Brill & CNN Anchor Jake Tapper
2024-02-27 12:00 - 13:00
BigTent hosted a discussion featuring Laura W. Brill, CEO and Founder of The Civics Center and Jake Tapper, CNN Anchor and Chief Washington Correspondent. Their conversation dove into the current state of youth civic engagement and explored strategies for lowering the barriers to registration and voting. Laura and her team are on a mission to make voter registration part of every high school in America.
About our speakers:
Laura W. Brill is CEO and Founder of The Civics Center, as well as an attorney, former law clerk to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and a mother of two young adults. She launched The Civics Center in 2018 to stop youth voter suppression and tackle the decades-old problem of low youth turnout.
Jake Tapper is a CNN anchor and chief Washington. He currently anchors a two-hour weekday program, The Lead with Jake Tapper. He has hosted CNN’s Sunday morning show, State of the Union, since June 2015. In April 2021, he became the lead anchor for CNN for Washington, D.C. events.

Vote Forward and BigTentUSA Letter-Writing to Voters!
2024-03-12 12:00 - 13:00
BigTent is thrilled to launch our letter writing partnership with Vote Forward! Mark your calendars for Tuesday, March 12, at 12pm ET, as we launch our partnership!
We’re working together to increase civic participation by sending letters to voters. Writing letters to voters is one of the most effective ways to help increase election turnout. And you can do it right from home! Our plan is to send out over 100K letters by October 2024!
During this event, we are honored to welcome Catherine Vaughan, Emily Wasserman, and Nia Bentall from Vote Forward. They will dive into the impact of letter-writing and explore its effectiveness in creating positive change.
Here is link to what letter writing entails! ????
If you can’t make event but just want to request letters use this link!
About Vote Forward:
VoteForward is dedicated to empowering grassroots volunteers to send handwritten letters encouraging fellow Americans to vote. Their flagship voter contact program trains and supports volunteers in writing personal, heartfelt letters to potential voters with an easy-to-use online platform. The majority of Vote Forward letter writing campaigns are 501(c)(3) nonpartisan (“Social”) campaigns, which focus on mobilizing potential voters in historically marginalized communities, including people of color, women, and young voters, to ensure that every voice is heard in the democratic process.

Protecting the Right to Vote: One ID at a Time with Lauren Kunis, CEO VoteRiders
2024-03-19 12:00 - 13:00
BigTent is thrilled to host a Tent Talk with VoteRiders’ CEO and Executive Director, Lauren Kunis.
We will also be writing letters to North Carolina voters who have very strict voter ID laws and we need your help to ensure that every voter in North Carolina has the ID they need as they prepare for the upcoming election season.
Each letter we send delivers essential information and assistance to the voters most likely to be disenfranchised by voter ID laws in North Carolina.
VoteRiders is a non-partisan, non-profit organization with a mission to ensure that all citizens are able to exercise their freedom to vote. VoteRiders informs and helps citizens to secure their voter ID as well as inspires and supports organizations, local volunteers, and communities to sustain voter ID education and assistance efforts.
Kathleen Unger founded VoteRiders in 2012 as a direct response to the increasing number of stringent voter ID laws across the country.
Today, their team works alongside thousands of partner organizations and an ever-growing community of 10,000 volunteers across the country.
About our Speaker:
Lauren Kunis has spent her career working to strengthen democracy at home and around the world, designing and managing impactful voter education, civic engagement, and government accountability programs. Lauren most recently worked at Nonprofit VOTE, where she was the National Voter Registration Day program director and led the holiday to a record-setting number of voter registrations in 2020. She previously worked at the nonpartisan National Democratic Institute and the World Bank on democracy and governance programs in over 15 countries in the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa. Domestically, Lauren has worked on national political campaigns, served on the Steering Committee for the DC Paid Family Leave campaign, and worked as an NYC Urban Fellow in the Bloomberg administration. Lauren has a BA with honors in Government from Cornell University and an MPA in Public and Nonprofit Management from New York University. She lives in Washington, DC with her husband and their two young children.

Marc Elias and Lauren Groh-Wargo: The Ongoing Fight Against Voter Suppression
2024-03-20 19:00 - 20:00
BigTent is honored to host Marc Elias, the founder of Elias Law Group and Democracy Docket, alongside Lauren Groh-Wargo, the dynamic CEO of Fair Fight Action. Marc and Lauren are at the forefront of defending voting rights and combating voter suppression. Their unwavering commitment and groundbreaking work have had a significant impact on preserving the integrity of our democracy.
This event is an opportunity to engage in a discussion about how voter suppression has impacted elections to date and what are the next lines of attack in 2024.
About the Speakers:
Lauren Groh-Wargo is a top political, democracy and civic engagement strategist, executive, and fighter for economic justice. In 2012, Lauren began a partnership with Stacey Abrams to chart and then execute a ten-year plan to build power and policy wins for Georgia through supporting existing and building new civic engagement infrastructure. Spurred by wide scale voter suppression during the 2018 election, Lauren founded and is the CEO of Fair Fight Action, which focuses on fighting voter suppression and advancing voting rights. Fair Fight Action brings the full force of strategic campaign tactics and culturally relevant engagement and voter education to those most targeted by suppression and disinformation. Fair Fight played a leading national and battleground state role in the 2020 election and in the 2021 Georgia runoff.
Lauren started her career by organizing tenants to improve living conditions in Brooklyn, New York. An organizer at heart, Lauren has led or advised campaigns, nonprofit organizations, donors and leaders over the past 22 years in states in every region and at the national level. Raised near Cleveland, Ohio, she holds a degree in Economics from American University. Lauren resides in Atlanta, Georgia with her partner and nine-year-old son.
Marc Elias is the Firm Chair of Elias Law Group and is a nationally recognized authority and expert in campaign finance, voting rights, redistricting law, and litigation. As a litigator, Marc has handled hundreds of cases involving politics, voting rights, and redistricting. He has successfully argued and won four cases in the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as dozens of cases in state supreme courts and U.S. courts of appeal.
In 2020, Marc led the historic legal effort to protect voting rights, winning over 60 lawsuits against MAGA’s efforts to suppress the vote. As aggressive challenges to voting continue, Marc keeps fighting back in court. Marc is also the founder of Democracy Docket, the leading platform for progressive advocacy and information about voting rights, elections, redistricting and democracy.
Marc is an alumnus of Hamilton College, Duke Law School and Duke Graduate School. He is a proud owner of a Portuguese Water Dog named Bode.

Unmasking the Christian Right: Kathryn Joyce and Jeff Sharlet
2024-03-27 19:00 - 20:00
BigTent was pleased to host investigative journalist Kathryn Joyce and author Jeff Sharlet. Both are long-time observers and experts on the American right-wing and conservative movement. They write on the central role of the Christian right in the rise of Trumpism and neofascism, and the types of institutions that the right-wing has built to create and sustain their movement to end democracy.
Currently the christian movement is explicitly arguing that there is one acceptable culture in the United States—a Christian, conservative culture—which should be supported by the law and assumed to be the norm across all areas of public life here. And with the Speaker of the House, a self-defined Christian Nationalist, unmasking christian nationalism will be key to preserving American democracy.
KATHRYN JOYCE is investigative editor at In These Times and author, most recently, of The Child Catchers: Rescue, Trafficking and the New Gospel of Adoption.
JEFF SHARLET’S most recent book is The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War. He is the Frederick Sessions Beebe ​’35 Professor in the Art of Writing at Dartmouth College. He also wrote The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power which became a 5-part Netflix documentary with the same name.

A Conversation with GALVANIZE Executive Director Jackie Payne and Journalist Bonnie Fuller
2024-04-02 12:00 - 13:00
BigTent was thrilled to host a conversation with Galvanize Founder and Executive Director Jackie Payne and renowned journalist Bonnie Fuller. They dove into what is happening with the moderate white woman voter and what role could they play in the 2024 election.
Galvanize Action connects with moderate women to build a broader base for progress and an America that works for everyone. There are millions of women—most living in rural, small town, and suburban communities—who want progress on things like access to healthcare and climate, but whose civic impact does not always reflect those goals. Galvanize uses research-backed approaches to support this group of women to vote in line with their values and play an active role in promoting social welfare in their communities.
About our Speakers
Jackie Payne has over two decades of experience leading organizations and working to advance gender, racial, and economic justice. As the Founder and Executive Director of Galvanize USA and Galvanize Action, Jackie is working at the intersection of data science, behavioral psychology, and neuroscience to connect with moderate women, grow their support on key issues, and increase pro-democracy behavior. She has developed specific expertise with women in rural, small town, and suburban communities, and with white women—the single largest voting bloc in this country. Her efforts are effectively moving this audience to support progress—providing a necessary complement to the work being done by and for communities of color—to build a thriving, multiracial democracy.
Bonnie Fuller is the former CEO and editor-in-chief of HollywoodLife.com, and former editor-in-chief of Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire and USWeekly. She is now writing about reproductive freedom and politics.

Immigration Reform and Next Steps with Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Political Strategist Lis Smith
2024-04-03 19:00 - 20:00
BigTent was thrilled to host Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) in conversation with political strategist Lis Smith. Senator Murphy was the lead Democratic negotiator of the breakthrough bipartisan border reform agreement. He had a firsthand view of both Republicans coming together for immigration reform and then Republicans’ stunning about-face on border security. The bill was filled with tough, conservative policy, including an ability for the President to shut down parts of the border to asylum claims when the system is overwhelmed. It was endorsed by the Border Patrol Union, Wall Street Journal Editorial Board and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Heading into the final seven months of the 2024 election, there is no issue with greater importance than border security.The Harvard CAPS-Harris poll showed that immigration had overtaken inflation as the top issue for 2024 voters. Polling in swing states in a recent Bloomberg/Morning Consult poll showed that in states that will decide the Electoral College, immigration and the economy are the two top issues for voters, and for key independent voters.
What both sides agree on is that any immigration reform bill must prioritize strong and fair border policies, and one that supports legal immigration and a pathway to citizenship. Senator Murphy and Lis Smith discussed immigration reform, what went wrong and where do we go from here?
ABOUT OUR SPEAKERS
Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), the junior United States Senator from Connecticut, has dedicated his career to public service as an advocate for Connecticut families. Senator Murphy has been a strong voice in the Senate fighting for job creation, affordable health care, education, sensible gun laws, and a forward-looking foreign policy.
Senator Murphy is a consensus builder and many times throughout his political career has worked to bridge the political divide. He led a bipartisan effort to reform the mental health system, working across the aisle to craft the first comprehensive mental health bill in the Senate in decades. Following the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school in 2012, Senator Murphy became one of the leading proponents of commonsense reforms to reduce gun violence. He has championed a number of bipartisan bills aimed at expanding background checks and keeping guns out of the hands of criminals. And most recently, he was the lead Democratic negotiator of the breakthrough bipartisan border reform agreement.
Lis Smith has been hailed as a “next-gen gunslinger,” “not your grandfather’s political consultant,” and “the hard-charging New York operative [who] helped turn an obscure Indiana mayor into a national name.” She is one of the most in-demand strategists in today’s political environment. Named to Fortune’s “40 under 40 in Government” and Crain’s “50 Most Powerful Women in New York,” Smith continues to work as a strategist and regularly contributes opinion pieces to publications like the New York Times, Washington Post, and Vanity Fair, in addition to appearing as a frequent guest on MSNBC, CNN, Fox News, and HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher.

A Conversation with Anne Applebaum and Katie Couric: The State of American Democracy
2024-04-25 12:00 - 13:00
BigTentUSA is thrilled to have back Pulitzer Prize–winning author and esteemed historian Anne Applebaum under the tent in conversation with award winning journalist Katie Couric. They will dive into the critical issues of our era: the global rise of authoritarianism and the evolving landscape of American democracy.
About the Speakers:
Anne Applebaum is staff writer for The Atlantic and author of the best-selling 2020 book Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism. Applebaum is also a senior fellow at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and the SNF Agora Institute, where she co-directs Arena, a program on disinformation and 21st-century propaganda.
Katie Couric is an award-winning journalist and #1 New York Times best-selling author. Couric was the first woman to solo anchor a network evening newscast, serving as anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News from 2006 to 2011 following 15 years as co-anchor of NBC’s Today show. In 2017, she founded Katie Couric Media (KCM), which has developed a number of media projects, including a daily newsletter, “Wake-Up Call”, a podcast, “Next Question”, digital video series and several documentaries. You can find it all at katiecouric.com.

Liz Cheney In Conversation with Charlie Sykes – Oath and Honor
2024-05-01 19:00 - 20:00
BigTent is pleased to host a conversation featuring Former Congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-WY) and MSNBC contributor Charlie Sykes. This conversation will explore a range of topics including the future of democracy, insights from Cheney’s book ‘Oath and Honor’, the dynamics within the Republican Party, perspectives on Trump and the Capitol assault, and previously undisclosed stories from Congress. Additionally, they will delve into ways we can safeguard American democracy.
ABOUT OUR SPEAKERS
Liz Cheney is an American attorney and politician. She represented Wyoming’s at-large congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2017 to 2023, and served as chair of the House Republican Conference the third-highest position in the House Republican leadership from 2019 to 2021. In 2022, Cheney, along with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, received the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library’s prestigious Profile in Courage Award, with a commendation for her consistent and courageous voice in defense of democracy. In 2023, Liz Cheney joined the UVA faculty as the first Professor of Practice with the UVA Center for Politics.
Charlie Sykes was until recently, a founder and editor-at-large of The Bulwark, host of The Bulwark Podcast. Currently he is an NBC/MSNBC contributor and columnist. He is author of nine books, his most recent book is How the Right Lost Its Mind.
Sykes has written for numerous publications including The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Weekly Standard, The Washington Post, Commentary, The Wall Street Journal, Politico, The Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, Time.com, USA Today, National Review, The New York Review of Books, the New York Daily News, and other national publications.
He is enjoying getting off the “hamster wheel” and spending time with his dogs and grandchildren.

Judy Woodruff & Sarah Longwell: Voices of America, Navigating the Political Divide
2024-05-08 19:00 - 20:00
PBS senior correspondent, Judy Woodruff, and The Bulwark Founder, Sarah Longwell, joined us to discuss what’s driving American polarization. Judy highlighted her findings from her PBS show, America at a Crossroads, while Sarah shared insights from her unique focus groups, shedding light on public opinion and what issues are shaping political dialogue.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Judy Woodruff is the Senior Correspondent for the PBS NewsHour after serving for 11 years as its Anchor and Managing Editor. She has covered politics and other news for over four decades at CNN, NBC, and PBS. In 2023 and 2024, she is undertaking a reporting project, “America at a Crossroads,” to better understand the country’s political divide.
Sarah Longwell is a Republican political strategist and publisher of The Bulwark. She is also host of the Bulwark podcast The Focus Group, which presents the broad takeaways from hundreds of hours of voter opinion focus groups across both the country and the political spectrum.

Why Letter Writing Wins: Yasmin Radjy, Executive Director, Vote Forward
2024-05-14 12:00 - 13:00
BigTent was thrilled to bring back Vote Forward! We welcome Executive Director, Yasmin Radjy to the tent. We will dove into how Vote Forward determines its strategy and how they will help a win for democracy in 2024.
Vote Forward and BigTentUSA are working together to increase civic participation by sending letters to voters. Writing letters to voters is one of the most effective ways to help increase election turnout. And you can do it right from home. Our plan is to send out over 100K letters by October 2024!
Here is a presentation on the impact of letter-writing
If you can’t make event but just want to request letters use this link!
ABOUT OUR SPEAKER
Yasmin Radjy is the Executive Director of Swing Left, one of the largest drivers of grassroots volunteers in competitive races up and down the ballot, and Vote Forward, whose innovative letter-writing strategy has enabled more than 250,000 volunteers to encourage citizens in underrepresented communities to vote. Previously, Yasmin served as Senior Advisor for Recovery Program Outreach at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, National Political Director at Planned Parenthood Action Fund (PPAF), Director of Organizing and Training at PPAF and Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Virginia State Director at Mobilize America in the 2017 election.
ABOUT VOTE FORWARD
VoteForward is dedicated to empowering grassroots volunteers to send handwritten letters encouraging fellow Americans to vote. Their flagship voter contact program trains and supports volunteers in writing personal, heartfelt letters to potential voters with an easy-to-use online platform. The majority of Vote Forward letter writing campaigns are 501(c)(3) nonpartisan (“Social”) campaigns, which focus on mobilizing potential voters in historically marginalized communities, including people of color, women, and young voters, to ensure that every voice is heard.

Brian Stelter and Angelo Carusone - The Right Wing Media’s Effect on Democracy, Discourse and Disinformation
2024-05-15 19:00 - 20:00
Brian Stelter, former CNN media correspondent and host of “Reliable Sources,”and Angelo Carusone, President of Media Matters for America, will discuss the profound impact of right-wing media on our democratic processes, public discourse and polarization, and the pervasive spread of disinformation.
The discussion will explore:
• The mechanisms through which right-wing media influences public opinion and political landscapes.
• The direct implications of media practices on democratic values and Election Security.
• Strategies for navigating and countering disinformation AND misinformation in the media landscape.
ABOUT OUR SPEAKERS
Angelo Carusone is Chairman and President of Media Matters — a nonprofit organization and the United States’ premier media watchdog. Carusone is a recognized authority on right-wing extremism and frequently provides expert opinion about extremism, online toxicity, and the underlying structures fueling their rise. He has also become a go-to resource for journalists writing about fake news and the ways technology platforms are addressing the issue.
Brian Stelter was the anchor of CNN “Reliable Sources,” which examined the week’s top media stories and was the chief media correspondent for CNN Worldwide.Prior to joining CNN in November 2013, Stelter was a media reporter at The New York Times. He was also a lead contributor to the “Media Decoder” blog. Stelter published the best-selling book, HOAX: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth in fall 2020, which tells the story of the relationship between President Trump and Fox News. Over the course of two years writing the book, Stelter spoke with over 250 current and former Fox insiders in an effort to understand the inner workings of Rupert Murdoch’s multibillion-dollar media empire.

Tent Talk: Lauren Groh-Wargo - Voting in Georgia
2024-05-22 12:00 - 13:00
When Larry David ended his twelve season run playing himself on Curb Your Enthusiasm, he chose to highlight a provision of SB 202 passed in 2021.The first “election integrity law” in the wake of the 2020 election. This legislation effectively bars third-party groups or anyone else who is not an election worker from providing food and water to voters waiting in line within a 150-foot radius of a polling place. Larry David succinctly summarizes why he chose to hone in on SB202, “This law is insane.” While it makes for very funny television, it is far from funny for the citizens of Georgia.
Lauren Groh-Wargo, CEO of Fair Fight, will breakdown how Georgia has led the way at making it harder for certain Georgians to vote.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Lauren Groh-Wargo is a top political, democracy and civic engagement strategist, executive, and fighter for economic justice. In 2012, Lauren began a partnership with Stacey Abrams to chart and then execute a ten-year plan to build power and policy wins for Georgia through supporting existing and building new civic engagement infrastructure. Spurred by wide scale voter suppression during the 2018 election, Lauren founded and is the CEO of Fair Fight Action, which focuses on fighting voter suppression and advancing voting rights. Fair Fight Action brings the full force of strategic campaign tactics and culturally relevant engagement and voter education to those most targeted by suppression and disinformation. Fair Fight played a leading national and battleground state role in the 2020 election and in the 2021 Georgia runoff.
Lauren started her career by organizing tenants to improve living conditions in Brooklyn, New York. An organizer at heart, Lauren has led or advised campaigns, nonprofit organizations, donors and leaders over the past 22 years in states in every region and at the national level. Raised near Cleveland, Ohio, she holds a degree in Economics from American University. Lauren resides in Atlanta, Georgia with her partner and nine-year-old son.

Trump-palooza: The Trump Trials with Amb. Norm Eisen (Ret.) and George T. Conway III
2024-05-29 19:00 - 20:00
BigTent was thrilled to welcome two of the renowned experts in “Trumpian Law” – Amb. Norm Eisen (Ret.), CNN legal analyst, and George Conway III, President of the Society for the Rule of Law. Norm and George have spent A LOT of time at 100 Centre Street the past few weeks and have an insiders perspective on the “The Trump Trials: Outcomes, Precedents, and the Future of Our Democracy.”
???? READ: TRYING TRUMP
???? EXPLORE THE TRIALS
????️ ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Ambassador Norman L. Eisen (Ret.) is a CNN legal analyst and editor of “Trying Trump: A Guide to His First Election Interference Criminal Trial.” He served as counsel to the House Judiciary Committee for the first impeachment and trial of then-President Donald Trump. Eisen is the Co-Founder and former Executive Chair of the States United Democracy Center
George T. Conway III is an attorney and the board president of the Society for the Rule of Law. Conway was considered by President Donald Trump for several positions in his administration but withdrew himself from consideration. In 2018, Conway emerged as a vocal Trump critic. During the 2020 presidential election, Conway was involved with the Lincoln Project, a coalition of former Republicans dedicated to defeating Trump. Currently, Conway has a podcast, George Conway Explains It All, with The Bulwark’s Sarah Longwell.

Barbara McQuade and Kimberly Atkins Stohr - Attack from Within: How Disinformation is Sabotaging America
2024-06-04 19:00 - 20:00
On Tuesday, June 4th at 7:00PM ET, BigTent is thrilled to host MSNBC Legal Analyst Barbara McQuade and NBC Contributor Kimberly Atkins Stohr. They will discuss McQuade‘s new book, Attack from Within. The conversation will explore how disinformation is shaking the foundations of democracy, while discussing urgent, actionable strategies to empower the public, bolster the media, and safeguard truth-based politics.
About the Book: Attack from Within is an urgent, comprehensive explanation of the ways disinformation is impacting democracy, and practical solutions that can be pursued to strengthen the public, media, and truth-based politics. An MSNBC legal expert and former US Attorney, McQuade breaks down the ways disinformation has become a tool to drive voters to extremes, disempower our legal structures, and consolidate power in the hands of the few.
Barbara McQuade is a professor from practice at the University of Michigan Law School, her alma mater, where she teaches courses in criminal law, criminal procedure, national security, and data privacy. She is also a legal expert for NBC News and MSNBC, and a co-host of the podcast #SistersInLaw. From 2010 to 2017, McQuade served as U.S Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. Ms. McQuade was appointed by President Barack Obama, and was the first woman to serve in her position.
Kimberly Atkins Stohr is a senior opinion writer and columnist at The Boston Globe. She is also an MSNBC contributor, a frequent panelist on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” and co-host of the weekly Politicon legal news podcast #SistersInLaw. Previously, Kim was the inaugural columnist for The Emancipator, a collaboration between The Boston Globe and Boston University’s Center for Antiracist Research that reframes the conversation about racial justice and equality.

Tent Talk: Protect Our Winters - Stoking the Vote
2024-06-11 12:00 - 13:00
BigTent welcomed Erin Sprague, CEO of Protect our Winters and Team Captain and pro climber Abbey Smith . In 2024, Protect Our Winters aims to mobilize its alliance members, including athletes, creatives, scientists, brands, and resorts, to encourage civic engagement and voter turnout in November’s general election. The POW ‘Stoke the Vote’ campaign is an opportunity to create a cultural shift toward voting and have an impact on the margins in the most important election of our lifetime. They are combating widespread apathy and misinformation. POW will strategically conduct this work nationally and in targeted geographies where it knows it can have an outsized impact by engaging the Outdoor State.
Hear about POW’s strategies and initiatives to get out the VOTE and how we can get involved in driving meaningful change.
About our speakers
Erin Sprague is the CEO of Protect our Winters (POW), where she helps outdoor enthusiasts protect the places and experiences they love from climate change. Previously, Erin built world-class brands in the outdoor industry as the Chief Brand Officer at Aspen Skiing Company; VP of Marketing at Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Sport; and Global Head of Women’s Brand and Product at Specialized Bicycles. Most recently, Erin has worked with leaders from Google and Nest to help build climate tech start-ups tackling food waste and heat pump adoption. Erin started her career in finance and public affairs at The Blackstone Group, and graduated from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Harvard College.
Erin grew up in the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York where she raced Nordic skiing, cross-country running, and hiked with her family most weekends. She previously Chaired the Board of Protect our Winters and started a non-profit called In the Running to support youth fitness initiatives while setting a World Record as the Youngest Woman to Run a Marathon on all Seven Continents. She lives in Boulder, Colorado with her husband and two daughters, who are already beating her up and down most mountains.
Abbey Smith is the POW Climb Alliance Team Captain, professional climber, producer and storyteller born and raised in Colorado. For the last 25 years, she has dedicated her life to climbing, exploring uncharted territories, and sharing stories that offer new perspectives through writing, film, virtual reality, and live experiences. Her unrelenting drive for exploratory and big mountain bouldering has led her all over the world. She’s established first ascents on five continents from the extreme altitudes of the Himalayas and Andes to remote islands in Thailand. Abbey currently lives in Los Angeles, California. She’s an Explorers Club National Member, and sponsored by La Sportiva and Marmot.

Post Roe America – with attorney Julie F. Kay, OBGYN Austin Dennard. M.D., and journalist Bonnie Fuller
2024-06-20 19:00 - 20:00
BigTentUSA hosted a powerful, personal, and vital conversation on women’s reproductive health featuring attorney Julie F. Kay, founder of Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine, OBGYN, mother, and Texan Dr. Austin Dennard, and moderated by journalist Bonnie Fuller.
The discussion centered on the ongoing fight for abortion access across the USA, highlighting personal stories from the front lines. Dr. Dennard shared her deeply personal experience with a fetal anomaly diagnosis and her involvement in the Zurwaski v. Texascase. The conversation also covered the critical role of telehealth in providing medication abortions and analyzed the implications of the mifepristone case for women’s freedoms. This conversation shared the urgent need and work we all need to do in order to ensure that essential reproductive care remains legal and accessible nationwide!
Since the fall of Roe, the stories of women being harmed by bans and restrictions have become a daily drumbeat in America. Perhaps none more so than the women of Texas who live under the vague and cruel SB8. Dr. Austin Dennard, an OBGYN and mom, has confronted the consequences of Texas’s infamous law both as a physician and a woman. In July of 2022, at 11 weeks pregnant with her third child, Dr. Dennard received the devasting news that her baby had a deadly fetal anomaly. Because she is an obstetrician, Dr. Dennard’s story is both deeply personal and medically authoritative. She has spoken publicly, and she joined 21 other women in Zurwaski v. Texas.
*ABOUT OUR SPEAKERS
JULIE F. KAY, as the lead attorney who designed and litigated the landmark case A.B.C. v. Ireland, Kay successfully argued before the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights that Ireland’s ban on life-saving abortion violated her client’s human rights. Kay’s legal work with the Irish Family Planning Association is credited with playing a vital role in abortion legalization in Ireland. Her experience in Ireland and countries worldwide informs her strategies for abortion reform in the US. She is the Founder and Executive Director of the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine.
AUSTIN DENNARD, M.D., is an OBGYN from Dallas, Texas. Dr. Dennard had to leave Texas to receive abortion care after learning she was carrying a fetus with anencephaly, a fatal condition in which the skull and brain do not fully develop. Dr. Dennard began her medical career in The University of Texas Southwestern Health system working at Parkland Hospital in Dallas. In addition to being a clinician, she has served as a clinical professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center. Listen to Dr. Dennard’s NPR Story here.

Tent Talk: Aaron Frank and Anton Moore Under the Tent
2024-06-25 12:00 - 13:00
We were thrilled to host Aaron Frank, co-founder and president, Focus for Democracy (F4D) and Anton Moore, founder of DJ’s at the Polls. F4D researches programs and reviews evidence to identify where election donations can achieve the highest impact. It is a nonprofit dedicated to empowering political donors to make the most impactful contributions possible to strengthen democracy.
DJs at the Polls is a GOTV initiative that brings music and a celebratory atmosphere to the polls. The 2024 program aims to bring DJs to thousands of polls in urban centers of the battleground states, AZ, GA, MI, NC, NE, NV, PA, and WI. Experiments in 2022 and 2023 in Philadelphia and Virginia showed a significant voter turnout effect (e.g., a boost of 3+% in polling locations with a high proportion of African Americanvoters). ​Local DJs with significant social media followings will be hired to perform at polls in their neighborhoods. DJs are cultural organizers that regularly promote their gigs and will post several GOTV messages throughout the election cycle.
OUR SPEAKERS
AARON FRANK is the Co-founder and President of Focus for Democracy. Aaron has spent the last 20 years managing a private investment partnership and now applies that diligence to political investing through Focus for Democracy. Aaron received his JD from Emory Law School and lectures at the University of San Francisco.
ANTON MOORE is the founder of DJ’s At The Polls, a nationwide GOTV (get-out-the-vote) that places DJs at polling locations. He has run programs in Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and North Carolina. He is also the founder of Unity in the Community, a Philadelphia based organization dedicated to changing the lives of others in the South Philly area. Anton is a former BET and radio producer and was a speaker at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.

Spotlight Speaker Series with Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Brennan Center’s Caroline Fredrickson: What do the SCOTUS Rulings and Project 2025 mean for you?
2024-06-27 19:45 - 20:30
BigTentUSA hosted Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Caroline Fredrickson, Senior Fellow at The Brennan Center for Justice. They discussed the recent Supreme Court decisions as well as Representative Raskin’s work to the raise the alarm about the very real threats of Project 2025.

Rep. Jamie Raskin: A Constitutional Defender
Jamie Raskin, is a prominent constitutional law professor and U.S. Representative for Maryland’s 8th Congressional District, who brings his extensive knowledge of American law and governance to the conversation. He is known for his passionate advocacy for democracy and civil rights. Currently, he serves as the Ranking Member on the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.
Recently, Congressman Raskin was the Lead House Manager in the second Senate impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, which ended with a 57-43 vote to convict the president for inciting a violent insurrection against the government to overthrow the 2020 presidential election. Raskin also served on the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol and served three terms on the House Judiciary, Oversight and Administration Committees. He served two terms on the Rules Committee.
Caroline Fredrickson: An Expert on Democracy and Law
Caroline Fredrickson Senior Fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice, served as the President of the American Constitution Society from 2009-2019, where she helped grow ACS, which now has thousands of members throughout the nation. She was a spokesperson for ACS on issues such as civil and human rights, judicial nominations, labor law, congressional oversight, and separation of powers, among others. Fredrickson regularly contributes opinion pieces to The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other news outlets. She is also the author of Under The Bus: How Working Women Are Being Run Over, The Democracy Fix: How to Win the Fight for Fair Rules, Fair Courts, and Fair Elections, and most recently, The AOC Way.

Richard Haass and Katie Couric: A Changing World Order
2024-07-17 19:00 - 20:00
BigTentUSA and Katie Couric Media were honored to host a conversation with Richard Haass and Katie Couric. Haass shared his perspective of the changing world order impacted by key geopolitical events, including the Russia/Ukraine war, the war in the Middle East, concerns about the relationship between the United States and China, and of course the U.S. election in November.
About our Speakers
Dr. Richard Haass served as president of the Council on Foreign Relations (COFR) for two decades before becoming President Emeritus. He chaired the multiparty negotiations in Northern Ireland in 2013, leading to the pivotal Stormont House Agreement the following year, earning him the 2013 Tipperary International Peace Award. Haass held key roles in the US Department of State, including director of policy planning and principal advisor to Secretary of State Colin Powell, and he served as US coordinator for policy on Afghanistan and envoy to the Northern Ireland peace process. He is the author or editor of fourteen books on foreign policy and US democracy, including his latest bestseller, The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens.
Katie Couric is an award-winning journalist and #1 New York Times best-selling author. Couric was the first woman to solo anchor a network evening newscast, serving as anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News from 2006 to 2011 following 15 years as co-anchor of NBC’s Today show. In 2017, she founded Katie Couric Media (KCM), which has developed a number of media projects, including a daily newsletter, “Wake-Up Call”, a podcast, “Next Question”, digital video series and several documentaries. You can find it all at katiecouric.com.

Tent Talk: A Conversation with Working America, Founder Karen Nussbaum
2024-07-23 12:00 - 13:00
BigTent hosted Karen Nussbaum, founding director of Working America, and Joseph Loyacono Bustos, Volunteer Coordinator.
Working America is the largest non-union organization in the U.S. With over 4 million members nationwide, working people get a chance to be heard in the political debate and make positive changes in their communities. Working America has helped increase the minimum wage in Ohio, save thousands of jobs in Pennsylvania and Colorado, protect workers’ rights in Minnesota and get more health insurance coverage for kids in Oregon. Across the country, they are taking the lead on the issues that matter to the 99%. They unite working people on commonsense issues of economic justice—and they win.
OUR SPEAKERS
Karen Nussbaum, the founding director of Working America and the Working America Education Fund, has been fighting for the rights of working people for more than four decades. She was a founder and director of 9to5, the National Association of Working Women and president of District 925, SEIU. Karen served as the director of the U.S. Department of Labor Women’s Bureau during the first Clinton Administration, the highest seat in the federal government devoted to women’s issues. Prior to taking on the leadership of Working America, Karen served as a special assistant to AFL-CIO President John Sweeney.
Joseph Loyacono Bustos (Joe) is an organizer with Working America based in Washington, D.C. He has a personal and professional passion for making politics more attuned to the needs of working people and continues to pursue that goal by involving volunteers in the process of connecting with working-class voters. His time at Working America has been spent expanding and improving volunteer opportunities, specifically Working America’s personalized letter program. Joe continues to believe in the need to fight and advocate for a political and economic system that benefits all people.

Tent Talk: The States Project - Why States are the Bulwark for Democracy
2024-07-30 12:00 - 13:00
On July 30th at 12:00PM ET BigTentUSA was honored to welcome Mandara Meyers, Chief Programs officer of The States Project along with Senior Manager of Recruitment, Giving Circles, Tia Howard.
“The States Project” is a pivotal national organization dedicated to highlighting the critical role of state legislatures in shaping our communities.The discussion focused on both electoral and policy work as well as giving circles in order to ensure fair elections, foster collaboration among state lawmakers, and protect the spirit of democracy. In 2024, they are focusing their efforts on AZ, KS, MI, MN, NV, NH, NC, PA, and WI.
As the threat of authoritarianism increases, states could become the key defenders of our democracy.
OUR SPEAKERS
Mandara Meyers, has served as Chief Programs Officer at The States Project since 2020, driving the strategy and expansion of TSP’s electoral and policy work. Previously, Mandara was a government relations attorney, developed hundreds of state and local political leaders at the Center for Progressive Leadership, oversaw programming for 40,000 members as a Vice President at Leadership for Educational Equity, and led a foundation focused on leadership. An alumna of Swarthmore College and the University of Pennsylvania Law School, Mandara started her career as a Coro Fellow in Public Affairs.
Tia Howard is Senior Manager of Recruitment, Giving Circles. Tia began her career working on the fundraising side of several political campaigns at the national and state levels. Just prior to joining The States Project, Tia worked to uplift the voices of women of color, immigrants, and care workers with the National Domestic Workers Alliance and Care in Action. Tia is an alumna of American University’s School of International Service and Northeastern University’s School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs.

Tent Talk: What is Rural America Thinking with Sarah Jaynes and Jess Piper
2024-08-13 12:00 - 13:00
BigTent USA was thrilled to welcome Sarah Jaynes, Executive Director of Rural Democracy Initiative and Jess Piper, Executive Director of Blue Missouri. Our conversation focused on rural America and what voters are feeling about the Harris/Walz ticket, the November elections and their future.
The Rural Democracy Initiative is driving a growing array of organizing efforts in states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Montana, and Arizona, where new work is underway to engage rural voters, speak to their concerns, and otherwise show up in places that many Democrats have written off. RDI is building power and shared prosperity across diverse communities in rural areas and small cities. Their investments target civic infrastructure in small towns and cities to influence public sentiment, electoral outcomes, and redistricting procedures. Their main goal is to provide support for rural working people, therefore transforming the landscape of rural America for future generations.
OUR SPEAKER
Sarah Jaynes, Executive Director Rural Democracy Initiative
Sarah grew up in a small town on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state and began her career organizing on climate issues in rural communities. Since then, she’s been a trailblazer in the progressive movement. Sarah led the development of one of the first state progressive donor networks—Washington’s Progress Alliance—and has coached emerging donor alliances from Alaska to New Hampshire to Alabama as a senior advisor to Committee on States. Sarah is recognized for her expertise leading innovative campaigns integrating field experiments, digital platforms, and transformative narrative, and manages to stay relentlessly optimistic and obsessed with winning.
Jess Piper is a mother to five and grandmother to three and lives on a small farm on the Missouri/Iowa border. She was born and raised in rural America. She was an American Literature teacher for 16 years. After the 2016 election of Trump, Jess became politically active. Jess ran for office in 2022 for State Representative in HD1 in Northwest Missouri. Jess wrires a well known newsletter: The View from Rural Missouri

How to Defend Against an Authoritarian Presidency
2024-08-14 19:00 - 20:00
We were thrilled to host a conversation with Brennan Center for Justice Senior Advisor Barton Gellman and national security expert Rosa Brooks, moderated by journalist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. They discussed the tabletop “what if” exercises conducted this summer, highlighting the need for defenders of democracy to prepare more robustly to mitigate potential threats of a second Trump Presidency to our constitutional government. While not all abuses can be entirely prevented, there are important steps we must take to combat these threats.
ABOUT OUR SPEAKERS
Barton Gellman is Senior Advisor to the president and executive director of the Brennan Center. His focus is on building safeguards against threats to democracy in the 2024 election and in the presidential administration to come in 2025. Gellman joined the Brennan Center from The Atlantic, where he was an award-winning staff writer. He is the author most recently of Dark Mirror: Edward Snowden and the American Surveillance State. Gellman has received multiple professional honors including; the 2008 and 2014 Pulitzer Prizes, two George Polk Awards, two Overseas Press Club awards, two Emmy awards for a PBS Frontline documentary, Harvard’s Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.
Rosa Brooks holds the Scott K. Ginsburg Chair in Law and Policy at Georgetown University Law Center, where she has served as a tenured professor since 2006. She also serves as Georgetown Law’s Associate Dean for Centers and Institutes and as co-director of Georgetown’s Center on Innovations in Public Safety. She is also an Adjunct Senior Scholar at West Point’s Modern War Institute, an ASU Future of War Senior Fellow at New America and a founder of the Leadership Council for Women in National Security (LCWINS). From April 2016 to November 2020, she served as a reserve police officer with the Washington, DC Metropolitan Police Department.
Kimberly Atkins Stohr is a senior opinion writer and columnist at The Boston Globe. She is also an MSNBC contributor, a frequent panelist on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” and co-host of the weekly Politicon legal news podcast #SistersInLaw. Previously, Kim was the inaugural columnist for The Emancipator, a collaboration between The Boston Globe and Boston University’s Center for Anti Racist Research that reframes the conversation about racial justice and equality.

BigTent Letter-Writing Party!
2024-08-27 12:00 - 13:00
???? 71 DAYS TO GO! Time to DO SOMETHING!
Join us for a letter writing session with Vote Forward on Tuesday, August 27 at 12pm ET!
It’s so important for us to reach out to voters, help them understand what’s at stake, and encourage them to vote for the kind of world they want to live in! Learn about the impact of letter-writing, volunteer training, and Q&A with a Vote Rider expert.
???? Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to learn, engage, and make a difference!
Request Letters Here

Turn up the Vote with HeadCount’s Executive Director Lucille Wenegieme
2024-09-10 12:00 - 13:00
BigTent was thrilled to host Lucille Wenegieme Executive Director of HeadCount. Lucille discussed HeadCount’s impactful work in fostering voter engagement and civic involvement with young voters, through music and culture. She dove into their strategies and innovative approaches to promote voter registration and democratic participation.
HeadCount gets people registered to vote and interested in democracy. They are at concerts, festivals, community events – anywhere they can translate the power of music and culture into real action. Their mission is to use the power of music and popular culture to register voters and promote participation in democracy. They reach young people where they already are to inform and empower.
HeadCount stages nonpartisan voter registration drives at more than 1,000 live events each year and collaborate with cultural leaders to promote civic engagement on a national scale. Since 2004, they’ve signed up over 1,000,000 voters through their work with touring musicians like Ariana Grande, Dead & Company, and Beyoncé and events like Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Pride Festivals and RuPaul’s DragCon. Meanwhile, their digital campaigns have won Clio and SHORTY awards, and their public service announcements have starred the likes of Jay-Z, Dave Matthews and members of the Grateful Dead.
ABOUT OUR SPEAKER
Lucille Wenegieme is an executive in the civic engagement and democracy spaces with an eclectic background in political advocacy, communications, fashion, and biomedical science. Her central change philosophy is that democracy has to meet people where they are, and she focuses on culture as the vehicle to get there.
Prior to joining HeadCounT, Lucille served on the executive team at the Denver Clerk & Recorder’s Office where her team leveraged a $13 million budget to administer elections and provide other essential services. During her tenure, the Office launched a citizen-led campaign finance initiative to match local small-dollar donations with public funding and implemented a first-of-its-kind marijuana-themed get-out-the-vote campaign.
Her career has also included a stint as vice president of communications at the National Vote at Home Institute, which helped states and municipalities rapidly scale up their capacity to handle mail-in votes during the 2020 election. She also led her own communications firm, Kleos Creative, and was an executive at the Washington, D.C.-based public affairs firm Fireside Campaigns. Prior to entering the democracy space, she worked in communications at the global luxury retail giant Tapestry (formerly Coach, Inc.).

Turning Tragedy into Activism: Amanda Zurawski and Tara McGowan
2024-09-11 19:00 - 20:00
On Wednesday September 11 at 7:00PM ET, we were honored to have the lead plaintiff in Zurawski vs. Texas, Amanda Zurawski, and renowned journalist Tara McGowan.
This was an unique opportunity to hear from two women who are making significant contributions to critical issues in our society. Amanda Zurawski’s powerful testimony sheds light on the human cost of restrictive abortion laws, while Tara McGowan explored the vital role of media in strengthening democracy and inspiring civic action.
ABOUT OUR SPEAKERS
Amanda Zurawski was the lead plaintiff in Zurawski vs. Texas, the first lawsuit brought by patients challenging a state on its abortion bans since the fall of Roe. She lives in Austin, TX.
In 2022, after 18 months of fertility treatment, Zurawski and her husband Josh learned she was pregnant with their first baby. Unfortunately Amanda miscarried at 18 weeks, but due to the abortion bans in Texas, was unable to receive healthcare, and after three days crashed into septic shock, which nearly killed her. After spending a week in the hospital, Amanda began speaking out about her experience to help spread awareness and with hopes of preventing similar fates befalling other pregnant people, in Texas and beyond.
Amanda has spent the last two years advocating for reproductive rights and abortion access. She has testified in front of US Congress, has provided interviews for countless media outlets and platforms.
Tara McGowan is the founder and publisher of COURIER, a fast-growing left-leaning news network with local newsrooms in eleven states. COURIER is building a more informed, engaged, and representative democracy by reaching tens of millions of Americans where they are online with factual, values-driven news that inspires civic participation.
A former journalist and political strategist, Tara has seen firsthand how America’s growing information chasm has contributed to increased polarization and the rising threat of authoritarianism. Recognizing the need for a new model of media that exists explicitly to protect and strengthen our fragile democracy, Tara founded COURIER in 2019. COURIER is a network of state newsrooms whose on-the-ground reporters and correspondents deliver factual and empowering pro-democracy news directly to the social newsfeeds and inboxes of communities who have been left behind by traditional media. COURIER is one of the fastest-growing news networks in the country, with nearly 4 million online subscribers, over 800K TikTok followers, and an average weekly reach of over 50 million Americans.

Tent Talk: Recruiting Future State Leaders with New Politics Founder Emily Cherniack
2024-09-17 12:00 - 13:00
BigTent was thrilled to welcome New Politics Founder and Executive Director Emily Cherniak and AZ State House District 5 Candidate Aaron Márquez under the tent. Emily is on a mission to train and recruit “servant leaders” that will adopt the “we mindset.” See her recent article here.
New Politics revitalizes American democracy by recruiting, developing, and electing servant leaders who put community and country over self. They support outstanding military veterans and national service leaders, alumni of programs like AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps, to step up and serve our country again, this time through politics. They understand that to achieve their mission to revitalize democracy they must break down barriers to entry, support servant leaders who reflect the diversity of our nation, and center the voices of those most impacted by OUR politics.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Emily Cherniack is founder and executive director of New Politics, which she founded in 2013 to recruit and support military and national service programs alumni to run for political office, and New Politics Leadership Academy. Previously, she served on the campaign staff of Alan Khazei, a US Senate candidate from Massachusetts who was her boss at City Year Boston. Cherniack also spent four years at Be the Change, as chief of staff and, before that, organizing director. At City Year Boston, she was service director and a program manager. In 2018, Emily was named to the Politico 50 as one of the 50 “thinkers, doers, and dreamers driving politics.”
Emily graduated from George Washington University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice and Psychology and a Masters Degree in Education Policy.
Aaron Márquez is a veteran of multiple political campaigns and the United States Army – grew up in Arizona, served his country through two deployments to Afghanistan, and has fought for progressive change in Arizona across the country. Most recently, Aaron cofounded VetsForward.us, a group of progressive military veterans in Arizona that work to defend democratic values at home by winning the hearts and minds of American voters.
Raised in Arizona, Aaron proudly attended public elementary, middle, and high schools in Mesa, Chandler, Tempe, and Gilbert. In 2020, Aaron was elected to the at-large seat of the Phoenix Union High School District Governing Board, where he has been fighting for progressive change to improve local public schools for our students and their families. As a school board member, he has advocated for more robust public health policies, bringing in national service programs to provide increased wraparound services, and restorative justice practices.
Aaron lives in Phoenix with his wife – an elementary school principal – seven-year-old daughter Sarah, and seventeen-year-old stepson James. He is running as a state candidate for Arizona State House District 5.
